◆ SpookStack

two degrees off from the rudder on the starboard side. According to Tobin these two rudders should be properly synchronized, and therefore, 4f working properly, should be in relatively the same position. He stated thet the Hindenburg continued to make a left turn and slowly approach the mooring mast for the landing operations, and at this time he would estimate that she was approximately 300 feet in the air and upon checking her forward motion it appeared that she started to grad~ ually ehift to the port side. He states that the trail ropes were dropped from the ship and he recalle that the port trail rope was at- tached to the yawl guide line by the grounding crew and that the ster~- board rope was also taken up by the grounding crew on the starboard side, but apparently was not long enough to attach to the starboard yawl guide line. He is of the opinion that the starboard trail rope was never attached to the starboard yawl guide line, It was at this time that Officer Tobin noticed a burst of smoke and flame, accompanied by a crackling sound, and further, that the sound heard by him was quite similar to the sound that he remembered hearing at the time that the Shenandoah cracked up in the middle west, at which time he was a member of the crew. He stated that the ground crew, while taken by surprise, immediately followed ordere and attempted to get out from under the bow of the ship, inasmich as the ship was BPR A eee flames and crashed to the earthe 5 settling rapidly towards the earth. ; . al He was of the opinion that the flame noticed by him started in the aft part of the ship near the rear port fin, and a little below the equator of the superstructure. He also recalls that shortly after z ruming away from the wreck, the tail of the Hindenburg enveloped in ny wy Upon being questioned concerning his observance at the time of the outbreak of the fire, he informed that he saw the flames and heard the detonation but he could not recall exactly how the engines, either forward or aft, were functioning. However, he does recall] that just prior to the explosion the engines were working a little more rap- idly than usual, and further, he reoalls that they were making « little more noise than they usually made during the process of landing manoeuvers3 however, there appeared to be nothing irregular about the engines. He also stated that he did not see any of the engines idling from the posi- tion that he had assumed, whioh position was directly under the mooring cone at the nose of the ship. Upon further inquiry regarding the rudder positions, he clarified the rudder appearance by stating that the lower rudder ap-