The Hindenburg Disaster, Minute By Minute
The Hindenburg Disaster, Minute By Minute
In the late afternoon of May 6, 1937, Manhattanites who looked to the sky would’ve been treated to a nearly unbelievable sight: A gleaming, giant silver Zeppelin—the biggest in the world—flying above them on its way to land in Lakehurst, New Jersey.
People rushed out to the street just to catch a glimpse of it, not knowing they were about to play a small part in one of aviation’s worst disasters.
A “Terrific Crash”
Just a few hours later, as the LZ 129 Hindenburg began to descend to its destination, it burst into flames and crashed to the ground, its structure crumbling almost immediately. Not only did it take the lives of 35 people, it effectively ended the airship era in travel.
And perhaps the strangest part? No one really knew why it happened—though recently discovered documents reveal the untold, chilling truth about that fateful evening.
The Airship
For years, the image of the large silver airship, or Zeppelin, captivated the world, only for its reputation to crash and burn simultaneously with the Hindenburg. To uncover the truth about the Hindenburg disaster, we have to understand the airship itself—and how it became such a popular form of travel despite what we now can see are blatant vulnerabilities.
What IS A Rigid Airship?
The Hindenburg was a rigid airship. To simplify a very complicated topic, while airplanes depend on wind flow and lift from the wings, airships float thanks to their envelopes being filled with a lifting gas, and the difference in density between the lifting gas and surrounding air.
Rigid Vs Blimp
A rigid airship like the Hindenburg is a type of airship whose envelope is supported by an internal framework, as opposed to simply the lifting gas itself, as in a blimp. For years, the lifting gas used in many rigid airships was highly-flammable hydrogen—and this led to its fair share of problems.
