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Sunday, May 06, 2007

The Hindenburg

Today is the 70th anniversary of the Hindenburg disaster.

At 87, Robert Buchanan says he sometimes has trouble remembering what he did 10 minutes ago. But he can recall in vivid detail the day 70 years ago when he watched the luxurious airship Hindenburg erupt into a fireball.

Flames roared across the surface of the mighty German dirigible only 100 or so feet above him, singeing his hair as he ran for his life.

“It was a piff-puff, just like someone would leave the gas on and not get the flame to it,” said Buchanan, one of the last living members of the ground crew waiting to help the Hindenburg land.

Seventy years ago Sunday, the hydrogen-filled Hindenburg ignited while easing toward its mooring mast at the U.S. Navy base in Lakehurst. The blaze killed 35 people on board and one person in the ground crew; 62 passengers and crew members survived.

“I ran quite a distance because the heat, the flame, kept shooting out ahead of me,” said Buchanan, of nearby Tuckerton. “And I really didn’t think I was going to make it, frankly.”

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In a related story, presidential candidate Hillary Diane Rodham Milhous Clinton, called for a congressional investigation into the Vast Right-Bag Conspiracy behind the explosion.
Rosie O’Donnell is on record as saying,

“This is the first time in history that hydrogen gas burned!”



For any voter trying to choose between the two candidates for commander in chief, there is no better test than this: When American strategy in a critical theater was up for grabs, John McCain proposed a highly unpopular and risky path, which he accurately predicted could lead to success. Barack Obama proposed a popular and politically safe route that would have led to an unnecessary and debilitating American defeat at the hands of al Qaeda.

Frederick W. Kagan

Proof on May 6, 2007 at 08:16 am

And how exactly did the duralumin melt? 

Fire does not melt duralumin.


What’s going to happen to US industry when the global warming extremists like John McCain double the price of electricity?  I would think all these factories will close and set up in countries where they aren’t scared of technology.


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The Whistler on May 6, 2007 at 12:48 pm
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Fire does not melt duralumin.

Worse yet, I understand that there was iron oxide coating on the sides of the airship. Iron from which we get steel, which the chief mineralogist at The View tells us doesn’t burn!



For any voter trying to choose between the two candidates for commander in chief, there is no better test than this: When American strategy in a critical theater was up for grabs, John McCain proposed a highly unpopular and risky path, which he accurately predicted could lead to success. Barack Obama proposed a popular and politically safe route that would have led to an unnecessary and debilitating American defeat at the hands of al Qaeda.

Frederick W. Kagan

Proof on May 6, 2007 at 01:15 pm
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Plus, the ship went down in New Jersey, so don’t tell me there wasn’t a mob connection!



For any voter trying to choose between the two candidates for commander in chief, there is no better test than this: When American strategy in a critical theater was up for grabs, John McCain proposed a highly unpopular and risky path, which he accurately predicted could lead to success. Barack Obama proposed a popular and politically safe route that would have led to an unnecessary and debilitating American defeat at the hands of al Qaeda.

Frederick W. Kagan

Proof on May 6, 2007 at 01:16 pm

Plus they were docking at a Navy base.  We all know about the Navy shooting down TWA Flight 800.


What’s going to happen to US industry when the global warming extremists like John McCain double the price of electricity?  I would think all these factories will close and set up in countries where they aren’t scared of technology.


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The Whistler on May 6, 2007 at 01:35 pm
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Plus! They’ve kept it covered up for seventy years!!!!!
(Lots of exclamation points means a really big conspiracy! Any bigger, and I’d have to type ALL CAPS!)



For any voter trying to choose between the two candidates for commander in chief, there is no better test than this: When American strategy in a critical theater was up for grabs, John McCain proposed a highly unpopular and risky path, which he accurately predicted could lead to success. Barack Obama proposed a popular and politically safe route that would have led to an unnecessary and debilitating American defeat at the hands of al Qaeda.

Frederick W. Kagan

Proof on May 6, 2007 at 02:09 pm

The Mythbusters did a scale model of the disaster here.

Pick the “Pick a Clip” in Mythbusters Uncut and scroll down to the blimp burn.


What’s going to happen to US industry when the global warming extremists like John McCain double the price of electricity?  I would think all these factories will close and set up in countries where they aren’t scared of technology.


The Whistler's signature
The Whistler on May 6, 2007 at 05:30 pm
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