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In 34 seconds, only the dirigible skeleton remains. Now begins the grim search for 36 trapped victims. Only cinders mark "the safest aircraft ever built.'
It is 20 years since a mysterious fire destroyed the world's mightiest airship and claimed 36 lives.
Searchlights stabbed the swastikas painted on
her tail fins as the Hindenburg, world's mightiest
airship, left her mooring at Frankfurt, Germany, and
lifted majestically into the warm Spring evening.
Four powerful Diesel engines hummed as her nose
swung west and she floated away toward the Atlantic.
Queen of the air, the Hindenburg had made 20
successful crossings in 1936. Now she was starting
her 1937 schedule, with 97 passengers and crew.
The pride of the Zeppelin Transport Co. was longer
than a battleship and higher than most buildings. She
had so many modern devices that Lloyd's of London
called her "the safest aircraft ever built," and issued
500,000 insurance at a specially low premium rate.
Accommodations were extremely comfortable; the
food, delightful. As usual, the passengers were taken
on a tour of the ship to see its control room and the
great cells of hydrogen gas that kept it afloat. But
for the most part, they spent the two-day voyage
reading, writing postcards, and looking down at the
Atlantic far below.
On Thursday morning, May 6, the coast of New
England appeared on the horizon. The captain turned
the airship south toward her mooring at the Lake
hurst Naval Air Station in New Jersey.
The skyscrapers of New York were a thrilling sight
as they came into view. At Ebbets Field in Brooklyn,
the Dodgers were beating the Pirates 9 to 5. The fans
looked up at the sky as the Hindenburg went over
a storm seemed to be brewing.
Along the coast of New Jersey, the sky grew .
darker and a blustery wind splashed rain on the air
ship. There were some rumbles of thunder, but still
there was nothing to fear. The Hindenburg had
flown through much worse weather many times.
The passengers had expected to land by 6 p. m.,
but the captain decided to cruise awhile to see if the
rain squall wouldn't blow over. A little after 7 o'clock,
he decided to come down and began, releasing gas
and water ballast as the Hindenburg approached her
mooring mast.
Hardly anyone heard the thump that gas makes
when it's lit But at the top of the Hindenburg, near
the rear fin, was a dot of something bright red.
"It's broken into flames!" a radio announcer shouted
into his microphone. "It's flashing it's flashing ter
rible. Oh, the humanity!" Then the flames blew in,
long tongues of flame, bright red. As the ship tilted,
some passengers began jumping; few moved after
striking the ground. In 34 seconds, the whole fiery
steel skeleton of the once-proud Hindenburg crashed
to earth on top of them.
Some of those who still lived fought their way from
the furnace by tearing away white-hot strips of metal
with their bare hands. They staggered out soaked
with oil, their clothes aflame, burned to the bone.
Some of the little black figures fell and rose again;
others lay quietly in the glare.
A five-year-old boy dropped to his knees, crying:
"Please, God, don't let my daddy die!"
A young German crewman was carried to shelter,
horribly burned. "Ich lebe (I live)," he muttered.
Then he died.
As he stumbled out of the flames, one of the Hin
denburg's officers kept saying: "I can't understand it
I can't understand it" He too died.
Altogether, 36 persons perished, but the cause of
the catastrophe was never proved. President Roose
velt sent' America's condolences to Germany.
WAS IT SABOTAGE?
rr will be 20 years tomorrow since the mighty
airship Hindenburg flashed into flame and fell to the
earth at the Lakehurst (N. J.) Naval Air Station.
Yet hardly a week goes by that the then commander
of the station,. Vice Adm. Charles E. Rosendahl,
doesn't receive letters from people still speculating
on the cause of the tragedy.
I Admiral Rosendahl's belief, even after 20 years of
investigation, is that the Hindenburg was the victim
of willful sabotage.
Some investigators attributed the fire to a spark
of static electricity igniting hydrogen gas that had
leaked from the airship. For various reasons, this
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Adm. Charles Rosendahl
combination of events still
strikes Rosendahl as
highly unlikely. The fact
is, just before the Hin
denburg left on its final
flight, some of the officers
were warned to beware of
an attempt to destroy the
ship. The admiral says
this might have been done
with an incendiary device
perhaps no larger than
a fountain pen placed
near the cells containing
seven million cubic feet of highly flammable hydrogen
and set to go off at a certain time.
According to Rosendahl, the passengers' baggage
was searched for incendiaries before departure but
apparently ihe passengers themselves were not
Judging by the time of the tragedy, the saboteur
apparently wished to destroy the airship while caus
ing the least possible danger to human life! For the
Hindenburg was scheduled to leave on its return trip
at 10 p. m. At about 7: 30 when the fire broke out
outgoing passengers would normally not yet be
aboard and incoming passengers would have long
since landed. But thunderstorms delayed the landing
at Lakehurst, and the blaze began just as the ship
was moored.
Admiral Rosendahl says that, as is normal when
landing, crew members were posted at various points
in the ship. Crewmen stationed near the stern later
testified to first seeing fire inside the Hindenburg, in
gas cell No. 4. This was well away from the fin tip
where any spark of static electricity would logically
occur, and it adds weight to the admiral's theory.
Family Weekly, May 5, 1957 7