German airship Zeppelin LZ 129 'Hindenburg' burning upon its approach to Naval Air Station Lakehurst, New Jersey, on May 6, 1937. U.S. Navy sailors, preparing to grab for tether lines on the ground, run for safety as they watch the airship fall to the ground with its rear half engulfed in flames. [Courtesy: Smithsonian Institution]
Key Takeaways:
The Hindenburg disaster on May 6, 1937, when the hydrogen-filled German airship caught fire while docking, effectively ended the public's confidence in rigid airship travel despite 62 survivors out of 97 onboard.
The luxurious Hindenburg, originally designed for helium, was forced to use highly flammable hydrogen due to U.S. restrictions on helium exports to Germany, and was prominently used as a Nazi propaganda symbol.
The U.S. Navy also experienced a series of fatal rigid airship crashes with ships like the USS Shenandoah, Akron, and Macon, often due to severe weather, which led to numerous casualties and the eventual suspension of its airship program.
On May 6, 1937, the age of airships—the ocean liners of the sky—came to a violent end with the destruction of the Hindenburg in Lakehurst, New Jersey.
Monday marks the 87th anniversary of the event. NBC reporter Herb Morrison was on location to cover what had become almost routine—the docking of the German airship for the newsreels.
CREATE A FREE ACCOUNT
Sign up to keep reading
Create a free account to continue. Already a member? Sign in below.
Meg Godlewski has been an aviation journalist for more than 24 years and a CFI for more than 20 years. If she is not flying or teaching aviation, she is writing about it. Meg is a founding member of the Pilot Proficiency Center at EAA AirVenture and excels at the application of simulation technology to flatten the learning curve. Follow Meg on Twitter @2Lewski.
