Hindenburg over New York
complete with swastikas, 1937
The first airship was designed by German army officer Ferdinand Graf von Zeppelin and made its initial flight from a floating hangar on Lake Constance in July 1900. This zeppelin was a rigid airship that was cigar-shaped, trussed and a covered frame supported by internal gas cells. Underneath a keel-like structure connected 2 external cars, each of which had a 16-horsepower engine geared to two propellers. A sliding weight on the keel gave vertical control by raising or lowering the nose, while rudders were provided for horizontal control. 32 km/hour was top speed.
In WWI Germany had some success in long-range bombing operations with the zeppelin, which reached higher altitudes than other planes. In 1917 German zeppelins made flights of 100 hours, leading many to believe that large airships could drive aviation progress, especially as some zeppelins went to the Allies in German post-war reparations.
The Hindenburg, powered by four diesel engines, had a maximum speed of 135 km/hour. A conventional zeppelin design, Hindenburg was launched from Friedrichshafen in March 1936, inaugurating commercial air service across the North Atlantic. It carried 1,002 passengers on 10 scheduled trips between Germany and U.S. NB Though it was designed to be filled with helium gas, the ship was filled with highly flammable hydrogen because of export restrictions by the U.S against Nazi Germany.
In WWI Germany had some success in long-range bombing operations with the zeppelin, which reached higher altitudes than other planes. In 1917 German zeppelins made flights of 100 hours, leading many to believe that large airships could drive aviation progress, especially as some zeppelins went to the Allies in German post-war reparations.
The Hindenburg, powered by four diesel engines, had a maximum speed of 135 km/hour. A conventional zeppelin design, Hindenburg was launched from Friedrichshafen in March 1936, inaugurating commercial air service across the North Atlantic. It carried 1,002 passengers on 10 scheduled trips between Germany and U.S. NB Though it was designed to be filled with helium gas, the ship was filled with highly flammable hydrogen because of export restrictions by the U.S against Nazi Germany.
The Hindenburg was the star of the Olympic Games
Berlin Stadium, Aug 1936
Hindenburg was the fastest and most luxurious plane to cross the Atlantic. Passengers travelled in deluxe lounge rooms; enjoyed meals in elegant dining rooms; heard piano in a modern lounge and slept in 25 private twin-cabins. The cocktail bar was an attractive space and the promenades on two decks were spacious. Walls were lined with silk painted, with scenes depicting great historic voyages.
Sleeping cabin on board the Hindenburg
1937
Dining room, on board the Hindenburg,
1937
Hindenburg began its last flight on 3rd May 1937, carrying 36 passengers and 61 crew. The ship left the Frankfurt airfield on its 63rd flight and flew over Cologne, and then followed the English Channel past the chalky cliffs, and headed out over the Atlantic shortly. Hindenburg followed a northern track across the ocean, passing southern Greenland and crossing the North American coast at Newfoundland. Head winds delayed the airship’s passage across the Atlantic, and the Lakehurst arrival was postponed. By noon on May 6th the ship had reached Boston, and by 3:00 PM Hindenburg was over Manhattan.
Flying south from New York, they arrived at the Naval Air Station at Lakehurst New Jersey, but the poor weather conditions at the field concerned both the Hindenburg’s Capt Pruss and Lakehurst’s commanding Officer Rosendahl who delayed the landing until the storm ended. But then there was a rush. Rosendahl asked for the earliest possible landing because the airship had to be back in Europe in time for King George VI’s coronation (12th May 1937).
As Hindenburg approached the field at Lakehurst in wild wind at an altitude of c600’, all their normal measures could not keep the ship in level trim, so 6 crewmen were ordered to add their weight to the bow. While landing at Lakehurst, witnesses saw the first visible external flames appear.
It instantly ended because of 7 million cubic feet of hydrogen gas. Decades of research and scientific tests support the conclusion reached by the German and American accident investigations in 1937: the Hindenburg disaster was caused by an electrostatic discharge that ignited leaking hydrogen. The spark was ?caused by a difference in electric potential between the airship and the surrounding air: The difference in electric potential likely caused a spark to jump from the ship’s fabric over the ship’s framework. No evidence of sabotage was ever found.
The Hindenburg alight,
Lakehurst Naval Air Station NJ, 1937.
On the passenger deck promenades, where some passengers and crew had gathered before the landing, the rapidly increasing angle of the ship caused people to tumble up walls. The fire spread so quickly that survival depended where the people were located. Passengers and crew began jumping out the promenade windows to escape the burning ship, and most of them who were close to the promenade windows, survived. Those who were in the passenger cabins at the centre of the decks, died. Crew who were close to an exit generally survived.
As the ship fell to the ground, so soon after the first flames, those who had jumped from the burning craft scrambled for safety, as did members of the ground crew below the ship. Miraculously 62 of the 97 passengers and crew survived.
As the ship fell to the ground, so soon after the first flames, those who had jumped from the burning craft scrambled for safety, as did members of the ground crew below the ship. Miraculously 62 of the 97 passengers and crew survived.
The glamorous, speedy airships had been warmly welcomed home despite a long list of earlier accidents. But this time the Hindenburg crash was captured on film. Millions of international viewers saw the dramatic inferno. The 1937 disaster ended the use of airships in commercial air transport. But in any case,the remaining Zeppelins were destroyed by Allied bombing during WW2, and the building of Zeppelins was never resumed.
Thanks to the documentary Hindenburg: Ten Mistakes