Seventy six years after the Hindenburg disaster, a team led by a British aeronautical engineer says it now knows what caused the airship’s destruction: static electricity. Of course, that may not come as a shocking revelation to anyone who has read up on the tragedy as the static electricity theory has been around for just as long as the various other theories – including all of the conspiracy theories (See the cause of ignition heading under the Wikipedia entry for the disaster).
So is it finally case closed for what brought down the Hindenburg? Probably not because conspiracy theories are always much more fun than boring theories about static electricity. So perhaps the latest research should be viewed as just more evidence weighing in the direction of static electricity rather than “something else.”
Stansfield’s work has become the focus of the TV documentary “What Destroyed the Hindenburg” which aired on Channel 4 last week and will air again early next week (click here for the times). However, a quick search of YouYube reveals the whole documentary has (for now) been posted here by a user and not by documentary’s creators – meaning its probably not going to be up for very long!