The Hindenburg Disaster | Airships.net Search for: The Hindenburg Disaster The Hindenburg disaster at Lakehurst, New Jersey on May 6, 1937 brought an end to the age of the rigid airship. The disaster killed 35 persons on the airship, and one member of the ground crew, but miraculously 62 of the 97 passengers and crew survived . After more than 30 years of passenger travel on commercial zeppelins — in which tens of thousands of passengers flew over a million miles, on more than 2,000 flights, without a single injury — the era of the passenger airship came to an end in a few fiery minutes. The Last Word in Speed and Luxury Hindenburg was the last passenger aircraft of the world’s first airline — her chief steward was the first flight attendant in history — and she was the fastest way to cross the Atlantic in her day.

Hindenburg’s passengers could travel from Europe to North and South America in half the time of the fastest ocean liner, and they traveled in luxurious interiors that would never again be matched in the air; they enjoyed meals in an elegant dining room, listened to an aluminum piano in a modern lounge, slept in comfortable cabins, and could even have a cigarette or cigar in the ship’s smoking room . Hindenburg’s Dining Room All that came to an end in 32 seconds because above the elegant passenger quarters were 7 million cubic feet of hydrogen gas. The Cause of the Disaster, in Brief Almost 80 years of research and scientific tests support the same conclusion reached by the original German and American accident investigations in 1937: It seems clear that the Hindenburg disaster was caused by an electrostatic discharge (i.e., a spark) that ignited leaking hydrogen .

The spark was most likely caused by a difference in electric potential between the airship and the surrounding air: The airship was approximately 60 meters (about 200 feet) above the airfield in an electrically charged atmosphere, but the ship’s metal framework was grounded by its landing line; the difference in electric potential likely caused a spark to jump from the ship’s fabric covering (which had the ability to hold a charge) to the ship’s framework (which was grounded through the landing line). A somewhat less likely but still plausible theory attributes the spark to coronal discharge, more commonly known as St. Elmo’s Fire. The cause of the hydrogen leak is more of a mystery, but we know the ship experienced a significant leakage of hydrogen before the disaster. No evidence of sabotage was ever found, and no convincing theory of sabotaged has ever been advanced. One thing is clear: the disaster had nothing to do with the zeppelin’s fabric covering . Hindenburg was just one of many hydrogen airships destroyed by fire because of their flammable lifting gas, and suggestions about the alleged flammability of the ship’s outer covering have been repeatedly debunked.

The simple truth is that Hindenburg was destroyed in 32 seconds because it was inflated with hydrogen . The Last Flight of the Hindenburg Hindenburg began its last flight on May 3, 1937, carrying 36 passengers and 61 officers, crew members, and trainees . It was the airship’s 63rd flight . The ship left the Frankfurt airfield at 7:16 PM and flew over Cologne, and then crossed the Netherlands before following the English Channel past the chalky cliffs of Beachy Head in southern England, and then heading out over the Atlantic shortly after 2:00 AM the next day. Hindenburg at the Frankfurt airfield in 1936 Hindenburg followed a northern track across the ocean [view chart ], passing the southern tip of Greenland and crossing the North American coast at Newfoundland. Headwinds delayed the airship’s passage across the Atlantic, and the Lakehurst arrival, which had been scheduled for 6:00 AM on May 6th, was postponed to 6:00 PM.

By noon on May 6th the ship had reached Boston, and by 3:00 PM Hindenburg was over the skyscrapers of Manhattan in New York City (view photograph ). New York City beneath Hindenburg (photo from engine car) The ship flew south from New York and arrived at the Naval Air Station at Lakehurst, New Jersey at around 4:15 PM, but the poor weather conditions at the field concerned the Hindenburg’s commander, Captain Max Pruss , and also Lakehurst’s commanding officer, Charles Rosendahl , who sent a message to the ship recommending a delay in landing until conditions improved. Captain Pruss departed the Lakehurst area and took his ship over the beaches and coast of New Jersey to wait out the storm.

By 6:00 PM conditions had improved; at 6:12 Rosendahl sent Pruss a message relaying temperature, pressure, visibility, and winds which Rosendahl considered “suitable for landing.” At 6:22 Rosendahl radioed Pruss “Recommend landing now,” and at 7:08 Rosendahl sent a message to the ship strongly recommending the “earliest possible landing.” Hindenburg flying over Princeton University on May 6, 1937, in a photograph taken by Princeton student Thornton Gerrish ’37 from his dorm room in Pyne Hall. (Photo reprinted with kind permission of Haden and Campbell Gerrish, who retain all rights.) The Landing Approach Hindenburg approached the field at Lakehurst from the southwest shortly after 7:00 PM at an altitude of approximately 600 feet. Since the wind was from the east, after passing over the field to observe conditions on the ground, Captain Pruss initiated a wide left turn to fly a descending oval pattern around the north and west of the field, to line up for a landing into the wind to the east. Hindenburg landing approach (from U.S.

Commerce Department report) While Captain Pruss (who was directing the ship’s heading and engine power settings) brought Hindenburg around the field, First Officer Albert Sammt (who was responsible for the ship’s trim and altitude, assisted by Watch Officer Walter Ziegler at the gas board and Second Officer Heinrich Bauer at the ballast board), valved 15 seconds of hydrogen along the length of the ship to reduce Hindenburg’s buoyancy in preparation for landing. The gas board used to valve hydrogen to keep the ship in trim. As Pruss continued the slow left turn of the oval landing pattern, reducing, and then reversing, the power from the engines, Sammt noticed that the ship was heavy in the tail and valved hydrogen from cells 11-16 (in the bow) for a total of 30 seconds, to reduce the buoyancy of the bow and keep the ship in level trim. When this failed to level the ship, Sammt ordered three drops of water ballast, totaling 1,100 kg (2,420lbs), from Ring 77 in the tail, and then valved an additional 5 seconds of hydrogen from the forward gas cells.

When even these measures could not keep the ship in level trim, six crewmen were ordered to go forward to add their weight to the bow. (That Captain Pruss personally directed the ship’s heading and power settings during the landing evolution was an exception to the usual German operating procedure . Typically, during the landing of Hindenburg or Graf Zeppelin, the rudder and power were under the direction of one senior watch officer, while the elevators, ballast, and gas were under the direction of another senior watch officer; the ship’s captain observed all operations, but only intervened in the case of difficulty or disagreement with the actions of his officers. The German procedure was noted frequently by American naval observers, perhaps because it differed so greatly from the practice followed by the United States Navy. During Hindenburg’s final landing maneuver, however, Captain Pruss personally directed the rudder and power, while Albert Sammt directed the elevators, ballast, and gas.

Perhaps Pruss was simply used to this arrangement from his time as a watch officer, or perhaps a re-ordering of roles occurred because of the presence of senior captain and DZR flight director Ernst Lehmann on the bridge, but as far as this author knows, Captain Pruss never commented on the matter publicly, nor did Pruss ever try to evade his responsibility as commander by suggesting that Captain Lehmann was in actual operational control at the time of the accident.) Captain Albert Sammt While Sammt was working to keep the ship in trim, the wind shifted direction from the east to the southwest. Captain Pruss now needed to land into the wind on a southwestly heading, rather than the easterly heading he had originally intended when he planned his oval landing pattern. Hindenburg was now close to the landing area, however, and did not have a lot of room to maneuver before reaching the mooring mast. Anxious to land quickly, before weather conditions could deteriorate, Captain Pruss decided to execute a tight S-turn to change the direction of the ship’s landing; Pruss ordered a turn to port to swing out, and then a sharp tight turn to starboard to line up for landing into the wind.

(Some experts would later theorize that this sharp turn overstressed the ship, causing a bracing wire to snap and slash a gas cell, allowing hydrogen to mix with air to form a highly explosive combination.) After the S-turn to change the direction of landing, Pruss continued his approach to the mooring mast, adjusting power from the two forward and two rear engines, and at 7:21, with the ship about 180 feet above the ground, the forward landing ropes were dropped. The Fire A few minutes after the landing lines were dropped, R.H. Ward, in charge of the port bow landing party, noticed what he described as a wave-like fluttering of the outer cover on the port side, between frames 62 and 77, which contained gas cell number 5 . He testified at the Commerce Department inquiry that it appeared to him as if gas were pushing against the cover, having escaped from a gas cell. Ground crew member R.W. Antrim, who was at the top of the mooring mast, also testified that he saw that the covering behind the rear port engine fluttering. At 7:25 PM, the first visible external flames appeared.

Reports vary, but most witnesses saw the first flames either at the top of the hull just forward of the vertical fin (near the ventilation shaft between cells 4 and 5) or between the rear port engine and the port fin (in the area of gas cells 4 and 5, where Ward and Antrim had seen the fluttering). (click to enlarge) For example, Lakehurst commander Rosendahl described a “mushroom shaped flower” of flame bursting into bloom in front of the upper fin. Navy Lt. Benjamin May, the assistant mooring officer, who was atop the mooring mast, testified that an area just behind the rear port engine (where Ward and Antrim reported the fluttering) “seemed to collapse,” after which he saw streaks of flame followed by a muffled explosion, and then the entire tail was engulfed by flame. Navy ground crew member William Bishop described seeing flames “inside” the ship a little above and aft of the rear port engine car. Location of helmsmen Helmut Lau at the time of the explosion. Several witnesses inside the ship also saw the beginning of the fire.

Helmsman Helmut Lau, who was stationed at the auxiliary control stand in the lower fin, heard “a muffled detonation and looked up and saw from the starboard side down inside the gas cell a bright reflection on the front bulkhead of cell No. 4.” Lau described the flames he saw at cell 4 at the inquiry: “The bright reflection in the cell was inside. I saw it through the cell. It was at first red and yellow and there was smoke in it. The cell did not burst on the lower side. The cell suddenly disappeared by the heat…. The fire proceeded further down and then it got air. The flame became very bright and the fire rose up to the side, more to the starboard side, as I remember seeing it, and I saw that with the flame aluminum parts and fabric parts were thrown up. In that same moment the forward cell and the back cell of cell 4 also caught fire [cell 3 and cell 5]. At that time parts of girders, molten aluminum and fabric parts started to tumble down from the top.

The whole thing only lasted a fraction of a second.” The fire quickly spread and soon engulfed the tail of the ship, but the ship remained level for a few more seconds before the tail began to sink and the nose pointed upward to the sky, with a blowtorch of flame erupting from the bow where twelve crew members were stationed, including the six who were sent forward to keep ship in trim. In the port and starboard promenades on the passenger decks, where many of the passengers and some of the crew had gathered to watch the landing, the rapidly increasing angle of the ship caused passengers and crew to tumble against the walls, the furniture, and each other; passenger Margaret Mather recalled being hurled 15-20 feet against the rear wall of the dining room and being pinned against a bench by several other people. Survival and Death The fire spread so quickly — consuming the ship in less than a minute — that survival was largely a matter of where one happened to be located when the fire broke out.

Passengers and crew members began jumping out the promenade windows to escape the burning ship, and most of the passengers and all of the crew who were in the public rooms on A Deck at the time of the fire — close to the promenade windows — did survive. Those who were deeper inside the ship, in the passenger cabins at the center of the decks or the crew spaces along the keel, generally died in the fire. One passenger, John Pannes (the New York manager for the Hamburg-America Line, which handled passenger reservations for the Deutsche Zeppelin-Reederei), was in the dining room when the fire broke out; encouraged to jump by ship’s photographer Karl Otto Clemens, who escaped through one of the windows and survived, Pannes instead left the dining room to find his wife Emma, who had returned to their cabin for her coat. Both died in the fire. Mr and Mrs Hermann Doehner and their three children (Irene, 16; Walter 10; and Werner, 8 ) were also in the dining room watching the landing, but Mr Doehner left before the fire broke out.

Mrs Doehner and her two young sons jumped to safety, but Irene left the dining room in search of her father, and both died as a result of the crash. Given the speed with which Hindenburg burned, survival for the crew was also largely a matter of luck. As the diagram below illustrates, those who were close to a means of exit at the time of the fire generally survived, including 9 of the 11 men in the engine cars, and 10 of the 12 men in the control car. Those who were deep inside the ship, such as the electricians in the power room along the keel, or Max Schulze in the smoking room bar on B Deck, or those on the starboard side (since the flaming ship rolled slightly to starboard as it hit the ground) were generally trapped in the wreck. And the men stationed in the bow — who were exposed to the column of flame that rose through the ship as the bow pointed skyward — had the least chance; the 9 men who were closest to the front of the ship at the time of the fire all died. Location of officers and crew at time of fire; those killed are in red, those who survived are in green.

(click to enlarge) As the ship settled to the ground, less than 30 seconds after the first flames were observed, those who had jumped from the burning craft scrambled for safety, as did members of the ground crew who had been positioned on the field below the ship. Natural instinct caused those on the ground to run from the burning wreck as fast as they could, but Chief Petty Officer Frederick J. “Bull” Tobin, a longtime airship veteran and an enlisted airship pilot who was in charge of the Navy landing party, cried out to his sailors: “Navy men, Stand fast!!” Bull Tobin had survived the crash of USS Shenandoah, and he was not about to abandon those in peril on an airship, even if it meant his own life. And his sailors agreed. Films of the disaster (see below) clearly show sailors turning and running back toward the burning ship to rescue survivors; those films are a permanent tribute to the courage of the sailors at Lakehurst that day. The Final Toll Hindenburg left Frankfurt with 97 souls onboard; 62 survived the crash at Lakehurst, although many suffered serious injuries.

Thirteen of the 36 passengers , and twenty-two of the 61 crew , died as a result of the crash, along with one member of the civilian landing party (Allen Hagaman). The End of the Airship Era The public seemed remarkably forgiving of the accident-prone zeppelin prior to the Hindenburg disaster, and the glamorous and speedy Hindenburg was greeted with public enthusiasm despite a long list of previous airship accidents. But while airships like USS Akron (on which 73 died) crashed at sea, and the British R-101 (on which 48 were killed) crashed in the darkness of night — both far from witnesses or cameras — the crash of the Hindenburg was captured on film. Millions of people around the world saw the dramatic inferno which consumed the ship and its passengers. Oh, the Humanity! At least, that’s the conventional wisdom about why the age of the zeppelin died that rainy day at Lakehurst.

But perhaps after 35 years of accidents and disasters — the crashes of LZ-4, LZ-5, Deutschland, Deutschland II, Schwaben, R-38, R-101, Shenandoah, Akron, Macon, and the list goes on — perhaps the public had just had enough. And more importantly, despite its romance and grandeur, Hindenburg was obsolete before it ever flew. On November 22, 1935 — three months before Hindenburg first took to the air — Pan American Airways’ M-130 China Clipper made the first scheduled flight across the Pacific . The M-130 could have crossed the Atlantic with ease; its 2,400-mile route San Francisco to Honolulu was longer than distance required to cross the North Atlantic. In fact, Pan Am’s M-130 was designed for the Atlantic, and it was only political (not technological) considerations that prevented Pan Am from inaugurating transatlantic airline service in 1935; the British refused to grant Pan Am landing rights until Britain had a plane that could make the same flight, but Britain was far behind America in the development of a long-distance airliner.

Between the cost of its infrastructure and crew, inherent safety issues, and the development of better technology, the rigid passenger airship was doomed long before Hindenburg landed at Lakehurst that fateful day in May. Airships.net author Dan Grossman at the site of the Hindenburg crash More information about the Disaster: Hindenburg - Facts & Summary - HISTORY.com Google The Hindenburg was a 245-metre- (804-foot-) long airship of conventional zeppelin design that was launched at Friedrichshafen, Germany, in March 1936. It had a maximum speed of 135 km (84 miles) per hour and a cruising speed of 126 km (78 miles) per hour. Though it was designed to be filled with helium gas, the airship was filled with highly flammable hydrogen owing to export restrictions by the United States against Nazi Germany. In 1936 the Hindenburg inaugurated commercial air service across the North Atlantic by carrying 1,002 passengers on 10 scheduled round trips between Germany and the United States. Did You Know? The Hindenburg was originally made to use helium gas.

On May 6, 1937, while landing at Lakehurst, N.J., on the first of its scheduled 1937 trans-Atlantic crossings, the Hindenburg burst into flames and was completely destroyed. Thirty-six of the 97 persons aboard were killed. The fire was officially attributed to a discharge of atmospheric electricity in the vicinity of a hydrogen gas leak from the airship, though it was speculated that the dirigible was the victim of an anti-Nazi act of sabotage. The Hindenburg disaster marked the end of the use of rigid airships in commercial air transportation. Tags 5 things to know about the Hindenburg disaster 5 things to know about the Hindenburg disaster Here are five things to know about the Hindenburg. Post to Facebook 5 things to know about the Hindenburg disaster Here are five things to know about the Hindenburg. Check out this story on USATODAY.com: CancelSend A link has been sent to your friend's email address. Posted! A link has been posted to your Facebook feed.

9 To find out more about Facebook commenting please read the Conversation Guidelines and FAQs 5 things to know about the Hindenburg disaster USA Today Network Mary Bowerman , USA TODAY Network Published 12:23 p.m. ET May 6, 2015 | Updated 2:09 p.m. ET May 6, 2015 The German zeppelin Hindenburg bursts into flames as it noses toward the mooring post at the Naval Air Station in Lakehurst, N.J., on May 6, 1937. Thirty-five people on board and one ground crew member were killed. (Photo: Murray Becker, AP) In the 1930s, zeppelins or hydrogen-filled airships looked like the future of commercial air travel. The Hindenburg, a German airship, ferried passengers across the Atlantic Ocean, reaching cruising speeds of 84 mph. On May 6, 1937, thousands of people looked to the sky to watch the Zeppelin land in Lakehurst, N.J., according to archival newscasts of the Hindenburg.

Archived footage of the landing shows people cheering, and ultimately screaming as the Hindenburg ignites into flames and drifts to the runway ground. Thirty-six of the 97 people aboard were killed. Within almost 30 seconds, the airship was destroyed. Here are five things to know about the Hindenburg on the 78th anniversary of the disaster: 1. What was the Hindenburg like? The Hindenburg was equipped with a bar, smoking lounge, toilet and cabins. In order to meet the ship's weight requirement, all of the furnishings were made as light as possible. Even the cabin beds were made of aluminum, according to the Zeppelin Museum in Germany. The ship's owners even had a lightweight baby-grand piano, according to History.com. The 804-foot-long airship was launched from Friedrichshafen, Germany, in March of 1936. The Zeppelin reached a maximum speed of 84 mph and a cruising speed of 78 mph, according to History.com. 2. Why did the Hindenburg catch fire? The airship was designed to be filled with helium gas but because of U.S. export restriction on helium, it was filled with hydrogen.

Hydrogen is extremely flammable, and the official cause of the fire was due to a "discharge of atmospheric electricity" near a gas leak on the ship's surface, according to History.com. Conspiracy theories have questioned whether the tragedy was an act of anti-Nazi sabotage. Archived footage of the crash shows how quickly the ship disintegrated: <!--iframe--> 3. Smokers' delight or passenger peril? Despite the flammability of the hydrogen-filled airbus, the ship had a smokers' lounge. Passengers were not allowed to bring matches or lighters onboard but they were able to buy cigars and cigarettes on the ship, according to History.com. Tobacco products could only be smoked in the pressurized smoking room. A stewardess stood by the door to ensure that no one left the pressurized room with a lit cigarette. 4. How many trips did the vessel take between North America and Germany? The Hindenburg took its first flight in 1936. That year, the vessel went on 10 round trips between Germany and the United States and carried a total of 1,002 passengers during the journeys, according to History.com.

The vessel could carry up to 50 passengers and had room for the airship's crew. Last Slide Next Slide 5. What is Hindenburg's connection to the Nazi party? The ship was used as a symbol of German strength and modern capability by Nazi propaganda minister Joseph Goebbels. The ship went on several propaganda tours of the country and hovered over the Olympic stadium in Berlin during the opening ceremony, according to The Hindenburg Disaster of 1937. On one of the propaganda tours, the ship dropped pamphlets encouraging Germans to support the German army's advances before World War II. Follow @MaryBowerman on Twitter 138 CONNECT TWEET LINKEDIN 9 COMMENTEMAILMORE Read or Share this story: NEVER MISS OUT The Short List Let us bring the headlines to you every night. Stay current and catch up on the biggest stories of the day. Student Essay The Hindenburg Airship Disaster by Brett Lunde Dr. Eckeners dream of a regularly scheduled Zeppelin airship service across the North Atlantic to America was finally realized with the construction of the Hindenburg. It was designed to carry 50 passengers in a luxury and comfort never before seen in Airship Travel.

It was to be one of Nazi Germany's finest airships. The Hindenburg was supposed to represent the greatness of Germany and its leader, Adolf Hitler. Because of this the Hindenburg was emblazoned with large swastikas on it�s vertical fins. Picture of Hindenburg with Nazi symbols on the fins The Hindenburg would soon enter service-carrying passengers across Europe and North and South America. The Hindenburg was supposed to be the first in a fleet of Zeppelin owned airships, designed for commercial air travel across the Atlantic to America. The largest flying man-made craft On March 4, 1936, the largest man made object ever to fly, took to the air. The ship was to move very well through her trials with only a few bugs to work out and some repairs to make due to a poor landing. During its trials it made many propaganda flights over Germany dropping pamphlets and showing of the power of the Nazi movement.

Hindenburg compared to the Titanic and today's airliner LZ-129 Hindenburg Statistics Length: 804 feet / 245.06 meters Diameter: 135 feet / 41.15 meters Gas Volume: 7,063,000 cu. feet / 211,890 cu. meters Engines: Four 1200 hp Mercedes Benz engines Maximum Speed: 84.4 mph / 135 km/h Gas Type: Hydrogen The Hindenburg had many new innovations in airship design. Her complete design was a departure from older Zeppelin ships and carried many novelties. She would carry all her passengers inside her huge hull instead of from a protruding gondola section. Her control car alone would disturb her smooth lines. She was also fitted with a smoking room, something of an oddity on a ship destined to be inflated with an incredibly flammable gas. The smoking room was built with an airlock, which would keep any flames from spreading to the rest of the ship. The room was lined with asbestos.

On May 6, 1937, the great Zeppelin airship had made its first successful crossing of the Atlantic and planned to land at Lakehurst, New Jersey. With friends and family watching the arrival of the great lighter-than-air craft, it suddenly burst into flames while landing in the full view of the crowd which including reporters and newsreel cameras. The Hindenburg completely engulfed in flames on the ground Contrary to popular belief the crash was not broadcast live. Herbert Morrison of WLS radio of Chicago was at the landing site experimenting with recording news for delayed broadcast. He recorded his report, and then later played it over the air. Hindenburg on fire At the time, authorities blamed the disaster on a discharge of atmospheric energy near a leaking hydrogen valve. But others speculated that it was the result of anti-Nazi sabotage. Whatever the cause, the use of flammable Hydrogen has long taken the blame for the disaster, which effectively ended commercial travel by zeppelin. The Hindenburg was originally built and designed to fly using non-flammable helium. But the United States was the only country that had helium and they had passed a law that did not allow them to trade with Nazi Germany.

The United States government feared Hitler would use the helium for military purposes, so the Hindenburg was forced to fly using hydrogen. The Hindenburg Airship on fire picture taken from Lakehurst The Hindenburg was a huge gamble in a long line of gambles for the Zeppelin Company. It still holds the record as the largest aircraft ever to fly, and was meant to be only the first of a fleet of commercial lighter-than-airships. History dictated otherwise. Sources: "The Hindenburg Disaster" @ 05/05/00 "Hindenburg in Flames" @ 05/10/00 "Great Zeppelin Airships" @ 05/09/00 "The Hindenburg." Compton�s Encyclopedia 2000 (CD-ROM), 2000. Picture Credits: The UnMuseum - Hindenburg E-mail this page link to a friend Enter friend's e-mail: Requires javascript This print shows the Hindenburg in flames above Lakehurst Naval Air Station on May 6th, 1937. (The National Archives) The Mystery of the Hindenburg Disaster It was the largest airship ever built; over eight-hundred feet long from its nose to its massive tail fins.

It was the height of luxury travel and in the course of two seasons carried over 2,656 people across the Atlantic between Germany to New York and Rio de Janeiro. It was called the Hindenburg and the space of 37 seconds this mighty zeppelin was destroyed in a fire that killed a third of its crew and passengers and left spectators crying in horror. What caused this catastrophe? Was it negligence, sabotage, or as Hitler called it, "An act of God"? The Dirigible The first successful dirigible (a balloon that has engines to control its horizontal movement) was built in France in 1852. Although other countries built these types of airships, the Germans quickly became the most advanced builders of this form of lighter-than-air technology. Count Ferdinand von Zeppelin, a German businessman, built a fleet of experimental dirigibles. The type of airships Zeppelin built were spindle-shaped with a rigid internal steel structure (unlike the flexible bodied blimps common today). Inside the craft were large bags filled with gas that gave the ship its lift, as well as catwalks to allow the crew to move back and forth inside the hull to service the airship.

Beneath the craft was a gondola which carried the crew and passengers. By 1911 Zeppelin's airship LZ-10 (also known as the Schwaben) was in passenger service and would go onto make 218 flights carrying 1,553 passengers. Zeppelin became so well-known for this type of dirigible that his name soon became synonymous with that type of airship. Starting in 1914, the beginning of WWI, the Count's zeppelins were used to drop bombs on cities in a number of European countries. They made over fifty raids on London alone, dropping nearly 200 tons of explosives. As the war progressed, however, most of the German's zeppelin fleet was destroyed by British guns or aircraft. The gas that gave them their lift, hydrogen, was very flammable, and even a small bomb hitting a zeppelin could reduce it to ashes in just a few minutes. The LZ7, one of Count Zeppelin's early ships (also known as the Deutschland), can be considered the first true passenger aircraft. It first flew on October 19th, 1910. After the war Germany again began building large airships.

As part of war reparations the Germans built the ZR-3 Los Angeles for the U.S. Navy. In 1928 the Zeppelin Company built what was the most successful passenger dirigible of all time, the Graf Zeppelin. The Graf Zeppelin was a hundred feet longer than any other airship ever built and stretched 776 feet from nose to tail fins. It was designed as a passenger liner to compete with the ocean liners crossing the Atlantic. With a maximum speed of 80 miles per hour, it cut the time it took to make the trip by more than two-thirds. The passenger cabin was outfitted with drapes and thick carpeting. Dinner was made by professional chefs and was served using silverware, crystal and fine china. Time magazine declared, "Certainly for trans-oceanic trips, the airship is the thing." Constructing The Hindenburg The Graf Zeppelin was so successful that the Zeppelin Company planned a new airship. One that would be bigger, faster and carry more passengers with more luxurious amenities. It would be named after a national hero who had been elected Germany's president in 1925. It would be called the Hindenburg.

The Hindenburg was not only longer than the Graf Zeppelin, it was an extra 35 feet wide. This meant it had nearly twice the volume for lifting gas (7,062,000 cubic feet) than the Graf Zeppelin. There was a reason for this. The Hindenburg's designers had decided to fill the new dirigible with helium gas, not hydrogen. Helium, unlike hydrogen, does not burn, making it safer. However, it doesn't produce as much lift as hydrogen, so the extra volume the Hindenburg had for gas was an important feature. The Hindenburg never got its helium, though. At that time helium was difficult to produce and the United States had a monopoly on the manufacture of it. When the Americans saw that Hitler was in power in Germany, they feared he would use the gas for military purposes and therefore would not sell the Germans the helium necessary to fill the Hindenburg. The Zeppelin Company was forced to redesign the ship for hydrogen and make changes to minimize the possibility of fire. The frame of the Hindenburg under construction.

(Credit: Bundesarchiv, Bild 146-1986-127-05 / CC-BY-SA) Though it might seem strange to us today, back then the airship seemed to be the wave of the future in travel. At that time crossing the Atlantic in an airplane was risky business. Planes could travel only short distances carrying a minimum of weight and required constant refueling. To many the zeppelins was the natural successor to the ocean liner. The Zeppelin Company planned that the Hindenburg would be the first of a fleet of airships plying the skies of the world. Even today the Hindenburg remains the largest aircraft ever flown. Some of the smaller, modern advertising blimps have a total length only slightly larger than the girth of the Hindenburg. If the Hindenburg stood on end it would dwarf the Washington Monument. It could lift 112 tons beyond its own weight, an incredible amount for that time. Passengers enjoyed staterooms with private showers. The dining room served the finest food on blue and gold porcelain place settings. The ship provided the passengers a spectacular view along its windowed 200-foot-long promenade deck.

One restriction the ship had though was smoking. Because of the hydrogen, smoking was permitted only in a special fireproof room. Final Flight A one-way trip across the Atlantic cost $400 and took only two days. Flights began in 1936 with the airship making a total of six trips to Rio de Janeiro and ten trips to New York City carrying a total of 2,656 passengers. In 1937 it made a trip to Rio then returned to Germany. On May 3rd, 1937, the Zeppelin departed Frankfurt for North America carrying 97 people. It would be the first trip to New York City that season. The trip went smoothly and by 11:40 A.M. on May 6th the airship was passing over Boston. Landing at the Naval Air Station in Lakehurst was delayed due to bad weather, so the ship's captain, Commander Max Pruss, decided to linger over New York City, giving his passengers spectacular views of the Empire State Building, the Bronx, Harlem, Central Park, the Battery, Times Square, the Statue of Liberty and Ebbets Field (where a game was being played between the Dodgers and the Pittsburgh Pirates).

At 4 P.M. the Hindenburg arrived over Lakehurst, but the weather was still worrisome. Commander Pruss decided to take the ship southeast until he hit shore, then north to Asbury Park, then finally inland back to Lakehurst. At 6:12 Charles E. Rosendahl, Commanding Officer of the Lakehurst N.A.S., sent a message to the Hindenburg: "Conditions now considered suitable for landing." Eleven minutes later a stronger message followed: "Recommend landing now." The lounge of the Hindenburg allowed the passengers to watch the view below. The Landing It was almost a half hour later, at 7:00 P.M., that the Hindenburg started its landing. It circled the base, dropping its altitude from 600 to 300 feet and aligned itself so it was headed into the wind. As it approached the mooring mast, Captain Pruss realized he was going a little too fast. Also the wind was changing direction. Given that he was already late, he decided not to do a complete go around, but slow the ship and change his approach by making a sharp "S" turn, first left, then right.

To further complicate things for the captain, the airship was losing trim. The tail section was dropping. This was not particularly odd as it had been raining the water tended to cling more to the rear of the ship than the front, making it heavier. Puss ordered some ballast dropped and six crewmen were sent scurrying to the bow of the dirigible to balance it. The turn worked and the zeppelin's nose finally faced the mooring mast where it would be secured. As the Hindenburg got within 700 feet of the mast, the engines were reversed, bringing the ship to a stop. Ropes were dropped to allow the ground crew to tow the ship into position. At this point the Zeppelin was hanging about 275 off the ground. It was 7:25 P.M.. On the ground a radio reporter named Herbert Morrison was covering the airship's arrival and his comments were recorded for prosperity: ...It's practically standing still now. They've dropped ropes out of the nose of the ship, and it's been taken a hold of down on the field by a number of men. It's starting to rain again; the rain had slacked up a little bit.

The back motors of the ship are just holding it, just enough to keep it from --" "It burst into flames! ... It's fire and it's crashing! It's crashing terrible! Oh, my! Get out of the way, please! It's burning, bursting into flames and is falling on the mooring mast, and all the folks agree that this is terrible. This is the worst of the worst catastrophes in the world! ...There's smoke, and there's flames, now, and the frame is crashing to the ground, not quite to the mooring mast...Oh, the humanity, and all the passengers screaming around here! The flames were first visible towards the tail of the ship, then within seconds the hydrogen in the gas bags caught on and the whole aft of the craft was engulfed in a mass of flame and smoke that towered hundreds of feet into the sky. As the hydrogen in the rear of the ship burned, the rear of the Hindenburg lost its lift and fell to the ground and its nose pointed upwards at a forty-five degree angle. Then as the flames raced through to the bow, it also fell.

In just 37 seconds since the first flames were spotted the ship lay on the ground, the skeleton of its framework the only thing visible through the fire. Passengers jumped from windows and ran for safety. One cabin boy had his life saved when a water tank burst above his head. Of the 97 people on board, miraculously 62 managed to escape with their lives, including the ship's captain. An investigation into the cause of the disaster was made both by the United States and the German governments. They concluded a hydrogen leak was ignited by a spark of static electricity. Both governments wanted to close the book on the disaster. The Americans were anxious to avoid an international incident and the Germans were embarrassed that the cause might have been a design flaw in the ship or the result of foul play. The Gas Leak Theory Some theories suggest that Commander Pruss's final turns to land were too sharp and they caused a support wire to snap inside the ship tearing open one of the hydrogen gas cells. The leaking gas then might have been set off by a rare, natural electrical phenomenon known was St. Elmo's fire. St. Elmo's fire is usually seen as a static electric charge around high objects (like church steeples) during stormy weather.

Given the weather on that day, it is very likely that the ship was carrying a static electric charge. Just before the fire broke out, witnesses saw a fluttering movement of the ship's skin near the rear of the vessel. Some people argue this was caused by escaping gas. Other witnesses noticed a blue glow around the rear of the vessel that might have been St. Elmo's fire. If the gas escaped out a ventilation shaft and met the static electric discharge, it might well have triggered the fire. The Lightning Theory Instead of st. Elmo's Fire, lightning is sometimes blamed as the cause of the fire. However, the Hindenburg had been struck several times before by lightning with no damage. If lightning was the cause of the disaster, it seems it must have been coupled with a gas leak, as with the above theory. However, no witnesses saw lightning strike the ship and there were no known thunderstorms in the immediate area. Diesel Theory This theory suggests that the diesel fuel used to power the engines may have started the fire. A leak from a malfunctioning fuel pump might have ignited if the fuel reached a hot surface like the engine block. The pods where the engines were housed, however, were not by all accounts the location where the fire started.

Initially engineers suspected that sparks from a backfiring engine might have ignited hydrogen from a leak, but tests showed that these type of sparks were not actually hot enough to have set the gas on fire. The Flammable Skin Theory A theory suggested by Addison Bain, former manager of NASA's hydrogen program, was that the initial fire was not caused by burning hydrogen. Hydrogen burns without much of a visible flame, but witnesses described the fire as extremely colorful. Bain thinks the doping solution used to stretch and waterproof the hull was responsible. The compound, a layer of iron oxide covered with coats of cellulose butyrate acetate mixed with powdered aluminum, is very similar to a mixture used to power solid fuel rockets. "The Hindenburg was literally painted with rocket fuel," says Bain. Bain suspects that the Germans figured out the real cause, though they didn't want to admit they'd made such a dangerous mistake. The doping solution used on the Graf Zeppelin II, completed after the Hindenburg disaster, was changed to include a fireproofing agent and the aluminum was replaced with bronze which is less combustible. Bain thinks the fire was started by a build-up of static charge from the storm on the craft's surface and frame.

When the mooring ropes (wet from the storm) were dropped to the ground, the frame discharged, creating an electrical differential between the frame and covering which started the fire. The remains of the Hindenburg on the ground just minutes after the first flames appeared. Tests have been run with remains of the covering, however, that show that although it is flammable , it doesn't burn with the speed needed to explain the rapid expansion of the fire through the whole ship. If the fire did start with the skin, it seems it must have ignited the hydrogen cells almost immediately. The Sabotage Theory Some of the crew that survived, including Commander Pruss, suspected the fire was sabotage. The Hindenburg was more than just a German airship. It was a symbol of German power and technical prowess. Hitler's government, which had helped pay for the Hindenburg's construction, had employed it for such jobs as making propaganda appearances over the 1936 Olympic Games in Berlin. Each of the huge tail fins of the Hindenburg wore the swastika emblem, the symbol of Hitler's Nazi party. Officials had been concerned even before the ship reached New York that someone opposing Hitler might make a terrorist attack upon the craft.

If a saboteur was at work, it must have been one of the crew or passengers. If so, that person may have placed a time bomb along one of the ship's internal catwalks. Most likely it detonated prematurely, or the saboteur did not count on the craft being so late at arriving and could not return to the bomb to reset the timing mechanism. Either way the saboteur may have died in the resulting explosion. A bomb placed near the rear of the craft might have explained the initial flare forward of the tail fin as reported by witnesses as flames from the explosion shot up the gas ventilation shaft to burst out the top of its hood. The initial explosion would have ruptured the hydrogen gas cells, causing a more powerful second explosion that destroyed the craft. Suspicion for the sabotage initially fell upon Joseph Spah, a passenger who survived. On several occasions Spah, a New Jersey resident, had gone unescorted into the cargo area of the ship to visit his dog that he was bringing home to his children. This might have given him the opportunity to place a bomb. Later, others suspected that Erich Spehl, an introverted crewman who perished in the fire, might have been the saboteur.

Spehl was thought to have had anti-Nazi leanings. The Hindenburg was nearly the size of the Titanic. There is no proof against either of these gentlemen and in a search of the wreckage no parts of a bomb were found. Any time bomb would require a timer mechanism which probably would have survived the explosion. End of An Era Today, the official results of the investigation that static electricity set off leaking hydrogen still stand, despite the various theories. One thing is for sure, though, the destruction of the Hindenburg signaled the end of the great zeppelin passenger liners. No zeppelin ever carried another passenger after the Hindenburg disaster. The Graf Zeppelin II which was to be the Hindenburg's sister ship, never entered passenger service. At the start of W.W.II, it was brought into military service for a short time, then dismantled and the parts used for the war effort. By the end of the war the jet engine had been invented and transatlantic passenger service soon was carried out with a reliability and speed that could not be matched by lighter-than-aircraft. Memories of the horror of the Hindenburg disaster lingered on, killing any future for the large, rigid, passenger airships.

The zeppelin, once thought to be the wave of the future, was suddenly a thing of the past. Copyright 2001-2013Lee Krystek. All Rights Reserved. 75 Years Since the Hindenburg Disaster - The Atlantic The Atlantic 34 Photos In Focus Last Sunday, May 6, marked the 75th anniversary of the 1937 Hindenburg disaster. The massive German airship caught fire while attempting to land near Lakehurst, New Jersey, killing 35 people aboard, plus one ground crew member. Of the 97 passengers and crew members on board, 62 managed to survive. The horrifying incident was captured by reporters and photographers and replayed on radio broadcasts, in newsprint, and on newsreels. News of the disaster led to a public loss of confidence in airship travel, ending an era. The 245 m (803 f) Hindenburg used flammable hydrogen for lift, which incinerated the airship in a massive fireball, but the actual cause of the initial fire remains unknown.

Gathered here are images of the Hindenburg's first successful year of transatlantic travel, and of its tragic ending 75 years ago. (Also, be sure to see Recovered Letters Reveal the Lost History of the Hindenburg on Atlantic Video.) The Hindenburg Disaster: 9 Surprising Facts - History in the Headlines The Hindenburg Disaster: 9 Surprising Facts May 4, 2012 By Christopher Klein The Hindenburg bursts into blames above Lakehurst, New Jersey, on May 6, 1937. Share this: The Hindenburg Disaster: 9 Surprising Facts Author The Hindenburg Disaster: 9 Surprising Facts URL Google On May 6, 1937, the German airship Hindenburg burst into flames while attempting to land at Lakehurst, New Jersey. In little more than 30 seconds, the largest object ever to soar through the air was incinerated and the era of commercial airship travel was dead. Explore nine surprising facts about the massive zeppelin and its fiery demise. 1. Survivors of the Hindenburg disaster far outnumbered the victims.

Anyone who has seen the graphic newsreel video of the Hindenburg plunging to earth in flames may be amazed to know that of the 97 passengers and crew on board, 62 survived. The disaster’s 36 deaths included 13 passengers, 22 crewmembers and one worker on the ground. Many survivors jumped out of the zeppelin’s windows and ran away as fast as they could. 2. The Hindenburg disaster wasn’t history’s deadliest airship accident. Thanks to the iconic film footage and the emotional eyewitness account of radio reporter Herbert Morrison (who uttered the famous words “Oh, the humanity!”), the Hindenburg disaster is the most famous airship accident in history. However, the deadliest incident occurred when the helium-filled USS Akron, a U.S. Navy airship, crashed off the coast of New Jersey in a severe storm on April 4, 1933. Seventy-three men were killed, and only three survived. The 1930 crash of the British military airship R101, which claimed 48 lives, was also deadlier. 3. The Hindenburg disaster wasn’t broadcast live on radio.

Morrison was on the scene to record the arrival of the Hindenburg for WLS in Chicago, but he wasn’t broadcasting live. His wrenching account would be heard in Chicago later that night, and it was broadcast nationwide the following day. His audio report was synched up with separate newsreel videos in subsequent coverage of the Hindenburg disaster. 4. U.S. law prevented the Hindenburg from using helium instead of hydrogen, which is more flammable. After the crash of the hydrogen-filled R101, in which most of the crew died in the subsequent fire rather than the impact itself, Hindenburg designer Hugo Eckener sought to use helium, a less flammable lifting gas. However, the United States, which had a monopoly on the world supply of helium and feared that other countries might use the gas for military purposes, banned its export, and the Hindenburg was reengineered. After the Hindenburg disaster, American public opinion favored the export of helium to Germany for its next great zeppelin, the LZ 130, and the law was amended to allow helium export for nonmilitary use.

After the German annexation of Austria in 1938, however, Secretary of Interior Harold Ickes refused to ink the final contract. 5. The Hindenburg had a smokers’ lounge. Despite being filled with 7 million cubic feet of highly combustible hydrogen gas, the Hindenburg featured a smoking room. Passengers were unable to bring matches and personal lighters aboard the zeppelin, but they could buy cigarettes and Cuban cigars on board and light up in a room pressurized to prevent any hydrogen from entering. A steward admitted passengers and crew through a double-door airlock into the smokers’ lounge, which had a single electric lighter, and made sure no one left with a lit cigarette or pipe. 6. A specially designed lightweight piano was made for the Hindenburg. The Hindenburg’s owners, seeking to outfit their airborne luxury liner, tasked the renowned piano making firm of Julius Blüthner with building a special lightweight baby grand piano to meet the airship’s strict weight standards. The piano, which was made mostly of aluminum alloy and covered in yellow pigskin, weighed less than 400 pounds. It was only used during the Hindenburg’s first flying season, so it wasn’t aboard the ill-fated voyage. 7.

The Hindenburg first took flight on a Nazi propaganda mission. Although the Hindenburg was in development before the Third Reich came to power, members of the Nazi regime viewed it as a symbol of German might. Nazi propaganda minister Joseph Goebbels ordered the Hindenburg to make its first public flight in March 1936 as part of a joint 4,100-mile aerial tour of Germany with the Graf Zeppelin to rally support for a referendum ratifying the reoccupation of the Rhineland. For four days, the airships blared patriotic tunes and pro-Hitler announcements from specially mounted loudspeakers, and small parachutes with propaganda leaflets and swastika flags were dropped on German cities. (The referendum, approved by 98.8 percent of Germans, was hardly a squeaker.) Later in 1936 the Hindenburg, sporting Olympic rings on its side and pulling a large Olympic flag behind it, played a starring role at the opening of the Summer Games in Berlin.

The airship, which had swastikas emblazoned on its tail fins, was such a symbol of Nazi power that it was subjected to constant bomb threats—including some before its final flight, which led to suspicions of sabotage in the disaster. 8. Dozens of letters carried aboard the Hindenburg were ultimately delivered. Zeppelins pioneered airmail service across the Atlantic, and the Hindenburg carried approximately 17,000 pieces of correspondence on its final voyage. Amazingly, 176 pieces stored in a protective container survived the crash and were postmarked four days after the disaster. The pieces, charred but still readable, are among the world’s most valuable philatelic artifacts. 9. Goebbels wanted to name the Hindenburg for Adolf Hitler. Eckener, no fan of the Third Reich, named the airship for the late German president Paul von Hindenburg and refused Goebbels’ request to name it after Hitler. The Führer, never enthralled by the great airships in the first place, was ultimately glad that the zeppelin that crashed in a fireball didn’t bear his name.

Tags Hindenburg Disaster Real Footage (1937) - YouTube Hindenburg Disaster Real Footage (1937) Want to watch this again later? Sign in to add this video to a playlist. Need to report the video? Sign in to report inappropriate content. The interactive transcript could not be loaded. Loading... Rating is available when the video has been rented. This feature is not available right now. Please try again later. Published on Jul 27, 2011 Footage of the Nazi airship catching fire, crashing and burning to the ground: This original footage from the British Pathe archive shows impressive shots of the Hindenburg flying overheaon on Thursday, May 6, 1937, flying over its landing ground at Lakehurst, New Jersey, and then finally there is footage of the famous crash. 13 out of 36 passengers died, whilst 22 out of 61 crew members died, so many survived the disaster.

Watch here the clip "Death Jump - Franz Reichelt jumps off the Eiffel Tower": Check out our playlist: Hindenburg mystery solved 76 years after historic catastrophe: static electricity caused the airship to explode | Daily Mail Online Hindenburg mystery solved 76 years after historic catastrophe: static electricity caused the airship to explode comments The mystery of the Hindenburg disaster has finally been solved 76 years after the in-flight exposition occurred. The cause of the May 6, 1937, incident that killed 35 of the 100 passengers and crew members on board was static electricity, says a team of experts who have been looking into the real trigger. They say that after the ship flew into a thunderstorm a build up of hydrogen led to the explosion.

Scroll down for video Real cause: The cause of the Hindenburg disaster that killed 35 of the 100 passengers and crew members on board was static electricity, says a team of experts who have been looking into the real trigger The iconic airship had become charged with static as a result of an electrical storm and broken wire or sticking gas valve leaked hydrogen into the ventilation shafts Through research: Jem Stansfield, a British aeronautical engineer, and his team of researchers based at the Southwest Research Institute in San Antonio, Texas, blew up and set fire to scale models of blimps more than 24m long to prove the real cause The iconic airship had reportedly become charged with static as a result of the electrical storm and broken wire or a sticking gas valve leaked the hydrogen into the ventilation shafts. When ground crew members ran to take the landing ropes they effectively "earthed" the airship causing a spark. The fire is believed to have started on the tail of the airship, igniting the leaking hydrogen.

Jem Stansfield, a British aeronautical engineer, and his team of researchers based at the Southwest Research Institute in San Antonio, Texas, blew up and set fire to scale models of blimps more than 24m long to prove the real cause. In a documentary that will be broadcast on Channel 4 in Britain on Thursday, Stanfield and other experts explain the sequence of events that triggered the explosion. The researchers say their reason for conducting the experiments was to rule out theories ranging from a bomb planted by a terrorist to explosive properties in the paint used to coat the Hindenburg, the Independent reports. The 245m German airship was preparing to land at the Lakehurst Naval Air Station in Manchester Township, New Jersey, when it caught fire and quickly became engulfed in flames in front horrified onlookers.

Conspiracy theories: Stansfield's goal was to rule out conspiracy theories ranging from a bomb planted by a terrorist to explosive properties in the paint used to coat the Hindenburg, the Independent reports Ready to land: The 245m German airship was preparing to land at the Lakehurst Naval Air Station in Manchester Township, New Jersey Conflicting theories: Investigations conducted after the disaster deemed that a sudden spark had ignited leaking hydrogen gas in the airship, but investigators could not come to an agreement on what caused the spark or the leaking gas Investigations conducted after the disaster deemed that a sudden spark had ignited leaking hydrogen gas in the airship. However, investigators could not come to an agreement on what caused the spark, or the leaking gas. Conspiracy theories began to spread that the Hindenburg had been wiped out by a bomb or that someone had shot down the airship from below. Stansfield and his team were able to dispel those rumors after they recreated different scenarios with mini-replicas, studied archive footage of the disaster and collected eyewitness accounts.

‘I think you had massive distribution of hydrogen throughout the aft half of the ship; you had an ignition source pull down into the ship, and that whole back portion of the ship went up almost at once,’ said airship historian Dan Grossman. Other theories: After the explosion conspiracy theories began to spread that the Hindenburg had been wiped out by a bomb or that someone had shot down the airship from below Stansfield and his team were able to dispel those rumors after they recreated different scenarios with mini-replicas, studied archive footage of the disaster and collected eyewitness accounts Read more:

Question: In which US State did the Hindenburg Airship crash?
Answer: NEW JERSEY