The unsubstantiated belief that inert gas could shield observation balloons from incendiary bullets found unwitting taxpayers underwriting a costly helium¿extraction industry. The war ended before a single balloon was combat¿tested, yet postwar dispensation was preserved by scapegoating hydrogen gas as causing two unrelated petroleum¿and¿flammable¿material crashes. The Helium Act of 1925 strangled airship operations, gutted performance, and crippled development-while petroleum¿driven fires actually increased. Yet the 1937 amendment permitting nonmilitary helium sales serendipitously catalyzed the scientific and technological advances vital to today's technologies. With taxpayer subsidies ending in 2024 and foreign supply disruptions worsening, continuing to squander this non-renewable resource on impermanent air displacement is indefensible. Profitable airships joining the hydrogen economy can at last reclaim their long¿delayed performance potential.