The Hindenburg Disaster

Air Travel in Early 1900s

There were times in the early 1900s, when air travel was made possible in commercial passenger carrying rigid Airships. Filled with tons of Hydrogen, which acted as a lifting gas, the Airship balloon was able to power itself and sail in the air. Travel was possible in durations much quicker than Ships and Ocean Liners. Passenger traffic was burgeoning and since no major mishaps had happened, the confidence in the Airships was rising. However, a disaster at Lakehurst, New Jersey, on the 6th of May 1937, signalled the end of Airship passenger travel for good. The intriguing story and the name Hindenburg motivated me to write this post today.

Zeppelin’s Hindenburg

The Zeppelin Company, a German techno innovator was one of the pioneers of Airships and built the largest one, called the Hindenburg, named after Field Marshall Paul Von Hindenburg, who was President of Germany from 1925 till his death in 1934. The Hindenburg was the pride of Zeppelin. It was the biggest and the fastest Airship in the sky and was capable of flying from Europe to North and South America, crossing the Atlantic by air in half the time taken by sea. Flying over the Atlantic was an achievement indeed.

An Assuring Experience

The Hindenburg also had plush interiors and unmatched luxury on board. Travel by this extraordinary Airship was an experience of remarkable  proportions. Travellers were excited to board the Hindenburg which already had several flying hours and multiple trips to its credit. The Hindenburg was in safe hands of an extremely capable crew making  travel by the Zippelin Hindenburg  an assuring experience too. 

The 63rd Trip

It was nothing different on the 3rd of May 1937, when 36 passengers and 61 crew members boarded the Hindenburg on its 63rd flight at the Frankfurt Airfield to fly to Lakehurst New Jersey. The Hindenburg soared in the air at 7. 16 pm. It traversed the rest of Germany, Nerherlands, crossed the English Channel and by 2 am the next day, it had reached the Atlantic. The landing time of Hindenburg in New Jersey was estimated to be at 6 am on the 6th of May. However there was bad weather lurking at Lakehurst in New Jersey and hence the time was revised to 6 pm that day. 

A Spark is Enough

To stay away from the storm, Hindenburg circled the beaches and the coast line of New Jersey, till the storm subsided and eventually approached the Airfield for landing. Captain Max Pruss was in charge of Hindenburg, while Charles Rosendahl was the commanding officer from Lakehurst below. With a highly capable crew handling the Airship this looked like another  routine landing, which unfortunately was not to be. As Hydrogen was released in the air to balance the Airship and help it land, an unprecedented electrostatic discharge ( i.e. a spark ), ignited the released Hydrogen.

An Inferno consumes Hindenburg

The gas caught fire and so did Hindenburg, very close to landing. The Airship crashed on the airfield in an engulfing blaze. Passengers and Crew who were deep inside the Hindenburg could not survive, while the ones closer to  the exits had a miraculous escape.  13 passengers and 22 crew members lost their lives and several were seriously injured. 

The end of Airships

The crash of the  ill fated 63rd flight of Hindenburg was a defining moment in the history of air travel as the big ship which Zeppelin  prided on,  perished in a massive inferno . The  Hindenburg disaster was well photographed and recorded on video which eventually led to the end of Airship Travel in the world. 

Recently Hindenburg Research has been in the news and Incidentally they have named their firm on this‘ Hindenburg Disaster ‘.

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Featured Image : The Hindenburgh/ picture courtesy CBS