The Hindenburg Series

Date: 6 May 1937

Place: Lakehurst, New Jersey, USA 

Passengers and crew: 97

Survivors: 62

Death toll: 36

On May 3, 1937, the Hindenburg left Frankfurt, Germany, for a journey across the Atlantic to Lakehurst’s Navy Air Base. Stretching 804 feet from stern to bow, it carried 36 passengers and crew of 61. While attempting to moor at Lakehurst, the airship suddenly burst into flames, probably after a spark ignited its hydrogen core. Rapidly falling 200 feet to the ground, the hull of the airship incinerated within seconds. Thirteen passengers, 21 crewmen, and 1 civilian member of the ground crew lost their lives, and most of the survivors suffered substantial injuries.

Radio announcer Herb Morrison, who came to Lakehurst to record a routine voice-over for an NBC newsreel, immortalized the Hindenberg disaster in a famous on-the-scene description in which he emotionally declared, “Oh, the humanity!” He commented that it was the worst thing he had ever witnessed. The recording of Morrison’s commentary was flown to New York, where it was aired as part of America’s first coast-to-coast radio news broadcast. Lighter-than-air passenger travel rapidly fell out of favour after the Hindenberg disaster, and no rigid airships survived World War II.

Bibliography

Grossman, D. (2017). The Hindenburg disaster. [online] Airships.net. Available at: http://www.airships.net/hindenburg/disaster/crew-list/ The Graf Zeppelin, Hindenburg, U.S. Navy Airships, and other Dirigibles. [Accessed 5 Apr. 2017].

Klein, C. (2017). History Stories: The Hindenburg disaster. [online] History.com. Available at: http://www.history.com/news/the-hindenburg-disaster [Accessed 6 Apr. 2017].