[TylerE]

No it wasn't. The German Zeppelin's always run hydrogen. At the time the US had the only real supply of helium and they wouldn't sell to Germany.

[FlyMoreRockets]

Okay, I stand corrected about it flying on helium, thank you for correcting me, +1. However, the Hindenburg was designed to fly using helium as the lift gas.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hindenburg-class_airship#Lift_...

The article goes on to say the difference in lift between hydrogen and helium is only 8%.

Edit: drop the apostrophe on zeppelins

[TylerE]

8% of 500,000lbs is....