Hindenburg was the name of a German airship (lighter-than-air aircraft) best known for a disaster that ended regular passenger service on airships. On May 6, 1937, it exploded, killing 35 of the 97 people on board.
The Zeppelin LZ 129 Hindenburg had a rigid body made of duralumin, a strong, lightweight alloy (mixture) of copper and aluminum. It contained 16 gas bags filled with hydrogen. The lighter-than-air gas raised the craft and kept it aloft. The Hindenburg was steerable, and it had four diesel engines that moved it through the air. At the time of its construction in 1936, it was the world’s largest airship, measuring about 804 feet (245 meters) long and 135 feet (41 meters) wide, and having a volume of 7,026,100 cubic feet (199,980 cubic meters). It cruised at 78 miles (125 kilometers) per hour.
Loading the player...Hindenburg explosion
The Hindenburg provided the first commercial passenger air service across the Atlantic Ocean. It made its first crossing in May 1936. The airship was immediately popular, and so its owners expanded its passenger capacity for its second season of flights in 1937.
The Hindenburg disaster came at the end of the first United States flight of the airship’s second season. The airship flew from Frankfurt, Germany, to Lakehurst, New Jersey. While approaching its mooring mast in Lakehurst, the Hindenburg’s envelope material and hydrogen gas somehow ignited, and the airship exploded. The Hindenburg was destroyed within minutes.
The disaster would not have occurred had the Hindenburg been filled with helium, as its designers had intended. Unlike hydrogen, helium is inert—that is, it does not react with any other substance. Though helium was available to manufacturers in the United States, it was not supplied by the United States to German industry for diplomatic reasons.
