Zeppelins were filled with highly flammable hydrogen gas not because it was the safest option, but because the United States legally refused to sell non-flammable helium to Germany.

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Zeppelins were filled with highly flammable hydrogen gas not because it was the safest option, but because the United States legally refused to sell non-flammable helium to Germany. In the years leading up to the Hindenburg disaster, American geopolitical paranoia caused a strict export ban on helium, which was heavily stockpiled in Texas, forcing German engineers to use the incredibly volatile alternative. They basically built an entire fleet of luxurious flying hotels equipped with smoking lounges and grand pianos, suspended directly underneath a massive floating bomb, just hoping for the best. The inevitable, fiery destruction of the Hindenburg permanently ruined the public’s perception of airships, effectively erasing a future where we could all be sipping champagne on quiet, slow-moving luxury clouds instead of being crammed into aluminum tubes