Hindenburg disaster

LZ 129 Hindenburg
Photograph of the Hindenburg descending in flames
Accident
DateMay 6, 1937
SummaryCaught fire during landing; exact cause undetermined
SiteNAS Lakehurst, Manchester Township, New Jersey, U.S.
40°01′49″N 74°19′33″W / 40.03035°N 74.32575°W / 40.03035; -74.32575
Total fatalities36
Aircraft
Aircraft typeHindenburg-class airship
Aircraft nameHindenburg
OperatorDeutsche Zeppelin-Reederei
RegistrationD-LZ129
Flight originFrankfurt am Main, Hesse-Nassau, Prussia, Germany
DestinationNAS Lakehurst, Lakehurst Borough, New Jersey, U.S.
Passengers36
Crew61
Fatalities35 total; 13 (36%) of passengers
22 (36%) of crew
Survivors62 (23 passengers, 39 crewmen)
Ground casualties
Ground fatalities1

The Hindenburg disaster was an airship accident that occurred on May 6, 1937, in Manchester Township, New Jersey, U.S. The LZ 129 Hindenburg (Luftschiff Zeppelin #129; Registration: D-LZ 129) was a German commercial passenger-carrying rigid airship, the lead ship of the Hindenburg class, the longest class of flying machine and the largest airship by envelope volume.[1] It was designed and built by the Zeppelin Company (Luftschiffbau Zeppelin GmbH) and was operated by the German Zeppelin Airline Company (Deutsche Zeppelin-Reederei). It was named after Field Marshal Paul von Hindenburg, who was president of Germany from 1925 until his death in 1934. Filled with hydrogen, it caught fire and was destroyed during its attempt to dock with its mooring mast at Naval Air Station Lakehurst. The accident caused 35 fatalities (13 passengers and 22 crewmen) from the 97 people on board (36 passengers and 61 crewmen), and an additional fatality on the ground.

The disaster was the subject of newsreel coverage, photographs and Herbert Morrison's recorded radio eyewitness reports from the landing field, which were broadcast the next day.[2] A variety of theories have been put forward for both the cause of ignition and the initial fuel for the ensuing fire. The publicity shattered public confidence in the giant, passenger-carrying rigid airship and marked the abrupt end of the airship era.[3]

  1. ^ "Hindenburg Statistics." Archived December 2, 2017, at the Wayback Machine airships.net, 2009. Retrieved: July 22, 2017.
  2. ^ WLS Broadcast Of the Hindenburg Disaster 1937. Chicagoland Radio and Media Archived February 19, 2016, at the Wayback Machine. Retrieved May 7, 2015.
  3. ^ Craats 2009, p. 36.