Although carrying only half its full capacity of passengers (36 of 70) and crewmen (61, including 21 crewman trainees) during the flight accident, the Hindenburg was fully booked for its return flight. Įxcept for strong headwinds that slowed its progress, the Atlantic crossing of the Hindenburg was unremarkable until the airship attempted an early-evening landing at Lakehurst three days later on May 6. American Airlines had contracted with the operators of the Hindenburg to shuttle passengers from Lakehurst to Newark for connections to airplane flights. After opening its 1937 season by completing a single round-trip passage to Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, in late March, the Hindenburg departed from Frankfurt, Germany, on the evening of May 3, on the first of ten round trips between Europe and the United States that were scheduled for its second year of commercial service. The Hindenburg made ten trips to the United States in 1936. The publicity shattered public confidence in the giant, passenger-carrying rigid airship and marked the abrupt end of the airship era. A variety of theories have been put forward for both the cause of ignition and the initial fuel for the ensuing fire. 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. 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. It caught fire and was destroyed during its attempt to dock with its mooring mast at Naval Air Station Lakehurst. It was named after Field Marshal Paul von Hindenburg, who was President of Germany from 1925 until his death in 1934. It was designed and built by the Zeppelin Company ( Luftschiffbau Zeppelin GmbH) and was operated by the German Zeppelin Airline Company ( Deutsche Zeppelin-Reederei). 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. The Hindenburg disaster was an airship accident that occurred on May 6, 1937, in Manchester Township, New Jersey. NAS Lakehurst, Lakehurst Borough, New Jersey, U.S. Photograph of the Hindenburg descending in flamesĬaught fire during landing cause undetermined
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