Based on the title, you’re expecting a Michael Moore mock, aren’t you. Today marks the 72nd anniversary of the confirmation of the theory that using hundreds of thousands of cubic feet of a combustible gas to defy gravity may not be the smartest idea – even if the system was designed by the master race. Oh the humanity.
You’ll recall that the reason that the Hindy used hydrogen was that the US had pretty much cornered the world’s supply of helium and we weren’t selling to the Nazis. If a similar thing happened today, I’m sure that we would be sued in international court for “causing” the accident.
In terms of air disasters, this one shouldn’t have really rated much of a blip on the radar. More people get killed in a commuter plane crash these days. Yet, aviation was still cutting edge back then, plus you had that electrifying broadcast that flew around the nation, with news-reel images to follow. Up to this point, there were still a significant number of people who thought that lighter-than-air airships would wrest control of the skies from fixed-wing aircraft. After May 6, 1937, it was game, set and match for Mr. Bernoulli and his principle.
The Navy would screw around with dirigables for a while longer, but after a few disasters of their own they were forced to abandon the efforts. The structural technology and, as important, the ability to spot and avoid severe weather just weren’t at the right stage of development yet. Kinda cool to see that the technology is making a comeback today, and not just for advertising purposes.
Side story: about 20 years ago the company I was working with tried to rent the Goodyear blimp for a month, as part of a study to determine atmospheric dispersion patterns. Turns out they don’t rent Goodyear blimps. MetLife was willing to rent theirs (the whores!) but the price was out of our range. Pity that – I was really looking forward to getting my honorary blimp pilot’s wings, er – balloon.
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It was not so much with the disasters of rigid air ships that our Navy should be remembered (one of which, the Akron possibly, lies in the waters off the Big Sur here), but the non-rigid blimps which helped us defeat the German U-Boats by providing coastal patrols to spot enemy submarines while covering a large expanse of sea. They also were used in Mid Atlantic convoy duties, towed by surface vessels, which was possible because we also had air craft carriers and the Nazis did not.