On this date in 1937, the German airship Hindenburg caught fire and crashed as it was about to land at Lakehurst Naval Air Station in Manchester Township, N.J., bringing to an end the brief era of passenger travel in giant airships.
Such an end was probably inevitable. It took the Hindenburg three days to cross the Atlantic with its top speed of 80 miles per hour whereas airplanes could make the trip much faster. The one advantage to be found was the comfort that was provided for airship passengers, most of whom had to be affluent to afford to travel that way. The cost of a ticket, in modern dollars, was nearly $6,000.
But the Hindenburg disaster may have accelerated things.
Thirty–six people (13 of 36 passengers, 22 of 61 crew members and one person on the ground) lost their lives in the Hindenburg disaster, which was described memorably on the radio by reporter Herbert Morrison of WLS in Chicago. His plaintive line, "Oh, the humanity!" defined the event for all time.
It is my understanding that only two of the people who were on board the Hindenburg are still alive today, one of whom was a 14–year–old cabin boy at the time.
The Hindenburg made its first flight in March 1936, about 14 months before its fiery end. It was named for the late Paul von Hindenburg, who was president of Germany from 1925 until his death in 1934.Perhaps President Hindenburg had an opinion about the airships. They were constructed from 1931 to 1936. If he did, however, I have found no references to such an opinion.
In its short operational history, though, the Hindenburg brought boxer Max Schmeling home after his triumph over American boxer Joe Louis. It also served propaganda purposes for Nazi Germany. On Aug. 1, 1936, it flew over Olympic Stadium in Berlin for the opening of the Summer Olympic Games.
The actual cause of the disaster is unknown and remains the source of controversy. Theories about the cause include:
- Sabotage
- Static electricity
- Lightning
- Engine failure
- Incendiary paint
- Hydrogen leak, including the possibility of punctured internal gas cells
- Structural failure
- In 1975, I saw a movie called "The Hindenburg," which speculated about a conspiracy that led to the airship's demise. I did not think the film was especially good, but it had several recognizable stars — George C. Scott, Anne Bancroft, Gig Young and Burgess Meredith — and it was nominated for a couple of Oscars in art direction and cinematography and received a Special Achievement Award in sound editing.
- In 1977, about three months before the 40th anniversary of the disaster, the event served as the basis for an episode of "The Waltons." In the episode, aspiring journalist John–Boy Walton goes to New Jersey to cover the arrival of the Hindenburg and is so traumatized by what he witnesses that he is unable to write the story he has been commissioned to write. Eventually, he comes to terms with what he has seen and authors a moving eyewitness account of an historic event.
- And, the following year, "WKRP in Cincinnati" sort of did a spoof of the disaster in a Thanksgiving episode called "Turkeys Away." In that episode, the radio station's general manager and the advertising account executive try to come up with a unique holiday promotion. News reporter Les Nessman is dispatched to cover the promotion, in which live turkeys are being tossed out of an airplane to the people in Cincinnati. The turkeys, which can't fly, of course, are killed when, in Les' words, they fall to the ground "like sacks of wet cement." During the broadcast, listeners hear Les exclaim, "Oh, the humanity!" — although the most memorable line from the episode may be the general manager's statement when he returned to the station — "As God is my witness, I thought turkeys could fly."
2 comments:
Everything I ever read pointed to all the reasons you listed, None, however mentioned static electricity or sabotage. Ok, I guess I need to do more reading.
Well, Del, in more than 70 years, there have been a lot of theories, but nothing has ever been proven beyond any doubt.
Given the prewar tensions at the time, sabotage is a possibility, I suppose. Apparently, that was a hot theory initially. It's cooled off since then, but it still has its moments -- as well as its proponents.
If you want to do some more reading, here is a possibility. A few years ago, I recall hearing about a novel called "The Never War" that speculated that the Hindenburg was carrying payment for spies whose work would permit the Nazis to develop nuclear weapons first.
In the book (so I've heard), the protagonist (from the future) could prevent the disaster but chooses not to, enabling the Allies to develop nuclear weapons and win World War II.
If you read it, I'll be interested in knowing what you think.
As for sparks from static electricity causing the disaster, I think that theory was discredited fairly early on because no reliable witnesses saw anything that pointed to it. But the whole thing happened so quickly, and while motion picture cameras caught a lot of what happened, I don't believe any cameras were rolling at the very second the disaster occurred so there is no photographic evidence.
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