Question

The Hindenburg ...

Answer 1

I don't think it was ever determined exactly what set off the fire, whether lightning, bomb sabotage, or perhaps just a leak in one of the hydrogen bags, when any small spark could then have ignited the mixture of hydrogen and atmospheric oxygen.

Comments

True! Another unsolved mystery we'll never know the truth about!

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This clip shows a successful prior docking.

And when the Hindenburg  crashed, the fire definitely broke out initially in the rear.  The clip posted by Furry showed the rear of the airship sagging as it came in, and mentioned several releases of ballast water from the rear, so maybe there indeed was a hydrogen leak back there.

Answer 2

This happened a few years before I was born, but I still remember it as if it were in my lifetime. This 1937 disaster was still high in the sympathies of the public in the 1940's and even the '50's.

Answer 3

Almost 80 years of research and scientific tests support the same conclusion reached by the original German and American accident investigations in 1937: It seems clear that the Hindenburg disaster was caused by an electrostatic discharge (i.e., a spark) that ignited leaking hydrogen.

So they say!

https://www.airships.net/hindenburg/disaster/#:~:text=Almost%2080%20years%20of%20research,spark)%20that%20ignited%20leaking%20hydrogen.

Comments

Excellent article, Rooster.

Answer 4

https://archive.org/details/SF145