It was indeed the fabric, and the nitrocellulose/aluminum powder/iron
oxide dope (thermite with a fuse, so to speak). The Deutchland was
immediately grounded and the entire covering removed and replaced
before she flew again (on the South American route) for this very
reason.
Needless to say, the Nazis didn't bother to tell anyone else what
happened, mostly for liability reasons. Painting an airship with
something that can be ignited by a spark (or even a tear in the
fabric) isn't too smart.
On top of the flammability, the individual panels of linen fabric were
NOT grounded together with conductive thread, so the static discharge
to the ground line caused a spark somewhere in the tail that ignited
some of the linen panels. Fire spread from the tail forward, as you
can see from the films of the event.
Naturally, thermite (iron oxide and aluminum powder) burns HOT -- a
family friend of ours worked for the railroad immediately before WWII
and used it to weld railroad rails together. Leaves molten iron as
"ash".
History Detectives did a piece on this, if you ignore the theatrics
it's quite interesting.
Peter
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