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The Hindenburg disaster was an airship accident that occurred on May 6, 1937, in Manchester Township, New Jersey, United States.

The LZ 129 Hindenburg (Luftschiff Zeppelin #129; Registration: D-LZ 129) was a German commercial passenger-carrying rigid airship, the lead ship of the Hindenburg class, the longest class of flying machine and the largest airship by envelope volume. Filled with hydrogen, it caught fire and was destroyed during its attempt to dock with its mooring mast at Naval Air Station Lakehurst. The accident caused 35 fatalities (13 passengers and 22 crewmen) among the 97 people on board (36 passengers and 61 crewmen), and an additional fatality on the ground. The disaster was the subject of newsreel coverage, photographs and Herbert Morrison's recorded radio eyewitness reports from the landing field, which were broadcast the next day. A variety of theories have been put forward for both the cause of ignition and the initial fuel for the ensuing fire.

After her maiden flight on 4 March 1936 the Hindenburg had made ten trips to the United States without any incidents. Except for strong headwinds that slowed its progress, the Atlantic crossing of the Hindenburg was unremarkable until the airship attempted an early-evening landing at Lakehurst three days later on May 6. Although carrying only half its full capacity of passengers (36 of 70) and crewmen (61, including 21 crewman trainees) during the accident flight, the Hindenburg was fully booked for its return flight.

EDT (23:00 UTC), at an altitude of 650 feet (200 m), the Hindenburg made its final approach to the Lakehurst Naval Air Station. Although the high landing was a common procedure for American airships, the Hindenburg had performed this maneuver only a few times in 1936 while landing in Lakehurst. At 7:21 p.m., while the Hindenburg was at an altitude of 295 ft (90 m), the mooring lines were dropped from the bow; the starboard line was dropped first, followed by the port line.

Ten years later, Michael MacDonald Mooney's book The Hindenburg, which was based heavily on Hoehling's sabotage hypothesis, also identified Spehl as a possible saboteur; Mooney's book was made into the film The Hindenburg (1975), a mostly fictionalized account of the Zeppelin's final flight.

A variant of the static spark hypothesis, presented by Addison Bain, is that a spark between inadequately grounded fabric cover segments of the Hindenburg itself started the fire, and that the doping compound of the outer skin was flammable enough to be ignited before hydrogen contributed to the fire. Additionally, he demonstrates experimentally that rain was a necessary component of the Hindenburg disaster, showing that the airship's skin would not have conducted electricity when dry, but that adding water to the skin increases its conductivity, allowing electric charge to flow through it, setting off sparks across gaps between skin and frame.

The Hindenburg was venting hydrogen at the time of the disaster.

Although the official German investigation into the Hindenburg disaster ruled out structural failure as a contributing factor, the theory was explored in greater detail during the United States inquiry.

Newsreels, as well as the map of the landing approach, show that the Hindenburg made several sharp turns, first toward port and then starboard, just before the accident.

The 2001 documentary Hindenburg Disaster: Probable Cause suggested that 16-year-old Bobby Rutan, who claimed that he had smelled "gasoline" when he was standing below the Hindenburg's aft port engine, had detected a diesel fuel leak.

May 10, 1937 Special report on the Hindenburg disaster.

The Hindenburg Disaster – Report of the FBI investigation The Hindenburg 75 years later: Memories time cannot erase – NJ.com/Star-Ledger article on the 75th anniversary of the Hindenburg disaster 14. (May 15, 1937) article on how radio reported the Hindenburg disaster Under Fire! – WLS Stand By magazine (May 15, 1937) article on Herb Morrison and his engineer Charlie Nehlsen reporting the Hindenburg disaster

Quick Facts

• The LZ 129 Hindenburg (Luftschiff Zeppelin #129; Registration: D-LZ 129) was a German commercial passenger-carrying rigid airship, the lead ship of the Hindenburg class, the longest class of flying machine and the largest airship by envelope volume.
• The disaster was the subject of newsreel coverage, photographs and Herbert Morrison's recorded radio eyewitness reports from the landing field, which were broadcast the next day.
• The Hindenburg was venting hydrogen at the time of the disaster.
• The Hindenburg 75 years later: Memories time cannot erase – NJ.com/Star-Ledger article on the 75th anniversary of the Hindenburg disaster
• Although the high landing was a common procedure for American airships, the Hindenburg had performed this maneuver only a few times in 1936 while landing in Lakehurst.

Source material: Wikipedia - "Hindenburg disaster". Adapted and summarized for DiscoverScroll. Original contributors are credited through the linked Wikipedia article. Read original on Wikipedia. CC BY-SA 4.0. Changes were made from the original.