The Hindenburg airship is a German passenger airship. The Hindenburg airship disaster

The Hindenburg airship is the largest airship ever built in the world. It was built in Germany in 1936. It received its name in honor of the President of Germany named Paul von Hindenburg. The famous tragic story. In 1937, while landing in the United States, it caught fire and crashed. Of the 97 people on board, 35 died. Another victim was a member of the ground crew.

The crash of the Hindenburg was not the largest airship disaster, but it caused a major

Construction of an airship

Construction of the Hindenburg airship began in 1931. It took about five years. The first flight took place in 1936. The characteristics of the airship "Hindenburg" impressed many.

At the time of construction it was the largest in the world. The design of the airship "Hindenburg" was the most advanced. Its length was 245 meters. The volume of gas in the cylinders was about 200 thousand cubic meters. The Zeppelin had four diesel engines producing approximately 900 horsepower. There were special fuel storage tanks with a capacity of two and a half thousand liters each.

The technical characteristics of the Hindenburg airship were impressive. It was capable of lifting up to 100 tons into the air payload and 50 passengers. Maximum speed was 135 kilometers per hour. These technical specifications The Hindenburg airship was simply amazing for its time.

Helium instead of hydrogen

The history of the Hindenburg airship is interesting in that such large dimensions were due to the fact that it was planned to use helium as the carrier gas. It was planned to replace the highly flammable hydrogen that was used previously.

Interestingly, it was originally planned to build a hydrogen zeppelin, which would actually become the successor to the popular Graf Zeppelin airship. But due to the disaster of an English airship, the project was redone. Then, of the 54 people on board, 48 died. The cause was the ignition of hydrogen due to a leak.

At the time of the construction of the Hindenburg airship, the only major suppliers of helium in the world were the United States. But the country had an embargo on its export. Still, one of the developers of the Zeppelin, Hugo Eckener, hoped that it would be possible to obtain helium; for this purpose, he even met with the American president in the White House in 1929.

But these plans were not destined to come true. When the National War Products Control Board came to power in Germany, the United States refused to lift the ban on helium exports. The Hindenburg had to be converted to use hydrogen.

Zeppelin equipment

The German airship "Hindenburg" was equipped with everything necessary. There was a restaurant and kitchen on board. The deck was equipped with two walking galleries with windows located at an angle. Due to weight restrictions, showers were installed on board instead of bathtubs. Almost everything was made of aluminum, even the grand piano intended for the Zeppelin's saloon.

Before boarding, all passengers were required to hand over lighters, matches, and any other devices that could cause a spark. Interestingly, even despite such strict restrictions, the Hindenburg had a smoking room. There you could use the only electric lighter on board. To protect passengers and crew as much as possible from a possible fire, the room was maintained overpressure. This prevented hydrogen from entering the room. It was possible to get into it only through the airlock.

By 1937, passenger compartments, as well as public areas, were globally modernized. This made it possible 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. It made five test flights during the first few weeks, and on March 26, it took off on its first promotional flight. There were 59 passengers on board.

The airship began performing direct commercial flights on March 31. With 37 passengers on board, the zeppelin set off for South America. We also managed to lift more than a ton of cargo.

Since May 1936, the airship began to be used for regular passenger transportation. He flew across the Atlantic Ocean, making an average of two flights per month.

In September, the Hindenburg departed for Nuremberg, a flight that took less than a day, and from there to the east coast of America. By the end of the year, she made three more voyages to Recife and Rio de Janeiro. About ten commercial flights were made to the American Lakehurst.

It is worth emphasizing that at that time the airship was one of the most popular ways to cross the Atlantic. Tickets sold out almost immediately free seats it just wasn't there.

In winter, modernization was carried out, after which flights across the Atlantic Ocean to Brazil continued. The Hindenburg also carried passengers on a promotional tour over western part Germany and Rhineland-Palatinate.

In total, the airship made 63 successful flights.

Last flight

The zeppelin took off on its last flight on May 3, 1937. There were 97 people on board. Among them are 61 passengers and 36 crew members. The flights took place in fairly comfortable conditions; to ensure the comfort of passengers, there was always a presence on board. large number service personnel. The tickets were not cheap - on average about four hundred dollars.

The luggage compartments were also filled. The airship received more than 17 thousand postal items, the total volume of luggage and cargo was approximately one ton. The place on the captain's bridge was taken by Max Pruss, an experienced pilot and veteran of the First World War.

The Hindenburg airship disaster

The airship took off from Germany at 20:15 local time. Having crossed the Atlantic Ocean, he found himself over Manhattan.

The crew has traditionally cared not only about the comfort of passengers, but also about creating an unforgettable experience. Captain Pruss decided to show the passengers the sights of America, and at the same time show the Americans the famous German airship. To do this, he flew so close to the observation deck of the Empire State Building that visitors and passengers could get a good look at each other and wave.

After this, the Hindenburg briefly circled over the city itself and headed to the air base at Lakehurst. It was there that the landing was planned. At about 16:00 the zeppelin was not far from its landing site.

Landing at Lakehurst

In Lakehurst, weather conditions have deteriorated significantly. A thunderstorm front was rapidly approaching from the west, which could soon reach the landing field. The weather was so unpredictable that the head of the air base, Charles Rosendahl, even strongly recommended that Pruss postpone the landing of the airship.

Zeppelin sailed along the coast. By this time, the storm front began to move north. At 18:12, a radiogram arrived on board the Hindenburg, which reported that weather conditions had become favorable, it was possible to again set course for the base and land. At 19:08 another message arrived. In it, the crew was urged to land as soon as possible, because the weather could worsen again.

At 19:11 the airship began its descent, dropping to 180 meters. At this time, he was being followed by the American journalist Herbert Morrison, who was reporting from the ground about the arrival of the Hindenburg in the United States.

At 19:20 the zeppelin was balanced and two were dropped from its nose. Direct preparations for landing began. The situation began to get out of control at 19:25 when a fire started in the rear section. In just 15 seconds, the fire spread towards the bow for several tens of meters. Immediately after this, the first explosion occurred on the Hindenburg airship.

Exactly 34 seconds after this, the zeppelin crashed to the ground.

Victims of the tragedy

In the Hindenburg airship disaster, 36 people died: 22 crew members and 13 passengers. Another victim was a ground service employee.

Most of them died in the fire or suffocated carbon monoxide. Several people managed to jump out of the burning airship, but were killed when they fell to the ground.

Directly in the disaster itself, 26 people died, of which 10 were passengers. The rest died later from their injuries.

Disaster investigation

The investigation into the disaster of the Hindenburg airship was carried out by a commission of inquiry from Germany. It was established that a steel wire brace, which ran along the inside of the entire frame, exploded in the rear part of the hull. At the same time, it served to transfer pressure to gas cylinders.

Two cylinders were damaged due to rupture. This caused a leak of hydrogen, resulting in 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 as well grounded as the hull material. This led to a potential difference. The weather also played a role. The humidity was high and a recent thunderstorm front had sparked. As a result, the air-hydrogen mixture instantly ignited. American experts also conducted their investigation and came to similar conclusions.

Conspiracy version

Interestingly, there is also a conspiracy theory about the death of the Hindenburg airship. It was put forward by an amateur historian from the United States, Adolf Heling.

He believes that the Hindenburg was destroyed by a timed mine. It was deliberately installed by one of the crew members, technician Erich Spehl, at the bottom of the cylinder number four. It was assumed that the explosion would occur immediately after landing, when both passengers and crew had left the ship. Heling thinks so. But due to the fact that the Hindenburg made an extra circle, which was caused by bad weather conditions, the clockwork mechanism worked before everyone on board the airship disembarked.

Spehl himself jumped out of the burning zeppelin, but soon died in the hospital from his burns. Interestingly, the same version was put forward by the head of the German Gestapo, Heinrich Müller.

Consequences of the crash

The crash of the Hindenburg airship marked 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 mail and air shows that were organized in Germany.

Farewell to airships

After the Hindenburg disaster, the commercial use of airships virtually ceased. German companies have canceled all flights to Brazil and the USA. The German government has introduced a ban on passenger transportation on zeppelins.

The airship "Graf Zeppelin" was transferred to Frankfurt. There it was placed in the museum as a huge exhibit in an exhibition that was dedicated to von Zeppelin himself and his creations.

The next airship in this series was completed, but it was used exclusively for propaganda and military purposes. Already in 1940, German Aviation Minister Goering ordered both airships to be scrapped.

The death of the Hindenburg in culture

The Hindenburg disaster is reflected in world culture. For example, in 1975, American director Robert Wise made a feature-length film called The Hindenburg, which won two Oscar awards. In it, the main version of what happened was sabotage.

One of the episodes of the popular documentary series “Seconds to 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 a hydrogen fire on board is more likely than the versions of an explosion or deliberate arson.

The Hindenburg is also mentioned in the documentary series Life After People. It shows faded photographs of the airship, supposedly kept in archives three centuries after the extinction of humanity.

In the fictional fantasy series “Out of Time,” in the very first episode of the first season, the characters travel back in time just at the moment of the destruction of the Hindenburg. They intend to catch a terrorist whose goal is to change the course of history.

And in 1937, a disaster occurred with the Zeppelin Hindenburg, the largest aircraft of that time.

The success of the Graf Zeppelin airship in transporting passengers over long distances encouraged the German company Zeppelin to the construction of another huge airship. Work on the LZ-129, later named the Hindenburg, began in the fall of 1931, but was delayed by severe shortages of funds during the Great Depression. In addition, Aviation Minister Hermann Goering did not like Zeppelins, calling them “flying sausages.” However, another Nazi German minister, Joseph Goebbels, understood the advantages of a huge ship for propaganda work. Goebbels contributed to the allocation of two million marks to complete the construction.

The Hindenburg left the boathouse on March 4, 1936. Its size and speed characteristics were amazing: 245 meters in length, maximum diameter - 41.2 meters, 200,000 cubic meters of gas in cylinders. The airship was equipped with four Daimler-Benz diesel engines with a maximum power of 1200 hp. With. each was capable of lifting up to 100 tons of payload. It reached speeds of up to 135 kilometers per hour and up to 150 with a tailwind. A frightening fact in light of subsequent events: part of the ship’s duralumin hull was made from the wreckage of the British airship R101.

The interior of the zeppelin was no less impressive. It had two passenger decks - “A” and “B”. On deck “A” there was a dining room, a reading and writing room, a walking area, an observation deck and 25 residential cabins. The interior design of the residential premises was carried out by architecture professor Fritz August Brehaus.

Dining room

The dining room was located on the port side of Deck A. The dining room area was 14 meters long and 4 meters wide. On the walls hung silk wallpaper with paintings by Professor Otto Arpke depicting scenes from the Graf Zeppelin airship's voyages to South America. The tables and chairs, designed by Fritz Brahaus, were made from lightweight tubular aluminum (weight was saved in each piece) and finished in red.

Living room

On the starboard side there was a living room. It was decorated with a fresco by Otto Arpke, depicting the routes of legendary explorers: Ferdinand Magellan, Vasco da Gama, Christopher Columbus. Also marked on the map was the route of the transatlantic passage of the airship LZ-126 Los Angeles, the route trip around the world"Count Zeppelin". In the living room the tables and chairs were designed in brown color. The living room's observation windows came off, allowing passengers to not only admire the views, but also breathe fresh air. Even low temperatures did not interfere: the passenger spaces were located inside the ship's hull (unlike the Graf Zeppelin, whose passengers traveled in a gondola) and were heated by air coming from the engine cooling systems.

The Sound of the Airship Hindenburg's Aluminum Piano
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Until 1937, there was a specially designed grand piano in the living room. The famous carpenter Julius Blüthner took part in the manufacture of the instrument. Thanks to the use of duralumin, the weight of the piano was only 160 kilograms. The outside was upholstered in pigskin. Despite these design features, listeners noted the “deep and full sound” of the piano. In 1937 he was removed from the ship. The instrument did not fly on the last flight.

Smoking room

On deck "B" there was a kitchen, an officer's room, a staff room, a bar, a shower and toilets. A special room was equipped for smoking passengers, which was entered through an airlock. There was the only electric lighter on board. To ensure fire safety, a slight excess pressure was constantly maintained in the room, which prevented the penetration of hydrogen into it. The smoking room was painted blue, the furniture was dark gray, and illustrations from the history of aerospace hung on the walls. The room was combined with a bar. The bartender's duties included monitoring the visitors: no one was supposed to leave with a lit cigarette or pipe. Open fire was prohibited in any other premises of the Hidenburg. The passengers had no lighters or matches in their hands. They had to be handed in before the flight.

Swastika on the tail of a ship

Since the construction of the Zeppelin was also financed by the National Socialists, from the first days the Hindenburg was used for propaganda. The airship traveled from Königsberg to Garmisch-Partenkirchen. Nazi pennants fluttered on the fuselage, and the tail was decorated with a swastika. Leaflets were thrown from the sides onto the crowd, and loudspeakers chanted: “Do your duty - elect a Fuhrer!” According to official data, in the elections of March 29, 1936, the NSDAP party received 99 percent of the votes on a single-mandate list. The ship circled over Berlin. The Hindenburg brought German boxer Max Schmeling home after defeating black American Joe Louis.

On May 6, 1936, LZ-129 began transatlantic passenger service. The airship made the flight in two and a half days - an excellent indicator for that time. Even the fastest ships took about five days to cover the same distance. But this was not cheap entertainment. A ticket cost $400 (roughly $6,000 in 2013 money), while the best cruise ships They charged first class passengers only $240. In third class, you could cross the ocean for less than $100. However, the price did not hinder the popularity of air travel. By the end of 1936, the Hindenburg had crossed the Atlantic Ocean 34 times.

Flight schedule for 1937 of the Hindenburg and Graf Zeppelin

In the winter of 1936−1937, the airship underwent scheduled maintenance. It was originally planned that the ship would fly using helium. At that time, the only supplier of this gas was the United States: there was an embargo on its export ( Helium Control Act of 1927). The issue of helium supply was discussed in 1929; the Zeppelin Company managed to achieve a positive decision, but after the NSDAP came to power in Germany, the National Council for the Control of War Products refused to lift the export ban. As a result, the Hindenburg was modified to use hydrogen. Since hydrogen is lighter than helium, the ship's carrying capacity exceeded the planned value, so additional cabins were installed on the airship during scheduled maintenance.

The Hindenburg took off on its last flight on the evening of May 3, 1937. There were 97 passengers and crew members on board. On May 6, the airship appeared over Manhattan. After circling over the city, the ship headed towards the Lakehurst base, where it was supposed to land, and by 16:00 it arrived at its destination. However, an extensive thunderstorm front was approaching the landing field from the west. The head of the base, the famous dirigible Charles Rosendahl, did not recommend Captain Pruss to land. For some time, the zeppelin moved along the coast, waiting for permission to land, while the storm front gradually moved north. At 18:12, the Hindenburg received a radio message from Lakehurst indicating that weather conditions permitted landing, and again headed for base. At 19:08 he received another message from Lakehurst advising him to land as soon as possible.

Hindenburg Disaster Real Footage (1937)
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At 19:11 the airship dropped to 180 meters. At 19:20 it was balanced and the mooring ropes were dropped from the bow of the ship. At 19:25, a fire broke out in the stern area, in front of the vertical stabilizer above the 4th and 5th gas compartments. Within 15 seconds, the fire spread 20-30 meters towards the bow of the zeppelin, after which the first explosion was heard. Half a minute after the fire, the Hindenburg fell to the ground next to the mooring mast.

Journalists greeted the ship's arrival. Thanks to them, photographs and video footage of the airship crash remained in history. Although the crash of the Hindenburg was not the largest disaster in the history of airship construction in terms of the number of victims, evidence of the death made a great impression on people. Disputes about the safety of zeppelins were stopped; their construction technology was recognized as unsafe. Huge ships stopped carrying passengers. The surviving devices began to be used for advertising purposes.

The Hindenburg airship, built in 1936 at Ferdinand Zeppelin's plant in Germany, played a huge role in the history of aviation. Equipped with the latest technology at that time, having a special semi-rigid hull design, it was a symbol of the power and greatness of the “Third Reich”.

The Zeppelin company, headed by Ernst Lehmann, was absolutely confident in the reliability of the Hindenburg, which was to lead a whole series of airships for transatlantic flights. The Hindenburg airship was the largest such aircraft in the world at one time. It was 245 meters long and 41 meters in diameter. Inside the airship there were 200,000 cubic meters of hydrogen.

The palace in the air, as they said about it, was capable of transporting 72 passengers across the ocean at a speed of 140 kilometers per hour with special comfort. So that the latter would not get bored during the trip, talented chefs prepared excellent food on the airship, a specially designed light piano played wonderful music, and even a special cocktail called the “Hindenburg” was served in the bar.

This is what the interior of the Hindenburg Airship looked like.

The 18th flight across the Atlantic to New York was fatal. On May 6, 1937, reporters, cameramen and the team that helped dock this huge giant (more than 2 times the size of a football field) were waiting for him. Shortly after the landing began, the airship burst into flames. But thanks to the experienced ship commander Mark Pruss and the coordinated actions of the team, 61 lives were saved. The footage of the airship crash is still preserved, which you can watch below. After this incident, the era of airships ended. Why the explosion happened is still a mystery.

The Hindenburg arrived in New York on May 6th. The silver cigar descended and floated past the skyscrapers. The airship came so close to the Empire State Building that passengers could see photographers in its windows filming the giant flying past. Down on Broadway and the surrounding streets crowds of people gathered, their heads raised, looking up.

Having excited the residents of New York with his appearance, satisfying his own vanity, Captain Proust sent the Hindenburg to the landing site - in the suburb of Lakehurst. Here several hundred people were already waiting for their relatives and friends returning from Europe. A special mast was erected to moor the airship, but strong winds and a thunderstorm delayed the stop. It was too dangerous to cling to the metal mast while lightning flashed in the air. Due to bad weather, the airship circled over Lakehurst for more than an hour. Finally, having made a wide loop over the airfield and still battling the downpour, he headed for the mooring mast.

And suddenly something completely incredible happened. First, a dull explosion was heard, then a sheaf of flame appeared at the stern, which in a few seconds engulfed the entire airship. And soon the airship fell flat to the ground. This terrible tragedy happened so suddenly, so quickly that all the people gathered at the airfield were simply confused at first. Then panic arose, and the crowd began to scatter in confusion different sides. Flames burst out from the long hull of the airship with enormous force, and four minutes later the Hindenburg was already ablaze.

Of the 97 passengers and crew members, 62 people were saved—almost two-thirds. Fortunately, most of the people were in the bow of the Hindenburg. They still couldn’t understand anything, but from the tilt of the airship’s hull and from the figures of people rushing about on the ground, they realized that something unexpected had happened.

The 12 crew members, led by Captain Max Proust, were pinned to the ground by the hot parts of the burning fuselage. Severely burned, they still got out from under the rubble. Max Proust was seriously wounded. Ernst Lehmann jumped out of the airship like a burning torch, but the next day he died in the hospital.

The death of the Hindenburg made a most painful and depressing impression in Germany. All German newspapers devoted entire pages to the disaster. For a long time According to the official version, the cause of the tragedy was considered to be the ignition of hydrogen. If the airship had been filled with helium instead of hydrogen, then such a disaster would not have happened. But the Germans could not use helium, since it was produced only in the States, and the Germans again could not buy it there for political and financial reasons.

But in 1972, M. Mooney’s book “Hindenburg” was published, which completely refutes the official version. Its author, after a careful study of German and American archives, came to the conclusion that the airship exploded due to sabotage. One of the crew members, Erich Spehl, disillusioned with the Hitler regime, planted a phosphorus bomb. As a result of its explosion, a catastrophe occurred that shocked the whole world.

Since then, no more hydrogen-powered airships have been built. And in general, a giant like the Hindenburg was never built again. The tragedy frightened humanity for a long time.

Construction of the airship LZ 129. Germany, 1935

Construction of the airship, codenamed LZ 129, began in Germany in 1931 - even before Hitler came to power - and took almost five years. Structurally, it was a so-called rigid airship - the most widespread type of the era of passenger airship construction. The dura-aluminum frame was covered with fabric, and closed chambers with gas were placed inside. Rigid airships were of enormous size: otherwise the lifting force was very small.

The first flight of the LZ 129 took place on March 4, 1936. At that time it was the largest passenger airship in the world. At first they wanted to name it in honor of the Fuhrer, but Hitler was against it: any trouble with the car could damage his image. Then the airship was given the name “Hindenburg” - in honor of Paul von Hindenburg, who served as Reich President of Germany from 1925. It was he who appointed Adolf Hitler chancellor in 1933, but after Hindenburg’s death in 1934, Hitler abolished the post of Reich President and assumed all the powers of the head of state.

Airship "Hindenburg". 1936

The Hindenburg was 245 meters long and was only 24 meters shorter than the Titan. Four powerful engines allowed it to reach speeds of up to 135 km/h - that is, it was faster than passenger trains of that time. There could be 100 people on board the di-jable, and in total it was capable of lifting about 100 tons of cargo into the air, of which 60 tons were fuel reserves.

Promenade deck of the Hindenburg

A one-way transatlantic flight on the Hindenburg cost a lot of money in the mid-1930s - $400 (which is almost $7,000 in 2017 prices), so the main passengers of the Hindenburg were politicians, athletes, artists and large industrialists. We tried to create maximum comfort for passengers on board. Initially, the Hindenburg was even equipped with an ultra-light aluminum piano, but later it, like some other design elements, was removed to get rid of excess weight and add several passenger cabins. During its entire operation, the airship went through a number of alterations, but the promenade deck with large windows remained unchanged. By the way, it can be seen in the third part of Indiana Jones, in which father and son Jones try to escape from Germany on an airship.

Passenger cabin. 1936

Unlike a number of other German airships, the Hindenburg's passenger cabins were not located in the gondola, but in the lower part of the main hull. Each cabin was three square meters square meters and is equipped with two beds, a plastic washbasin, a small built-in wardrobe and a folding table. There were no windows or toilets.

The Hindenburg over Manhattan. 1936

In the first third of the 20th century, Germany was the absolute leader in airship construction. Once in power, the Nazis saw airships as important tool propaganda abroad, making them his own business card. From this point of view, flights to North America were considered especially important. Just two months after the test flight, on May 6, 1936, the Hindenburg made its first flight to the United States from Frankfurt to Lake Hurst Air Force Base (New Jersey). The flight took 61 hours 40 minutes: the Hindenburg arrived in Lakehurst on May 9, flying over New York.

During the first transatlantic flight, there were many celebrities on board the Hindenburg. Among them was the Catholic missionary Paul Schulte, known as the Flying Priest. During World War I, he served as a combat pilot and then became a missionary in Africa, traveling to hard-to-reach areas by plane. Before the Hindenburg's flight, Schulte personally asked for papal approval to celebrate the world's first "air mass" and, having received it, conducted the service on Wednesday, May 6, 1936, while the airship was over the Atlantic.

At least twice, the Hindenburg was used as a propaganda tool within Germany. So, on August 1, 1936, during the Berlin Olympics, he flew over the Olympic stadium at an altitude of 250 meters. The airship with the Olympic rings on board circled over the city for about an hour, and the German press wrote that the flight was seen by 3 million people. Later, on September 14, 1936, the Hindenburg also flew over the NSDAP rally in Nuremberg, an annual event celebrated in Leni Riefenstahl's film Triumph of the Will.

Once over US territory, the crew of the Hindenburg always sought to fly over major cities, but the constant landing place for passengers was Lakehurst Air Force Base, located almost 100 kilometers from New York. Before World War II, it was the center of airship construction in the United States, to which the largest American airships were assigned - including the military airship-aircraft carrier Akron, which crashed off the coast of the United States in 1933. It was the largest disaster of the airship era in terms of number of casualties: out of 76 crew members, only three survived. However, the sinking of the Hindenburg quickly overshadowed the sinking of the Akron, largely because it was one of the first disasters to occur on live television.

On May 6, 1937, during another flight to the United States, the Hindenburg crashed while landing at Lakehurst base. Under the control of Captain Max Pruss, the airship left Germany on the evening of May 3 with 97 people on board, and reached New York on the morning of May 6. Demonstrating the airship to the Americans, Pruss flew up to the observation deck of the Empire State Building, and then headed for Lakehurst. A thunderstorm front forced the Hindenburg to wait for some time, and only at eight o’clock in the evening the captain received permission to land. A few minutes before the passengers began disembarking, a fire occurred in the gas compartment, and the flaming airship crashed to the ground. Despite the fire and the fall from a great height, 62 of the 97 people survived. 13 passengers, 22 crew members and one base employee on the ground were killed.

The Hindenburg was filled with highly flammable hydrogen instead of the much safer helium, which is why the fire spread so quickly. In the first half of the 20th century, the main supplier of helium was the United States, but its export to Germany was prohibited. When the airship was originally designed in 1931, it was assumed that helium would be produced by the start of operation, but after the Nazis came to power, US policy on this issue became even stricter, and the Hindenburg was modified to use hydrogen .

This photo, included by Time magazine in its list of the 100 most important photographs in human history, was taken by Sam Sher of International News Photos. He was one of two dozen reporters and photographers who greeted the Hindenburg at Lakehurst. Of the dozens of photographs taken at the scene of the tragedy, it was this photo that made it onto the cover of Life, and was then reprinted by hundreds of publications around the world. And 32 years later, in 1969, Cher's photo also became the cover of Led Zeppelin's debut album.

A memorial service for the 28 victims of the disaster (all of them of German origin) was held in New York on May 11, 1937, at the pier from which the ships departed for Germany. According to the American press, the ceremony was attended by more than 10 thousand members of various German organizations. After flowers were laid on the coffins of the victims and the Nazi salute was given to them, the coffins were ceremonially loaded onto the German steamship Hamburg and sent for burial in Germany.

Wreckage of the Hindenburg airship

At the end of 1937, the duralumin frame of the Hindenburg was sent to Germany and melted down for the needs of the Luft Waffe. Despite some conspiracy theories (the main one was the presence of a time bomb on board), both the American and German commissions came to the conclusion that the explosion of internal gas cylinders was caused by a cable break that damaged one of the cylinders.

Frame of the Hindenburg at the crash site

Immediately after the disaster, Germany stopped all passenger airship flights. In 1940, two other passenger airships - LZ 127 and LZ 130, the so-called "Graf Zeppelin" and "Graf Zeppelin II" - were dismantled, and their dura-aluminum frames were sent for melting down.

The Hindenburg airship leaves its hangar in the spring of 1936. The perfect airship was the pride of Nazi Germany. The length of the gigantic airship was 804 feet, that is longer any of the warships. Refilling it required more than 7 million cubic feet of gas. The largest airship, the Hindenburg (there were no others like it in the world), was intended for regular air flights across the Atlantic Ocean.

Unprecedented comfort and gourmet cuisine

The spacious cabin of the airship, made of duralumin, comfortably accommodated 72 passengers. They all enjoyed a delicious meal. In the passenger compartment they had a specially made aluminum grand piano at their disposal, which weighed only 360 pounds. The Hindenburg airship, whose design was striking in its unprecedented chic, had specially designed viewing windows, protected from possible damage, which opened up a panorama of the earth floating below. The airship even had its own postmark. The kitchen on the Hindenburg was completely electrified. The smoking area was carefully isolated and only electric lighters were allowed. The designers' greatest fear was fire, since the airship was filled with millions of cubic feet of highly flammable hydrogen. The slightest spark could lead to disaster.

Flying hotel

The Hindenburg airship looked as safe as home. In 1936, it symbolized the future of air transport. With a speed of 80 miles per hour, it could cross the Atlantic Ocean in two days, twice as fast as a steamship. Four diesel engines allowed the Hindenburg to cover a distance of 8.5 thousand miles. There was a feeling of confidence on board. But soon everything changed. What should have been another transatlantic flight ended in the worst disaster in aviation history. The huge airship was destroyed under circumstances that were never clarified. The final flight and crash of the Hindenburg airship is still shrouded in mystery.

How it all began

At that time, the era of aeronautics was less than fifty years old. The first were semi-rigid airships like the Santos-Dumont, built in the late 19th century. The father of rigid airships was the German Count Ferdinand von Zeppelin.

His first model of this type, LZ 1, took to the skies in July 1900. And the fourth airship - LZ 4 - in July 1906 made a twelve-hour flight from Germany to Switzerland. Overnight, Count von Zeppelin became a world celebrity, and the aircraft he created became known as Luftschiffbau-Zeppelin. Despite their large size, these devices were fragile. Pilots not only had to control the latest technology, but also be able to adapt to weather conditions. Controlling the Luftschiffbau-Zeppelin was similar to steering a sailing ship, but the airship pilots were at their best. During the first four years, accidents occurred, but there were no casualties. Germany was the world leader in the construction of airships.

The first record holders

The transatlantic flight, which opened the way to commercial flights, was made by the English airship R-34. The aircraft spent 109 hours in the air, breaking all world records. As the R-34 landed, dumping its water ballast to slow its rate of descent, the future of airships seemed bright. But with each new disaster, hopes faded. In August 1921, the British airship R-38, undergoing testing in the United States, broke in half and crashed into the waters of the Humber River (England), killing forty-four crew members. After this, the US Navy abandoned British participation and began creating its own airships.

Design rivalry

In the 20s of the last century, a competition was held for best model. Two airships were to be built: one, the R-100, at a Vickers subsidiary, the other, the R-101, at the state aircraft plant in Cardington. It was a classic rivalry between private and state enterprises. Unfortunately, it all ended badly. There were simply no high-quality designers and engineers in the UK to implement both projects. Most of the talented specialists gathered at the Vickers company, the head of this group was Barnes Wallis, who created the famous bouncing bomb during the Second World War.

In the summer of 1930, the R-100 successfully crossed the Atlantic Ocean twice, but not everything went smoothly in Cardington. It was assumed that the R-101 would open an air line from the Metropolis to India. The airship was supposed to make its route in October 1930 and return to London in time for the conference, to which the premiers of all the British Dominions were invited. But the R-101 was plagued by setbacks; at the last moment, it was even necessary to reduce the length of the airship and attach an additional gas cylinder to its belly. The shell of the airship began to crack. The R-101 device has not been tested for high speed or in bad weather, its power was insufficient, it was overloaded with fuel. Catastrophe seemed inevitable. Experts did not advise lifting the airship into the air, but politicians insisted.

Disaster of the British apparatus

The R-101 was prepared for takeoff and was additionally loaded with a huge red carpet, intended to welcome VIPs aboard the airship after landing. On October 2, a final meeting was held at the Air Ministry, Lord Christopher Thomson, the same one who put forward the idea of ​​​​competing models, insisted on a speedy departure. The flight was finally scheduled for October 4th. The head of the Civil Aviation Department, Sir Sefton Branker, expressed his doubts - he was aware of the design flaws of the R-101, but Thomson told him: “If you're afraid, don't fly.” However, Sefton Branker went flying. At 20.00 the huge airship left London, with rain and strong winds raging over French territory. IN bad weather The airship became uncontrollable, and tons of water accumulated in its skin, and the R-101 crashed near Beauvais in northern France. Lord Thomson was burned alive, only six crew members managed to escape. After the funeral, the finished R-100 was scrapped. Britain abandoned the construction of airships forever.

German air supremacy

Meanwhile, Germany again began building aircraft. The airship program was headed by Hugo Eckener, Zeppelin's successor. After World War I, Germany was prohibited from creating new devices, but in 1926 it returned to airship construction. The first to be built was the LZ 127 "Graf Zeppelin". It made its first flight in September 1926, followed by nine years of continuous operation, during which the airship LZ 127 Graf Zeppelin flew more than a million miles. In 1929, a German airship set a world record by flying around globe. He sailed majestically over Siberia, then crossed Pacific Ocean. It seemed that only the Germans knew the secret of successful accident-free flights.

First appearance

In 1936, they created the R-129 project - the Hindenburg airship. Funds for construction were provided by the Nazi government of Adolf Hitler. Hugo Eckener wanted to lift an airship into the air using helium, but only the USA produced this non-flammable gas. The American government refused to export helium, fearing that it could be used for military purposes. Therefore, the Hindenburg airship had to be filled with flammable hydrogen. But this was not what worried Eckener; he believed that the more serious risk of fire was associated with the fuel for the engines, and not with the danger of a gas leak. The German airship “Hindenburg” performed its first flight “excellently,” which brought it great success. By September 1937, it was planned to create another airship of this type. There was only one competitor looming on the horizon - American flying boats, which had mastered the transatlantic route to the west coast of Ireland. But these planes could not offer the luxury that the German airship Hindenburg was distinguished by.

There were no signs of trouble

On May 3, 1937, the airship Hindenburg left its hangar in Frankfurt, preparing for the first transatlantic voyage of the new season. The final destination was the airfield in Lakehurst, New Jersey. The Zeppelin company received several letters from anti-Nazi groups threatening sabotage if the Hindenburg continued to fly to the United States. Some of the letters were transferred to American authorities through the German Embassy in Washington. But there is no evidence that the company took these threats seriously. After all, airships have been flying since 1900, and during this time not a single passenger has died. Preparations for the flight continued. This time only 36 of the 72 seats were filled, but all tickets for the return flight from America were sold out.

The voyage across the ocean is over

The flight to the USA was successful, visibility was poor, the passengers spent most of the time relaxing in the bar, dozing or discussing the internal political situation in Germany. The Hindenburg flew over floating ice floes and icebergs, and some of the passengers remembered the sad fate of the Titanic. The airship began its descent off Long Island. The craft flew so low over New York that passengers were able to see the press photographers gathered on the roof of the Empire State Building. Landing at Lakehurst Airfield was scheduled for 4 p.m., but was postponed as dark rain clouds gathered over the airfield. The airship commander Max Pruss decided to return to the ocean coast and wait until the thunderstorm passed. At 16.30, passengers were served tea and sandwiches, and the airship continued to circle over the deserted coast of New Jersey. The passengers whiled away the time looking at the forests below. Finally the sky cleared over Lakehurst and Captain Pruss began preparing to land.

Last minutes of life

At 19.10 the airship appeared above the airfield, passengers gathered in the waiting room below, ready to take off on the return flight from America. Press photographers gathered on the roof to document the landing, and journalists prepared to dictate their reports. The Hindenburg approached the mooring mast. Having dropped ballast, the airship descended to a height of 200 feet, the crew prepared to throw ropes to the ground. Everything looked as usual upon landing. Passengers craned their necks to better see everything from the window, because now they would set foot on American soil. When the steel rope to secure the airship appeared from the bow, the light rain, and then disaster struck. Radio reporter Herbert Morrison reported from the scene: “The airship caught fire. God, he's on fire. Which terrible disaster. Everything around is on fire, the airship falls onto the landing mast. It's just terrible. The flames rise 400-500 feet into the sky. All that was left of the Hindenburg was the frame, people were burning alive. They are dying."

Investigation into the death of the airship

Witnesses to the events spoke of a small stream of flame near the upper stabilizer. Seconds after this, the largest airship, the Hindenburg, died - it turned into a giant torch. It took only 32 seconds for this small fire to destroy a huge aircraft. 36 people died in the fire, including 22 crew members, 13 passengers and one ground crew member. Surprisingly, 61 people managed to escape.

Why did the Hindenburg airship disaster happen? This airship had just been hovering in the sky when it suddenly turned into a pile of rubble. The US Department of Commerce has launched an investigation into the incident. After 18 days of hearing testimony, the investigation found possible reason disaster that caused the death of the airship Hindenburg. Excessive static voltage caused a fire in the stabilizer of the device. The surviving captain of the ship, Max Pruss, believed that sabotage had been committed on board the airship. Whether the airship was the victim of sabotage or an accident, we will never know. The mystery of the death of the airship "Hindenburg" remains unsolved.