There are some reasonably good CGI images of Hindenburg’s exterior (and some mostly silly sets depicting the airship’s interior).

For those who want to know, “Kate Drummond” is a fictional character created for the show, perhaps very loosely inspired by Lady Grace Drummond Hay, a reporter for the Hearst newspaper chain.

The post NBC’s Timeless, the Hindenburg Disaster, and Kate Drummond appeared first on Airships.net.

The Hindenburg Disaster made their list and I used actual pieces of Hindenburg’s fabric and framework to explain how a spark jumped from the electrically charged fabric covering to the grounded metal framework.

The post Hindenburg Disaster on The Weather Channel this week appeared first on Airships.net.

Keep your eye on the blog in the next few days for information about a new documentary about the Hindenburg that will be broadcast in the US next month.  I may be able to post a short trailer and perhaps some additional behind-the-scenes photos.

Filming Hindenburg Documentary at Lakehurst

The post New Hindenburg Documentary in June appeared first on Airships.net.

Here are a few behind-the-scenes photos from the scenes we filmed at Lakehurst:

Filming at the crash site memorial

The marker at the crash site

Opening the giant doors of Hangar One

The mechanism for the doors at Hangar One

Inside Hangar One at Lakehurst

The crew wanted to illustrate the tremendous size of the Hindenburg’s hangar

Director Olive King and SSgt David Carbajal from JB-MDL Public Affairs

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The documentary is a fascinating and serious look at a previously unexplored theory about the destruction of the ship, regarding the role of the Hindenburg’s ventilation shafts in the propagation of the fire.   I was pleased to be involved with this project as technical advisor and on-air historian.  We had a wonderful writer/director, Nic Young, who was passionate about doing justice to both the science and the history, and a great presenter, Jem Stansfield, who brought his background in aeronautical engineering in addition to his usual energy and enthusiasm.

As regular readers of this blog will know, this is the UK version of a documentary that was broadcast in the United States in December.  The Channel 4 version is slightly longer and provides additional focus on the history of the passenger airship and the role of the zeppelin as a Nazi symbol, so even viewers who have seen the US version will enjoy watching the documentary on Channel 4.

I posted some of my behind-the-scenes photos in a previous post for those who would like to learn more about how we made the film.

The post Hindenburg Documentary on UK Channel 4 on Thursday appeared first on Airships.net.

Link: http://youtu.be/KRlIaD-HM7k

Link: http://youtu.be/B0HroVzctps

I just returned last night from six days in Friedrichshafen.  I will try to post a description of my trip and photos in the next few days.

The post Video clips from “What Destroyed the Hindenburg” appeared first on Airships.net.

I was pleased to participate in this project as technical advisor and on-air historian.  I won’t give away the specific technical conclusion, but the show does a wonderful job of explaining and illustrating how a spark was likely generated by a combination of atmospheric conditions and the inherent properties of the ship’s structure, and how that spark created the fire pattern that we have all seen on film.

In order to explore various theories about how the fire began and spread we built three models of the airship at 1/10-scale, inflated them with 200 cubic meters of hydrogen, and ignited them in various ways.  The models were designed to replicate the ship’s major features; a framework of rings and girders with individual gas cells, ventilation shafts, and an open area around the keel.  The models were designed for function rather than appearance; they were not especially pretty, but the important structural elements were realistic.

Hindenburg model (Courtesy: Discovery Channel)

Hindenburg model burning

The use of such large scale models (over 80 feet in length) was itself a real first.  In addition the team replicated some of the key experiments done immediately after the crash in 1937 (such as the analysis of the electrostatic properties of the ship’s fabric covering done in Germany by Dr. Max Dieckmann), and explored a theory about the spread of the fire that has not been discussed in any previous documentary.

Although I have studied the Hindenburg for decades these experiments brought to life for me, in a vivid and dramatic way, various phenomena that had been purely theoretical before.

I just had a chance to see the rough cut and I am very pleased with the project, which was the result of months of hard work by the director, producers, and a large and enthusiastic crew.  We had access to the impressive facilities and expertise of the Southwest Research Institute in Texas, and a great team that included presenter Jem Stansfied, who has a degree in aeronautical engineering, and documentary filmmaker Nic Young, who was determined to do justice to the science while keeping it accessible to the general public. And I need to give a shout-out to my colleagues Patrick Russell of Faces of the Hindenburg and Cheryl Ganz of the National Postal museum, who were wonderful resources as always.

Jem Stansfield, Steve Wolf, and Dan Grossman (Courtesy: Discovery Channel)

Director Nic Young

Participating in this project also gave me new insights into the Hindenburg in ways I had not anticipated.  If nothing else, simply working that closely with vast amounts of hydrogen gave me a new sense of how zeppelin crews might have felt and a new understanding of why they were so comfortable working with a substance that is so inherently dangerous.

I have studied hydrogen for decades but this was the first time I have been right up close to the actual stuff; as we were building the models I was inside the hull, with my hands right up against the gas cells feeling their level of inflation.  I have always assumed it must have been at least a little intimidating to walk through the hull of the Hindenburg, surrounded by all that flammable gas, but working inside our models, surrounded by giant bags of hydrogen, I felt perfectly at ease.  We followed safety procedures established by the experts at SWRI and I didn’t feel the slightest fear; I was literally surrounded by hundreds of cubic meters of hydrogen and I felt as comfortable as I do in my own house, and I think every other member of the crew felt the same way.  I came away with a personal insight into how and why the men of the Zeppelin company felt so comfortable working with a gas that we now view with such fear.

I am very glad I decided to participate in this project.  It was fascinating from a scientific and technical perspective, it gave me new insights into the minds of the zeppelin crews, and it was great to work with such wonderful people.  But let’s be totally honest.  I spent a week building giant models and then blowing them up.  Now if that isn’t every boy’s idea of a damn good time, I don’t know what the hell is.

Behind the Scenes

Here are some photos from the set that I thought you might enjoy.

(All photos, unless otherwise credited, are © Dan Grossman 2012).

The crew of “What Destroyed the Hindenburg” (Courtesy: Steve Wolf)

The post Behind the Scenes of Discovery Channel’s “What Destroyed the Hindenburg?” appeared first on Airships.net.

The Spies Who Lost the Battle of Britain” is a brilliantly-produced account of Britain’s Chain Home radar network and the “boffins” (scientists) who created it.  The film puts British radar and the Battle of Britain into historical context, and introduces the viewer to the individuals whose foresight, perseverance, and dedication would save their island during its Finest Hour.

The documentary describes the technical aspects of early radar and even explains the mystery of why the famous spy flight of the LZ-130 Graf Zeppelin — which was packed with electronic equipment and German scientists and sent over the UK specifically to probe the Chain Home system — was such a spectacular failure.

Airship enthusiasts will note a few small historical errors (such as mismatched archival footage, and the use of pusher rather than tractor propellers on the CGI Graf Zeppelin) but these trivial faults do not take away from a brilliant, enjoyable, and inspiring documentary.

The documentary is available for purchase here.

Other than a review copy of the film, Airships.net has not received anything of value in connection with this post. Airships.net does not receive any commission from sales of this DVD through the link above.

The post LZ-130 Graf Zeppelin and the “Spies Who Lost the Battle of Britain” appeared first on Airships.net.

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(click to enlarge)

The item’s owner, Timothy Fugmann, contacted me in September, 2007, to ask for my assistance in identifying the artifact. Since I did not recognize the object, I made some inquiries.

History Detectives concluded that the item was likely taken from the crash site of the Hindenburg.

Were they mistaken?

The Response from Friedrichshafen

I submitted detailed photographs to Jürgen Bleibler and Barbara Waibel from the Zeppelin Museum and Luftschiffbau Zeppelin archives. Both Mr Bleibler and Ms Waibel told me that they had never seen an instrument of that type before, and I forwarded their emails to Mr. Fugmann.

Since Mr Bleibler and Ms Waibel are experts in the field, who are familiar with the wealth of information held in the Zeppelin archives, I told Mr Fugmann that if neither of them recognized the artifact, I doubted it could be from the Hindenburg. I thought the inquiry would likely end there, but the artifact later appeared on History Detectives, whose producers concluded that the item was most likely from the wreckage of the Hindenburg.

The producers of History Detectives made no mention of the doubts raised by the experts in Friedrichshafen (but in fairness to the producers, it is possible Mr. Fugmann did not mention our correspondence).

The Reponse from Tom Crouch of the National Air and Space Museum

History Detectives also contacted Tom Crouch, Senior Curator of Aeronautics at the National Air and Space Museum, who was also unable to identify the object as having come from Hindenburg despite a search of the Air & Space Museum’s Hindenburg files and the National Archives.  I contacted Tom, who told me:

“The History Detectives folks asked me to take a look at this thing, and I did.  I worked hard to find it in our extensive Hindenburg files, and even searched the National Archives. I could not place it aboard the airship, so they didn’t interview me.

I am sort of pleased to note that the Zeppelin Museum folks could not place it aboard the airship either. At the same time, as I told them, it may well have been aboard, we just don’t know where, and can’t find a photo of it in place.”

Could this really have been unscrewed from the Hindenburg’s wreckage?

One other question, which was also not explored by the producers of History Detectives, is that the item seems to have been carefully unscrewed from wherever it was attached, with the screws then reinserted. This did not seem consistent with the information Mr Fugmann provided to me about the item having been surreptitiously stolen from the accident scene; carrying off a scorched spoon or piece of girder from the wreckage is one thing, but carefully unscrewing an instrument from the ship’s control car seems like quite another matter (with regard the time it would have taken to remove the object from its mounting, the likelihood of doing so unobserved, and the potential penalties for removing an object that any thief would have assumed might be important in the investigation of the crash).

The Manufacturer

Nor did the producers of History Detectives do a lot of research into the manufacturer of the object, C.P. Goerz.  Goerz was best known as a maker of cameras and lenses, and also other optics (especially for the military), but the firm also made calculators and aeronautical instruments, including altimeters for WWI zeppelins (see photo). However, Goerz was merged with other firms to create Zeiss Ikon in 1926, and whether the company continued to use the name “Goerz” on items made after 1926 was not explored by the producers of History Detectives; reader comments on this question are welcomed.

Indications that suggest the object might have been from an airship

On the other hand, in support of the possibility that the item was used on an airship.  As my friend Rick Zitarosa, the extremely knowledgeable historian of the Navy Lakehurst Historical Society, pointed out during the History Detectives episode, the speed values on the instrument roughly match the speed of an airship.

And if the lower scale (“stopping time in seconds”) represents the time it takes for a dropped object to reach the ground, the 5-20 second range roughly approximates the typical altitude of an airship. (Without accounting for friction, an object will fall approximately 400’/120m in 5 seconds, and approximately 2100’/700m in 12 seconds.) And the stopping time increments decrease as the values increase, which also makes sense if it were used to measure the height of a dropped object, since objects fall with increasing velocity (until reaching terminal velocity, of course).

Possible uses?

So could this item have been used to check altitude? (It is known that German airships used barometric altimeters, a sounding device known as an echolot or echolade, and the simple technique of dropping objects and timing their fall.) Or could the item have been used to measure drift, or as a way to double-check ground speed?

Or could this have been used to calculate the forward distance traveled by a dropped bomb, from a World War I military or naval zeppelin, perhaps? (There might have originally been a grid imprinted on the clear panel that has broken away from the face of the instrument.)

Of course, even if this instrument were designed for use on an airship, whether it was taken from the wreckage of the Hindenburg is another matter.

Additional Photographs and Information About the Object

The following photographs and information are presented so that readers can examine this artifact more closely themselves, and in greater detail than is possible from watching the episode of History Detectives.

The instrument is approximately 15cm wide x 9cm high x 4cm deep.

The scale at the top of the instrument is labeled:
"Geschwindigkeit für Meßtrecke gleich der Höhe."

The values range from 40 to 160 Km/Std (kilometers per hour)
and from 20 to 80 Sm/Std (knots [Seemeile per hour]) 

The scale at the bottom of the instrument is labeled:
"Gestoppte Zeit in Sekunden."

The values range from 4 to 20 in increments of  decreasing size.
To the left is a small box marked "Höhe" (height or altitude).

The manufacturer was "C.P. Goerz, Berlin."

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