The Hindenburg airship is the largest airship that has ever been created in the world. It was built in Germany in 1936. It received its name in honor of the President of Germany by the name of Paul von Hindenburg. A famous tragic story is associated with the airship. In 1937, when landing in the United States, it caught fire and collapsed. Of the 97 people on board, 35 were killed. Another victim was a member of the ground crew.
The crash of the Hindenburg was not the most massive catastrophe of airships, but caused a great public outcry.
Airship construction
The construction of the Hindenburg airship began in 1931. It took about five years. The first flight took place on March 4, 1936. The characteristics of the Hindenburg airship impressed many.
At the time of construction, it was the largest aircraft in the world. The design of the airship "Hindenburg" was the most advanced. Its length was 245 meters. The volume of gas in cylinders was about 200 thousand cubic meters. Zeppelin had four diesel engines with a capacity of about 900 horsepower. There were special tanks for storing fuel with a volume of two and a half thousand liters each.
The technical characteristics of the Hindenburg airship were impressive. He was able to lift into the air up to 100 tons of payload and 50 passengers. The maximum speed was 135 kilometers per hour. These technical characteristics of the Hindenburg airship were simply astounding for their time.
Helium instead of hydrogen
The history of the Hindenburg airship is interesting in that such a large size was due to the fact that it was planned to use helium as the carrier gas. It was planned to replace them with flammable hydrogen, which was used earlier.
Interestingly, it was originally planned to build a hydrogen zeppelin, which would actually be the successor to the popular Zeppelin airship. But because of the disaster of the English airship, the project was redone. Then, out of 54 people on board, 48 were killed. The cause was the ignition of hydrogen due to leakage.
At the time of the construction of the Hindenburg airship, the United States was the only major helium supplier in the world. But the country had an embargo on its exports. Still, one of the developers of the zeppelin Hugo Eckener expected that he would be able to get helium, for this he even met with the American president in the White House in 1929.
But these plans were not destined to materialize. When the National Council for the Control of Military Goods came to power in Germany, the United States refused to lift the ban on helium exports. The Hindenburg had to be redone to use hydrogen.
Zeppelin Equipment
The German airship "Hindenburg" was equipped with everything necessary. On board there was a restaurant and a kitchen. Two walking galleries with tilted windows were equipped on the deck. Due to weight restrictions, a shower was located instead of bathtubs. Almost everything was made of aluminum, even a grand piano designed for a zeppelin interior.
Before boarding, all passengers were required to take lighters, matches and any other devices that could cause a spark. Interestingly, even in spite of such severe restrictions, the Hindenburg had a smoking room. There it was possible to use the only electric lighter on board. To maximize the safety of passengers and crew from a possible fire, overpressure was maintained in the room. This prevented hydrogen from entering the room. It was possible to get into it only through an air lock.
By 1937, passenger compartments as well as public facilities were globally modernized. This allowed to significantly increase capacity - from fifty to 72 passengers.
Airship flights
The Hindenburg airship made its first flight in 1936. He took off in Friedrichshafen. During the first few weeks, he made five test flights, and on March 26 went on his first advertising flight. On board were 59 passengers.
The airship began to carry out direct commercial flights from March 31. With 37 passengers aboard, the zeppelin departed for South America. Also managed to raise more than a ton of cargo.
Since May 1936, the airship began to be used for regular passenger traffic. He made flights across the Atlantic Ocean, making an average of two flights a month.
In September, the Hindenburg went to Nuremberg, the flight took less than a day, and from there to the east coast of America. By the end of the year, he made three more flights to Recife and Rio de Janeiro. About ten commercial flights were flown to American Lakehurst.
It is worth emphasizing that at that time the airship was one of the most popular ways to cross the Atlantic. Tickets were sold out almost immediately, there were simply no empty seats.
In winter, modernization was carried out, after which flights across the Atlantic Ocean to Brazil continued. The Hindenburg also carried passengers on an advertising tour over the western part of Germany and Rhineland-Palatinate.
In total, the airship made 63 successful flights.
Last flight
Zeppelin set off on its last flight on May 3, 1937. Onboard there were 97 people. Among them - 61 passengers and 36 crew members. The flights took place in fairly comfortable conditions, to ensure the convenience of passengers on board there was always a large number of staff. At the same time, tickets were expensive - on average about four hundred dollars.
The luggage compartment was also filled. The airship received more than 17 thousand mail, the total volume of baggage and cargo was approximately one ton. The place on the captain’s bridge was taken by Max Pruss, an experienced pilot, a veteran of the First World War.
The catastrophe of the airship "Hindenburg"
From Germany, the airship flew at 20:15 local time. Overcoming the Atlantic Ocean, he was over Manhattan.
The crew traditionally cared not only about the convenience of passengers, but also about creating an unforgettable experience. Captain Pruss decided to show passengers the sights of America, and at the same time show the famous German airship to the Americans. To do this, he flew so close to the observation deck of the Empire State Building that visitors and passengers could see each other well and wave.
After that, the Hindenburg circled for a short time over the city itself and headed for the air base at Lakehurst. It was there that a landing was planned. Around 16:00, the zeppelin was not far from its landing site.
Landing at Lakehurst
Directly in Lakehurst, weather conditions have deteriorated significantly. From the west, a thunderstorm front was rapidly approaching, which could soon reach the landing field. The weather was so unpredictable that the head of the air base, Charles Roosendaal, even urged Pruss to postpone the landing of the airship.
Zeppelin sailed along the coast. By this time, the thunderstorm front began to move north. At 18:12 a radiogram came aboard the Hindenburg, in which it was reported that the weather conditions had become favorable, you can again head for the base and land. At 19:08 one more message arrived. In it, the crew was urged to board as soon as possible, because the weather could deteriorate again.
At 19:11 the airship began to decline, dropping to the level of 180 meters. At that time, an American journalist Herbert Morrison followed him from the ground reporting on the arrival of Hindenburg in the United States.
At 19:20, the zeppelin was balanced, two mooring ropes were dropped from his nose . Direct preparations for landing began. The situation began to get out of control at 19:25, when a fire began in the tail section. Literally in 15 seconds, the fire spread towards the bow for several tens of meters. Immediately after this, the first explosion on the airship "Hindenburg" thundered.
Exactly 34 seconds after this, the zeppelin collapsed to the ground.
Victims of the tragedy
In the disaster on the airship "Hindenburg" killed 36 people: 22 crew members and 13 passengers. Another victim was a ground service officer.
Most of them died on fire or suffocated with carbon monoxide. Several people managed to jump out of the burning airship, but crashed when they fell to the ground.
Directly in the crash itself, 26 people died, of which 10 were passengers. The rest died later from injuries.
Disaster investigation
The Hindenburg airship crash was investigated by a commission of inquiry from Germany. It was found that in the rear of the hull a steel wire brace exploded, which passed along the inside of the entire frame. At the same time, it served to transfer pressure to gas cylinders.
Two cylinders due to a gap were damaged. This caused a hydrogen leak; as a result, an explosive mixture formed in the space between the cylinders and the outer shell.
After the landing ropes were dropped, the zeppelin shell was not grounded as well as the body material. This led to a potential difference. The weather also played a role. Humidity was increased, and a spark appeared recently due to a recent thunderstorm front. As a result, the air-hydrogen mixture instantly ignited. American experts conducted their investigation, who came to similar conclusions.
Conspirological version
Interestingly, there is a conspiracy theological version of the death of the Hindenburg airship. She was nominated by an amateur historian from the United States, Adolf Helling.
He believes that the Hindenburg destroyed a mine with a clockwork. It was deliberately set by one of the crew members, technician Erich Spel, at the bottom of cylinder number four. It was assumed that the explosion would occur immediately after landing, when both passengers and crew left the ship. So says Heling. But due to the fact that the Hindenburg made an extra circle, which was caused by bad weather conditions, the clockwork worked until the landing of all those on board the airship.
Spel himself jumped out of a burning zeppelin, but soon died in the hospital from burns. Interestingly, the head of the German Gestapo, Heinrich Müller, put forward the same version.
Crash consequences
The crash of the airship "Hindenburg" was the beginning of the end of the era of airships in the world. Soon after this incident, the German leadership officially banned passenger transportation on airships, as well as using them for foreign flights for any purpose.
An exception was made only for postal items and air shows, which were organized in Germany.
Farewell to the airships
Following the Hindenburg disaster, the commercial use of airships virtually ceased. German companies canceled all flights to Brazil and the United States. The German government introduced a ban on passenger transportation on zeppelins.
The airship "Count Zeppelin" was transferred to Frankfurt. There he was housed in the museum as a huge exhibit at an exhibition that was dedicated to von Zeppelin himself and his creations.
The next airship from this series was completed, but it was used exclusively for propaganda and military purposes. Already in 1940, German Minister of Aviation Goering ordered that both airships be scrapped.
The death of the Hindenburg in culture
The disaster at the Hindenburg is reflected in world culture. For example, in 1975, American director Robert Wise made a feature film called Hindenburg, which won two Oscars. In it, the main version of what happened was sabotage.
One of the episodes of the popular documentary series "Seconds Before the Disaster" tells in detail about what happened on the airship in May 1937. The filmmakers conducted their own investigation, which came to the conclusion that the initial version of the ignition of hydrogen on board is more likely than the version of the explosion or intentional arson.
Hindenburg is also mentioned in the documentary series Life After People. It shows faded photos of the airship, which supposedly three centuries after the disappearance of mankind are stored in archives.
In the science fiction series “Out of Time” in the very first episode of the first season, the heroes go back in time just at the time of the death of “Hindenburg”. They intend to catch a terrorist whose goal is to change the course of history.