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 Photograph of the Hindenburg descending in flames | |
| Accident | |
|---|---|
| Date | May 6, 1937 |
| Summary | Caught fire during landing |
| Site | NAS Lakehurst, Manchester Township, New Jersey, U.S. 40°01′49″N 74°19′33″W / 40.03035°N 74.32575°W |
| Total fatalities | 36 |
| Aircraft | |
| Aircraft type | Hindenburg-class airship |
| Aircraft name | Hindenburg |
| Operator | Deutsche Zeppelin-Reederei |
| Registration | D-LZ129 |
| Flight origin | Frankfurt am Main, Germany |
| Destination | NAS Lakehurst, New Jersey, U.S. |
| Passengers | 36 |
| Crew | 61 |
| Fatalities | 35 |
| Survivors | 62 |
| Ground casualties | |
| Ground fatalities | 1 |
| Ground injuries | 1 |
The Hindenburg disaster was an airship accident that occurred on May 6, 1937, in Manchester Township, New Jersey, United States. 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 operated by the German Zeppelin Airline Company (Deutsche Zeppelin-Reederei). It was named after Generalfeldmarschall 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) among 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]
- ^ "Hindenburg Statistics." Archived December 2, 2017, at the Wayback Machine airships.net, 2009. Retrieved: July 22, 2017.
- ^ WLS Broadcast Of the Hindenburg Disaster 1937. Chicagoland Radio and Media Archived February 19, 2016, at the Wayback Machine. Retrieved May 7, 2015.
- ^ Craats 2009, p. 36.