The Hindenburg in Flames: How a Photograph Marked the End of the Airship
CAPTURED WORLD HISTORY THE HINDENBURG IN FLAMES HOW A PHOTOGRAPH MARKED THE END OF THE AIRSHIP by Michael Burgan Content Adviser Dan Grossman Airship and Aviation Historian Airships net COMPASS POINT BOOKS actone impi
Chapter One A LANDING GONE WRONG For the people of New York City May 6 1937 was just another Thursday another workday in the city of 7 million people The weather forecast for the day was mostly cloudy and cool with showers in the morning Readers of The New York Times who scanned the headlines saw news from overseas They also saw a story about efforts in Congress to give less money to people who were out of work The United States and most of the world were still suffering from the Great Depression The economic downturn which had begun in 1929 had cost millions of people their jobs Turning to page eight of The Times readers might have noticed a small article about the delayed arrival of the airship Hindenburg The giant aircraft was supposed to have docked that morning at the Naval Air Station in Lakehurst New Jersey about 50 miles 80 kilometers south of New York City But on May 5 as the Hindenburg neared the Atlantic coast of Canada it ran into stiff winds that slowed its progress As The Times reported With the dirigible slowed to 42 knots according to reports received by American Airlines plans to land at Lakehurst N J at 6 a m today were abandoned Now the airship would land at 6 p m that evening The Hindenburg was scheduled to leave that night for its return to Europe across the Atlantic Ocean The Times assured readers that speedy re-fueling will enable the airship to start its return trip at midnight
The Hindenburg lazily floated over New York City on its way to the Naval Air Station in New Jersey The Hindenburg had begun regularly carrying passengers back and forth across the ocean the year before It followed the Graf Zeppelin which had earlier traveled to Lakehurst two times before beginning regular service between Germany and South America At the time the German airships were the only aircraft carrying passengers nonstop across the Atlantic Ocean Passenger planes had just begun flying across the Pacific the year before but they had to make stops along the way And these early commercial planes could not match the size and luxury of the Hindenburg The Hindenburg was just over 800 feet 244 meters long and its hull had a diameter of
