Hindenburg disaster Lakehurst 1937

Description

Hindenburg disaster Lakehurst 1937; photo; licence article; original: 5740×4315; photographer: unknown; subject to licence; rights: © Historiathek/Bleek/zb Media. On 6 May 1937, the German passenger airship LZ 129 Hindenburg caught fire and was destroyed by a lightning strike while attempting to dock at the Naval Air Station Lakehurst in Manchester Township, New Jersey, United States. This disaster killed 36 people – 13 passengers, 22 crew members and one ground worker – and is one of the most famous air disasters in history. The Hindenburg disaster was widely covered in the media, and the dramatic footage and photographs, as well as the famous radio programme by Herbert Morrison (‘Oh, the humanity!’) made a lasting impression on the public. The disaster signalled the end of the era of giant rigid airships carrying passengers, as hydrogen as a gas for buoyancy was apparently not safe enough.