The Burning Question About the Hindenburg (79 Years Ago)

[TomSea]

The Burning Question About the Hindenburg

Nearly 80 years later, we still can't fully explain why the doomed zeppelin ignited.​

It was nearly dusk on May 6, 1937 when the 804-foot, swastika-marked, cigar-shaped German airship LZ 129—the Hindenburg—floated into the Lakehurst Naval Airstation in New Jersey. The crew, who had been flying for three days since leaving Frankfurt, realized they needed to land fast to avoid a rapidly approaching storm. At about 7:20 p.m. they dropped the forward landing ropes and began the mooring procedures. Three minutes later, the Hindenburg burst into flames.

Within an awe-inspiring 34 seconds that was entirely captured on film and caused radio broadcaster Herb Morrison to cry "Oh, the humanity!", three football fields worth of hydrogen-filled airship burned until it was nothing more than a white-hot metal skeleton. Thirty-six people died on that May day in the fields of New Jersey. Another casualty: The future of lighter-than air travel.

Today marks the 79th anniversary of the Hindenburg disaster, a fiery catastrophe we've all seen replayed dozens of times. Yet even now we still don't know for sure why the airship was quickly engulfed in flames. Scholars have continually debated the potential causes, but the lack of new evidence—since most of it was destroyed in the fire—has made this task speculative. One thing is for certain: The Hindenburg disaster still fascinates us.

See More At: http://www.popularmechanics.com/flight/a20746/the-burning-question-about-the-hindenburg/

Pictures at link.

I did not know that Swastikas were marked on the Hindenburg or that the "Graf Zeppelin" had previously visited the US in 1933.

Perhaps the biggest factor in America's agreement to allow the Hindenburg to dock at Lakehurst, though, was that the ship was such an engineering and technological marvel. Despite being 3.5 times the size of a Boeing 747, it could move at 84 miles an hour. That's not speedy by today's standards, but it means the zeppelin could make the trip across the North Atlantic in two and half days instead of an ocean liner's typical five days. It could fly up to 70 passengers and 50 crew members in style, complete with sleeping quarters, a writing room, a dining room, a lightweight aluminum grand piano (removed prior to the 1937 season) and a pressurized smoking room which the bartender owned the only electric lighter allowed on the ship. It had long, beautiful bay windows that gave passengers panoramic view of their surroundings. No wonder tickets were expensive, costing about $450 one way (equivalent to nearly $8,000 today).

[Wingnut]

One thing is for certain: The Hindenburg disaster still fascinates us.

Yes it does.  How else can you explain why this:  "As God as my witness, I thought Turkeys could fly."
could make you think of both the Hindenburg and Thanksgiving.

[TomSea]

IF safe, it would be a neat way to travel.

Apparently, helium is a lot safer, the Hindenburg used hydrogen.

From the article:

A German lieutenant, he first learned about air travel in the 1860s when President Lincoln commissioned him to be an observer with the Union Army during the American Civil War. Both sides utilized hydrogen-filled reconnaissance balloons, though the Union did it much more effectively thanks to Thaddeus Lowe.

So, the Zeppelin had some roots in the American Civil War.

It could fly up to 70 passengers and 50 crew members in style, complete with sleeping quarters, a writing room, a dining room, a lightweight aluminum grand piano (removed prior to the 1937 season) and a pressurized smoking room which the bartender owned the only electric lighter allowed on the ship. It had long, beautiful bay windows that gave passengers panoramic view of their surroundings. No wonder tickets were expensive, costing about $450 one way (equivalent to nearly $8,000 today).

There was a movie or something on it, maybe it was some World War I movie that had zeppelins in it but not specifically, the Hindenburg.

[TomSea]

Something about this topic reminds me of a rock band, Queen? No, The Who? No.

[Smokin Joe]

Pictures at link.

I did not know that Swastikas were marked on the Hindenburg or that the "Graf Zeppelin" had previously visited the US in 1933.

The early days of the Reich were a marvel of economic recovery, of innovation, and the restoration of national pride. An unprecedented public works project, the Autobahn, was constructed, putting innumerable Germans who had been unemployed back to work.
The successes of the Reich were such that they were greeted with approval and amazement by the very allied powers the Germans had fought in WWI, often ignoring those who cast a suspicious eye. Even the civilian programs which were excuses for rearmament were seen as marvels, as the Germans rebuilt their fledgling air force and military with new and cutting edge materiel, and trained them in the Spanish Civil war--to the point that when war broke out the Germans had over five times the troops trained and ready that were allowed by the terms of the armistice. The rest of Europe had looked the other way.