# Flaming Gasbag Day **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [May 6, 2005, 1:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/flaming-gasbag-day/302678 "2005-05-06T13:14:56Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 17\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Balle\_M](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/13edae/32.png) [@Balle\_M](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Balle_M)\ **Post date:** [May 6, 2005, 1:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/flaming-gasbag-day/302678/1 "2005-05-06T13:14:56Z")
No, it’s not Rush Limbaugh’s birthday. It’s the 69th anniversary of the crash of the [_Hindenburg_](http://www.nlhs.com/tragedy.htm) ---
**Author:** ![Hypno-Toad](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/b2d939/32.png) [@Hypno-Toad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hypno-Toad)\ **Post date:** [May 6, 2005, 2:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/flaming-gasbag-day/302678/2 "2005-05-06T14:05:24Z")
Oh, the Humanity! ---
**Author:** ![scout1222](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/34f0e0/32.png) [@scout1222](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/scout1222)\ **Post date:** [May 6, 2005, 2:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/flaming-gasbag-day/302678/3 "2005-05-06T14:52:31Z")
There’s really nothing humorous about a dirigible going down in flames, but I’ll be damned if the combination of “flaming gasbag” and Hypno-Toad’s response didn’t make me laugh like a loon. ---
**Author:** ![carnivorousplant](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carnivorousplant/32/3563_2.png) [@carnivorousplant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carnivorousplant)\ **Post date:** [May 6, 2005, 6:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/flaming-gasbag-day/302678/4 "2005-05-06T18:01:33Z")
I saw an interview with a cabin boy who said he escaped by punching a hole in the side of the airship. ---
**Author:** ![Encinitas](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/ee7513/32.png) [@Encinitas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Encinitas)\ **Post date:** [May 6, 2005, 6:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/flaming-gasbag-day/302678/5 "2005-05-06T18:15:36Z")
First it was _No Pants Day_. Now it’s _Flaming Gasbag Day_. Will you people please make up your minds? 😛 ---
**Author:** ![Eve](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/9e8a1a/32.png) [@Eve](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eve)\ **Post date:** [May 6, 2005, 6:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/flaming-gasbag-day/302678/6 "2005-05-06T18:17:02Z")
> [@carnivorousplant](#): > > I saw an interview with a cabin boy who said he escaped by punching a hole in the side of the airship. Why wasn’t he inside the gondola with everyone else?! ---
**Author:** ![auntie\_em](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/5e9695/32.png) [@auntie\_em](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/auntie_em)\ **Post date:** [May 6, 2005, 6:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/flaming-gasbag-day/302678/7 "2005-05-06T18:19:52Z")
From the title, I thought this was going to be a thread about the aftereffects of all the Mexican food everybody ate yesterday. :o ---
**Author:** ![a35362](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/3da27b/32.png) [@a35362](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/a35362)\ **Post date:** [May 6, 2005, 6:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/flaming-gasbag-day/302678/8 "2005-05-06T18:21:11Z")
Is it true that the announcer Herbert Morrison turned off his mike for a few seconds to throw up, and then continued reporting what he saw? I’ve always thought he did a tremendous job. ---
**Author:** ![5que](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/5/3bc359/32.png) [@5que](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/5que)\ **Post date:** [May 6, 2005, 9:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/flaming-gasbag-day/302678/9 "2005-05-06T21:08:04Z")
> [@a35362](#): > > Is it true that the announcer Herbert Morrison turned off his mike for a few seconds to throw up, and then continued reporting what he saw? Several years ago I heard a supposedly unedited tape of his broadcast where he started being very emotional, then in a normal voice asked about the sound levels and something else technical, then went back into the “oh the humanity.” The guy playing it basically said that Morrison’s demeanor was all an act for good radio. ---
**Author:** ![ultrafilter](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/3d9bf3/32.png) [@ultrafilter](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ultrafilter)\ **Post date:** [May 6, 2005, 9:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/flaming-gasbag-day/302678/10 "2005-05-06T21:10:15Z")
> [@Encinitas](#): > > First it was _No Pants Day_. Now it’s _Flaming Gasbag Day_. Will you people please make up your minds? 😛 On the same day too. Time to go light farts! ---
**Author:** ![Spatial\_Rift\_47](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a8b319/32.png) [@Spatial\_Rift\_47](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spatial_Rift_47)\ **Post date:** [May 6, 2005, 9:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/flaming-gasbag-day/302678/11 "2005-05-06T21:19:25Z")
> [@Encinitas](#): > > First it was _No Pants Day_. Now it’s _Flaming Gasbag Day_. Will you people please make up your minds? 😛 I really don’t see how the two are mutually exclusive. 😉 ---
**Author:** ![Balle\_M](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/13edae/32.png) [@Balle\_M](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Balle_M)\ **Post date:** [May 7, 2005, 1:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/flaming-gasbag-day/302678/12 "2005-05-07T01:26:52Z")
> [@Eve](#): > > Why wasn’t he inside the gondola with everyone else?! AFAIK only the actual flight crew would be in the gondola. ---
**Author:** ![Beware\_of\_Doug](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/278dde/32.png) [@Beware\_of\_Doug](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Beware_of_Doug)\ **Post date:** [May 7, 2005, 2:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/flaming-gasbag-day/302678/13 "2005-05-07T02:10:30Z")
> [@Eve](#): > > Why wasn’t [the cabin boy] inside the gondola with everyone else?! Because “everyone else” was mostly in the passenger areas, which were entirely [inside the envelope.](http://www.ciderpresspottery.com/ZLA/greatzeps/german/hind.cutaway.gif) The gondola was the zeppelin’s “bridge,” as it were, strictly for the captain and his officers, helmsmen and such. > [@5que](#): > > Several years ago I heard a supposedly unedited tape of [Herb Morrison’s] broadcast where he started being very emotional, then in a normal voice asked about the sound levels and something else technical, then went back into the “oh the humanity.” The guy playing it basically said that Morrison’s demeanor was all an act for good radio. I don’t buy it. Here’s a [discussion](http://members.aol.com/jeff1070/hindenburg.html) of the circumstances surrounding the recording — which, by the way, was a first. 1930s radio networks never broadcast _anything_ recorded, flash news or not! (The best part of the cite is when Morrison tried to reach NBC-New York by phone and is turned down by an operator who’d been told not to let any calls through. He explained he was with NBC’s Chicago affiliate. The operator told him no one would send a Chicago reporter to New Jersey and cut him off! You didn’t talk back to Ma Bell in 1937… :dubious:) ---
**Author:** ![carnivorousplant](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carnivorousplant/32/3563_2.png) [@carnivorousplant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carnivorousplant)\ **Post date:** [May 7, 2005, 2:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/flaming-gasbag-day/302678/14 "2005-05-07T02:18:46Z")
> [@carnivorousplant](#): > > I saw an interview with a cabin boy who said he escaped by punching a hole in the side of the airship. News Flash! CP Narcisstically quotes self without spelling checker! Anyway, the natural question is, did they serve alcohol aboard? 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Beware\_of\_Doug](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/278dde/32.png) [@Beware\_of\_Doug](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Beware_of_Doug)\ **Post date:** [May 7, 2005, 3:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/flaming-gasbag-day/302678/15 "2005-05-07T03:13:29Z")
Not only that, but there was a _SMOKING LOUNGE!_. HelllOOOOOOO??? :eek: ---
**Author:** ![carnivorousplant](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carnivorousplant/32/3563_2.png) [@carnivorousplant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carnivorousplant)\ **Post date:** [May 7, 2005, 3:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/flaming-gasbag-day/302678/16 "2005-05-07T03:35:27Z")
> [@Beware of Doug](#): > > Not only that, but there was a _SMOKING LOUNGE!_. HelllOOOOOOO??? :eek: One entered it through an air lock, and the only electric cigarette lighter on board was connected with a wire inside the room. I believe passengers were searched for matches and such upon boarding. Anyway, the coolest airships were U.S.A. [http://www.nlhs.com/ussakron.htm](http://www.nlhs.com/ussakron.htm) ---
**Author:** ![Beware\_of\_Doug](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/278dde/32.png) [@Beware\_of\_Doug](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Beware_of_Doug)\ **Post date:** [May 9, 2005, 5:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/flaming-gasbag-day/302678/17 "2005-05-09T17:10:02Z")
Big thanks for the link, **carny** (and **Balle\_M** ). What on Og’s green earth was the Navy thinking — to send up a crew of 75 with no lifejackets and _one_ raft? Especially after the disastrous _Shenandoah_ experience? A decision like that _had_ to have been political — I know there were admirals who wanted the airship program to just go away, in favor of carrier planes. Getting back to the _Hindenburg_ — the FBI compiled a [dossier](http://foia.fbi.gov/foiaindex/hindburg.htm) on the explosion. Intriguing reading.