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“— ‘ - AIR COMM. ; BULLETIN | 29 Witness H. W. Bauer stated that after the janding Tope bad becn fastened, he went from iis position to the port window in the control car and obnerved the tension- ing of the landing ropes. At the time of thet observation, there was ‘a strong shock in the control car and his first assumption waa that the landing rope had broken. Witness Mnx Zabel, ship's third officer, Mtated that he observed the bow trall ropes being dropped: thot the port traii rope became rather’ tight. Ie Saw the ends of the ropes which were tied together _ . : whirl around and tighten. Imm lntely ; efter this landing rope had become tight, _ an explosico was heard and the destruc- tion of the ship occurred. He described the vibration that was feit in the control rar a8 an extraerdinary ‘one. Witness Dowe, ship radioman, testified that while watching one of the’ landin Topes being handled by the ground crew fhere Budden]y Was &one tearing in the ship, a nietallic tearing. A passenger Teported, “and ,then ae that rope was Retting taut, I ,fieard a detonation * © ‘e a BPearance of fre were looking at the port Bide of the ship, After carefuliy welghing the oral evidence and transeribing to a master diagram the Gumerous diagrams on which the ground witnesses indicated their first observations of fire, we conclude that the first open fame, produced by the burning of the Bhip's hydrogen, appeared on the top of the ahip forward of the entering edge of the verilcal] fin over eclla 4 and 5. The first open flame that was seen at that place was followed after a Ye brief interval by a burst of Haining hydrogen between the equator and the {op of the ship. The fire spread in all directions, movin progressively forward at high velocity with a succession of mild ex. plosions. As the stern quarter became en- veloped, the ship float buoyancy and cracked at about one-quarter of the distance from the rear end. The forward Part assumed a bow-up attitude, the rear eppearing to +e- main level. At the same time the Bhip was settling to the ground at a moderate rate of descent. Whereas, there was a definite detonation after flame was firet observed on the ship, we beHeve that the phenomensn was initially a rapid burning or combus- tlon—not an explosion. From the observa- tions made, it appears that there was a quantity of free lirdrogen present in the after part of the ship when the fire originated. A brief résumé of the observations made within the stern of the ship shows that Witness Helmut Lau, who was standing on the ladder leading up to the lower cat. walk from the lower vertical fin and was looking up facing the port side of the fin. heard above him ea muffled detonation and Raw ftom the starboard side, down inside the gas cell. 2 bright reflection on the front bulkhead of cell no, 4, He aaw no fire at first, but a bright reflection through and inside the cel]. The cell suddenlr disap- peared because of the heat. Then cella 3 and o caught fire. This witness said he did not see the center of the origin of the fire, but it must have been farther up since be saw the reflection of fire through the cell wall material. It was the same t¥pe of explosion that one hears when using a kitchen gas range. when first lighting the flame or turning it off. Witness Lan did not stnell any hydrogen at the time he made these ‘observations. Witness Tans Freund was letting eut the after moortng cable at frame 47 and had let cut a few meters of it when be heard a muffled deto- nation. Fire was simultaneous with the ex- Plosion. He was gurrounded by fire im- mediately, Witness Rudolph Sauter, who Was stationed in the keel of the lower vertieal fin, first heard a dull detonation. then BAYT fire in cell no. 4. a big fire, which he jdenti- fied as a hvdrogen fire.’ None of these witnesses in the stern of the ship felt anr unustal vibration or heard any brenking of structures prior to the detonation or the sigbt of fire or reflection of fire. None of the other members of the crew or Basskengers on board the ship observed fire or reflection of fire until after fepling pn unusual yibration or shock or hearing the detonation. Part V.—The Combustible Mixture and Its Ignition Sensations Within the Ship In describing their bervoug reactions at the meginn ne of the accident, some of the persons within the ship, in addition to such descriptions as are provided in the preced. ing paragraph, 6 oke, In effect, as follows ; Witness Severin lein—When the ship was almost standing still. it gave a sudden jolt. Witness Xavier Maler-—Firgt he heard det- onation; then he noticed the vibration, the sheck. and fel! on his beck. Witness Heinrich Kubis—First heard or felt an ex- plosion approximately at the same time that the ship took a Sharp inclination. Witness Lenz—The sound that he heard he thoyght mizht have been a landing rope breaking. Witness Claus Hinkelhbeln—The jerk and the Sound of the detonation and the sight of the fire or the reflection of fire were nit simultaneous. Witness Eurt Bauer—No. ticed @ cracking shock which originated in the rear. Witners Wittemana—When he heard dull detonation. thud, his frst tdeq Was that rope hed parted. Witness Walter Ziegler—Saw how ‘the Port landing rope was hauled tight; shortly thereafter be heard a dull thud or detonation and a heavy shock went through the ship. Witness Kurt Schoenherr—It was a Strong shock he genset after hearing a rather duli detonation. Witness Sammt—His first intimation that Something was out of order War a heavy push, about the same shock as if the ship had been pushed to the side and the landing rope had broken, Neither prior to nor after the push did he hear o muffiea explosion. He did not associate the push with anrthing that might have occurred tn the after part of the ship. Appearance of Fire Numerous expert and lay witnesses on the field testified as to where they first ob- served the fire on the ship. There was great diversity in this testimony for reasons that Are very apparent. Among the most im- Portant of these reasone wete the extreme rapidity with which the fire spread, the dif- ferent positions of the Witnesses with re- Bpect to the ship, the size of the ship. more than one-sixth of a mile in Jength. and an over-all helght equivalent. to a 12-story building, and the fact that at the time of the fire it was still daylight, Tt is es timated that the interval between the first glimpse of flame and the impact of the main body of the ship with the ground was 32 seconds. The great majority of the ground witnesses who testified as to the first ap- Having retraced the course of events and the circumstances surrounding the accident, we come to the question, why did the fire occur? Ag yet, with the few exceptions to be noted, no more has been provided than a hypothetical approach to the auswer. We have weighed the several theories that have been advanced.