<P> Hoehling's (and later Mooney's) hypothesis goes on to say that it is unlikely that Spehl wanted to kill people, and that he intended the airship to burn after the landing . However, with the ship already over 12 hours late, Spehl was unable to find an excuse to reset the timer on his bomb . </P> <P> It has been suggested that Adolf Hitler himself ordered the Hindenburg to be destroyed in retaliation for Eckener's anti-Nazi opinions . </P> <P> Since the publication of Hoehling's book, most airship historians, including Dr. Douglas Robinson, have dismissed Hoehling's sabotage hypothesis because no solid evidence was ever presented to support it . No pieces of a bomb were ever discovered (and there is no evidence in existing documentation that the sample collected from the wreckage, and determined to be residue from a dry cell battery, was found anywhere near the stern of the airship), and on closer examination, the evidence against Spehl and his girlfriend turned out to be rather weak . Additionally, it is unlikely that Rigger Knorr would not remain at cell 4 to further assess the purported damage claimed by Kubis . In an interview with the TV show Secrets & Mysteries, Hoehling himself asserted it was only his theory and also suggested a short - circuit could be another potential cause of the fire . Additionally, Mooney's book has been criticized as having numerous fictional elements, and it has been suggested that the plot was created for the then - upcoming 1975 film . Although Mooney alleges that three Luftwaffe officers were aboard to investigate a potential bomb threat, there is no evidence they were on board to do so, and military observers were present on previous flights to study navigational techniques and weather forecasting practices of the airship crew . </P> <P> However, opponents of the sabotage hypothesis argued that only speculation supported sabotage as a cause of the fire, and no credible evidence of sabotage was produced at any of the formal hearings . Eric Spehl died in the fire and was therefore unable to refute the accusations that surfaced a quarter of a century later . The FBI investigated Joseph Späh and reported finding no evidence of Späh having any connection to a sabotage plot . According to his wife, Evelyn, Späh was quite upset over the accusations--she later recalled that her husband was outside their home cleaning windows when he first learned that he was suspected of sabotaging the Hindenburg, and was so shocked by the news that he almost fell off the ladder on which he was standing . </P>

Who was on the hindenburg when it crashed