I don't think hydrogen powered planes will substantially replace normal planes for reasons having to do partially with safety and partially with performance, but I think the engineering problems are surmountable. There are existing prototypes that have flown using hydrogen fuel cells, and the Tu-155 which ran on liquid hydrogen (used as fuel for its jet engines though, not to power fuel cells). So it's not like this stuff doesn't work.
I think you are overestimating the difficulty of dealing with embrittlement. Many materials don't suffer from embrittlement at all, and others (like aluminum) only suffer at high temperatures.
Edit: I also wanted to add to the person who made the claim "kerosene burns, hydrogen explodes" that kerosone can explode too, and it obviously is possible to handle hydrogen in a way that explosion is unlikely or it wouldn't be used as rocket fuel (where it is literally combusted with oxygen... combusted, not exploded). I agree that hydrogen is more dangerous than kerosene, but it's not like kerosene is that safe either and the question is whether you can create good enough processes around the storage and handling of hydrogen to offset the risk.
I think you are overestimating the difficulty of dealing with embrittlement. Many materials don't suffer from embrittlement at all, and others (like aluminum) only suffer at high temperatures.
Edit: I also wanted to add to the person who made the claim "kerosene burns, hydrogen explodes" that kerosone can explode too, and it obviously is possible to handle hydrogen in a way that explosion is unlikely or it wouldn't be used as rocket fuel (where it is literally combusted with oxygen... combusted, not exploded). I agree that hydrogen is more dangerous than kerosene, but it's not like kerosene is that safe either and the question is whether you can create good enough processes around the storage and handling of hydrogen to offset the risk.