Hindenburg Disaster

On May 6, 1937, the zeppelin LZ 129, christened Hindenburg, exploded over Lakehurst, New Jersey. The Hindenburg was the largest and last zeppelin used to transport passengers from Germany to North and South America.

The Hindenburg was 803.8 feet long, 135.1 feet in diameter, and had a gas vol­ume of 7,062,000 cubic feet. It consisted of 25 double-occupancy passenger cabins, one dining room, several study rooms, a larger room for entertainment, a smoking salon, and a promenade with windows. The passenger space was designed by the renowned architect F. A. Breuhaus. The ship was named after Paul von Hindenburg (1847—1934), the most eminent German field marshal of World War I who had de­feated the Russian army in the famous bat­tle at Tannenberg (1914—1915) and who had become Reich president of the Weimar Republic in 1925. It was he who argued that the German army had been stabbed in the back by weak-minded civilians, Jews, and Marxists in November 1918 (the “stab in the back” legend). According to this na­tionalistic view, it was not the unconquered German army but the Social Democrats, who had started a revolution, who were to be held responsible for Germany’s defeat in World War I. As Reich president, Hinden­burg appointed Adolf Hitler to be Reich chancellor on January 30, 1933, and thus paved the way for the establishment of the Nazi dictatorship.

After its commissioning, the Hinden­burg was employed on two separate routes: on the South America route it connected Ludwigshafen with Pernambuco (Brazil, Rio) and on its North America route it connected Ludwigshafen with Lakehurst (United States, New Jersey).

The airship Hindenburg explodes into a huge ball of fire as it comes in for a landing at Lakehurst, New Jersey, May 6, 1937. (Bettmann/Corbis)

1936, to travel back to Germany. For 1937 the German authorities had planned about eighteen trips between Germany and the United States for the airship.

It is still unknown what actually caused the explosion. However, the use of hydrogen, which together with oxygen formed the very dangerous oxyhydrogen, certainly contributed. After the crash of the British airship R 101 on October 5, 1930, engineers recommended abstaining from the use of hydrogen. Therefore, German engineers advocated the use of helium. Since helium did not have the same density as hydrogen, they suggested an increase of the volume of the zeppelin to allow for the transportation of the same number of pas­sengers. The American Helium Control Act of 1927, however, banned the export of helium from the United States, thus pre­venting Germany from acquiring enough quantities of the gas to build a next gener­ation of airships. The new airship LZ 129 was therefore filled with hydrogen instead of helium.

Immediately after the explosion, both the American and the German govern­ments accused the other side of having sab­otaged the zeppelin. However, there was no evidence to support such claims. Mistakes in navigation cannot be excluded. The ca­tastrophe seems to have resulted from a chain of unfortunate events: most impor­tantly a thunderstorm that caused an un­usually high electrostatic charge in the at­mosphere. On the day of the accident,

strong winds forced the zeppelin to make several turns and to release small amounts of hydrogen. The fire broke out when the airship was about 60 meters (196 feet) above the ground and already moored to the ground by two ropes. One eyewitness, R. H. Ward, saw the outer hull over gas cell number five flapping right before the fire started. Within one and a half minutes the burning airship crashed to the ground. This accident marked the end of the era of passenger airships.

Erik Straub

See also Zeppelin

References and Further Reading

Archbold, Rick. Hindenburg: An Illustrated

History. Toronto: Warner/Madison, 1994.