Hindenburg disaster

On May 6, 1937, at 1825 local time, the German zeppelin LZ 129 Hindenburg caught fire and was utterly destroyed in less than one minute while approaching a mooring mast at Lakehurst Naval Air Station in New Jersey. Of the 97 people on board, 13 passengers and 22 crew-members were killed. One member of the ground crew also died, bringing the death toll to 36.

Successful first year

The early career of the Hindenburg built upon the numerous achievements of its immediate predecessor Graf Zeppelin which had already flown for nearly 1 million miles. During 1936, its first year of commercial operation, the Hindenburg flew 191,583 miles carrying 2,798 passengers and 160 tons of freight and mail. In that year the ship made 17 round trips across the Atlantic Ocean with 10 trips to the US and 7 to Brazil. It also completed a record Atlantic double-crossing in 5 days, 19 hours and 51 minutes in July of that year. The German boxer Max Schmeling was a passenger. He was given a hero's welcome in Frankfurt after defeating Joe Louis.

Related Topics:
Graf Zeppelin - 1936 - Max Schmeling - Joe Louis

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On August 1, 1936, the Hindenburg was present at the opening ceremonies of the eleventh modern day Olympic Games in Berlin, Germany. Moments before the arrival of Adolf Hitler, the airship crossed over the olympic stadium trailing the olympic flag from its tail. (Birchall, 1936)

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This success led the Zeppelin Company ('Luftschiffbau Zeppelin') to start plans to expand its fleet and trans-Atlantic service.

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Luftschiffbau Zeppelin had a technology partnership with Goodyear in the United States, known as the Goodyear-Zeppelin Corporation. While the Hindenburg and the Graf Zeppelin II were in operation, Goodyear engineers made several trans-Atlantic crossings on regular passenger runs to observe operations.

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