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whee pate — - 28 a. AIR COMMEsVE BULLETIN } : disturbances or squalls. Witness Nelson Morris, 4 passenger, stated that a very light rain fell exactly as the ailp came over the ficld the last time, but until that time there had been no rain. Witness Anton Witte. mann, who had commanded the alrahip Graf Zeppelin, stated. that when the Hinden- burg approached for Ita landing maneuver and ag it passed through the front, the weather conditions as seen from the ship Were entirely favorable; the thunderstorm hed passed into ordinary rain. The ship en- tercd somewhat heavy’ rain which became much lighter when closing in on the station. At the approach there were no cumulus clouds; there was a clear-cut stratus layer from which light rain was falling. Witness if, . Bauer, second watch officer of the ship, said that about 20 minutes before the landing approach the ship passed through a heavy rain and through stratus clougs con- taining rain before meking the apbroach. Tt did not pass near any lightning. Incidents Before the Fire ‘ Before the fire broke out, the ship was being held by the bow port tral] rope which dad been coupled te the Port yaw Jine and a strain had Bn taken on this rope around the niggerhead of the’ ground winch. The bow starboard trail rope had not deen cou- Bled to the ground line, but was being han- died by the starboard bow landing party, At-no time during the approach did the ship Come closer to the moorlng mast than TOO fect. The main bow cable of the ahip at thie time had been jet out about 54) feet, but nelther it nor any of the cables or ropes ip the stern bhnd reached the ground before the fire started. After the trait ropes in the bow had been dropped, the ship uo longer had any forward speed. | It began to move up and astern and also to swing slowly to starboard. Then a light gust was felt from port. Flattering of Outer Cover *“ Witness R. H. Ward, in charge of the port bow landing party, a couple of seconds before the fire, had his attention attracted by a noticeable fluttering of the outer cover on the top port side between frames 62 and 77, which includes cell no. 5. No smoke or other disturbance accompanied the flutter when he first anw it. It was a wave mo- tion, adn his cpinion the motion of the aurface was not due to the slip stream or resonance effect of the propeller. Ji was entirely too high from the propeller. It ap- peared to him to be more Ike an action of Fas inside pushing °P: as if gas wis es- caping. He apparently bad seen this action occur in other aircraft, The ship had no perceptible forward motion the time he observed the flutter; ita engines were idling in forward rotation. The fabric bad not opened up when he first made the observa- tion, The flutter was followed by a ball of fame approximately 10 feet or so in ameter: then came an explosion, On a giagram this witness indicated that the first appearance of fire was near the top of the shin and above the point where he saw the flutter. With respect to this testimony, Witness Eckener said that a leak in a fas cell, permitting the escape of 40 to 56 cubic meters of gas per second, would be sufficient to cause a flutter in the outer cover Which could be observed ag reported, but probably would not be enough to draw the attention of those in the control ear to a loss of buoyancy aft. Witness R. W. Antrim, who Was on top of the mocring mast, aleo stated he saw that the fabric behind the after port engine was very looge and fluttering. It ex- tended rearward and upward from the after port engine to a quarter of the way to the tail. as en Altitudes at Landing When the ship was brought to a stop over the landing point, its altitude was about 180 feet above the ground. It rose to about 200 feet when the how port landing ropes checked ita further upwaril rise, Thereafter, it descended to about 185 to 150 fect when the accident happened, Electric Installations According to Witness Phitpp Lenz, chief electrician of the ship, no fuses blew nor did any circuit breakers operate just prior to the fire. The several circults of the ship Were Intact, the interior ship lights and the bavigution Hghts Were burn ug 28 usual, Rudder Two witnesses testified that the top and bottom rudder did not appear to be working in unison when the ship came over the field. From other testimony it appears that the rudders Were fuoctioning normally, Part IV.—The Fire Ground Log It was the practice at the naval gir sta- tion to maintain a log of events in connec- tion with the landing of the Hindenburg. The log of ite last landin reveals that the first approach of the ship, fh landing maneu- ver was sighted at 6:15 pm. E. 5. T., May 6, approximately over the officers” quarters on the station, At 6:21 p. m., the bow trail ropes were dropped, on @ bearing of 30° from the mooring mast, first, the starboard rope, followed immediately by the port rop Ship was firet observed Tm, e, Strain on Port Trail Rope afire at 6: 25 p. The drift of the ship to Starboard, ac- cording to the mooring officer, witness Ty- ler, was finnily checked by means of the port trail rope. This rope was hauled up taut on the winch. The starboard trail . rope was being handled by the manpower of the starboard bow party. Witness Al- bert stoeffer, one of the ship’s _ cooks, who was looking down from a window in the ship, stated that he “saw how the landing crew came running up, and how they loosened the knot of that Fope and fastened it to the lower lines on the ground. Then I saw how the ropes took tension and at the moment i felt a very strong detonation of the ship, vibration of the ship. * © * JY did not notice any ex. Plosion. 7 ouly noticed that vibration I Wag speaking about before,” He thought the ship was striking the mooring mast. Description of Landing The Janding made on this occasion has been described as a high landing or flying mooring, a method o landing which is occasionally employed, Some ualified wit- nesses stated that it was normally conducted nh every respect. Among, these were Wit- nesses Rowendahl and A. F. Heineu. Others Indicated that the approach seemed hur- ried; that the ship made what seamed to be a fairly short turn and approached the mooring circle fairly rapidity. Based upon the statements of other witnesses, Witness Eckener expressed the view that the ship must have proceeded in a sharp turn to approach for its landing. Witness Sammt said the tutns were normal,