The Hindenburg disaster occurred on May 6, 1937, in Manchester Township, New Jersey, United States. The German passenger airship LZ 129 Hindenburg caught fire and was destroyed during its attempt to dock with its mooring mast at Naval Air Station Lakehurst.
Hindenburg Disaster – Herb Morrison, WLS Radio (1:20)
The WLS recording was not aired until the next day.
It is amazing when you see the explosion that of the 97 passengers on board the Hindenburg, 62 survived!
It is also amazing, that several theories exist as to just what caused this horrible thing to happen…but to this day, no one really can say for sure what caused it!….and the several cameras that were on the scene that day, were not trained on the dirigible at the exact moment of ignition…several witnesses, predictably, had differing observations as to exactly where the ignition point was….but this spectacle spelled the end of this type of air transport, as conventional aircraft were beginning to offer transAtlantic flight at this time….so this episode will be forever a mysterious tragedy!
Jack, was it true that the Hindenburg was filled with hydrogen which was highly explosive ? I understand that the dirigible was designed to use helium, which was less flammable. In 1937 the US controlled the major supply of the world’s helium and would not export it. Also was there lightening at the time the ship was landing?
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hindenburg_disaster