Schirmer Airship Hindenburg_Layout 1 12/23/2011 11:02 AM Page 58 the hindenburg bursts into Flames the landing path on may 6, 1937 Schirmer Airship Hindenburg_Layout 1 12/23/2011 11:02 AM Page 49 The “A irship hindenburg ”: iTs Fiery desTrucTion And The end oF An erA y first vivid memories of But then came the disastrous the “Airship Hinden - crash of the hydrogen-filled R-101 Mburg” stem from the over France in 1930. Plans for the summer of 1935. As a small boy of LZ 128 were shelved in favor of three, I accompanied my father to the LZ 129, which was designed to a huge hanger in Fried richs hafen, be lifted by helium rather than where the as -yet -un named LZ 129 hydrogen. The new airship was named for Paul von Hindenburg, was under construction. We an aging but revered war hero entered the hanger through a small from the First World War who was door, and I was awestruck. The serving at the time as President of unimposing entryway opened onto the German republic. the interior of a vast hall, huge as The Hindenburg was larger a great cathedral with steel arches and longer than its predecessors to reaching upward to a vaulted roof allow for more gas cells and thus 164 feet high. Almost the entirety to compensate for the fact that of the enormous space was filled helium, an inert nonflammable gas with a metal structure so intricate found almost exclusively in the and gigantic as to defy compre - United States, possessed twelve- hension. percent-less lifting capacity than The Hindenburg’s predeces - the flammable hydrogen gas. In sor, the legendary airship LZ 127, the end, however, the giant airship known infamously as the “Graf which emerged from the building Zeppelin,” was launched in 1928 shed at the Zeppelin company works at Friedrichshafen in March and flew around the world in 1936 was held aloft by hydrogen 1929. Yet even as LZ 127 was gas which filled its sixteen gas launched, the next great airship, cells. In 1927, the United States the LZ 128, was in the planning Congress had passed a helium- stages. At 761 feet and with slight - control act which prohibited the ly over five million cubic feet in export of helium from the United capacity, the LZ 127 was to be a States for fear that helium might beefed-up version of the “Graf once again be used for military Zeppelin,” rivaling the two British purposes as it was during the First airships, the R-100 and the R-101. World War, when helium-filled Schirmer Airship Hindenburg_Layout 1 12/23/2011 11:02 AM Page 50 THe end oF An eRA Zeppelins attacked Great Britain. loon, approximately 150,000 Subsequent attempts to rescind the cubic feet of the gas which the air - export ban were unsuccessful, and ship contained had to be gradually by the time the Hindenburg was released during a trip to the United complete, helium was virtually States. operating the airship with unattainable outside the United expensive helium in any event States. would not have been profitable. dr. Hugo eckener, the man in More over, releasing gas during charge of the Zeppelin company, landing required an elevated air - was very safety-conscious and field. For that reason, dr. eckener fully aware of the risk of operating had chosen Friend ship Airport, an airship with hydrogen as the now known as Baltimore- lifting gas. In fact, of the hydro - Washington Thurgood Mar shall gen-filled airships which had acci - Inter national Airport, as the loca - dentally burned in the air, two tion of the American-Zeppelin were known to have been struck Trans port Com pany, a joint ven - by lightning in a thunderstorm ture with Goodyear in Akron, while releasing hydrogen through ohio. a safety valve. Thus it was a com - Facts and Figures mon operational dictum that air - At 803 feet in length and 135 feet ships inflated with hydrogen at its widest point, the Hinden - should avoid venting excess gas burg, which had a gas capacity of while in the vicinity of a thunder - over seven million cubic feet, was storm. indeed the largest aircraft that had expense was an additional even flown. In particular, the consideration with helium. Hindenburg surpassed all previous Helium, a product of decay, was dirigibles in its pas senger accom - first discovered in Kansas and modations, which had never been then later in Texas; it costs approx - equaled in any commercial air - imately seventeen times as much craft. on two decks inside the hull as hydrogen. on a flight from just aft of the control gondola, Frankfurt, Germany, to Lakehurst, fifty people could live in the style new Jersey, the Hindenburg’s and comfort of a grand hotel. diesel engines consumed fifty-four There were double-berth cabins, a tons of diesel fuel. In order to lounge with a baby grand piano, a maintain the buoyancy of a bal - reading room, promenade decks, a —50 — Schirmer Airship Hindenburg_Layout 1 12/23/2011 11:02 AM Page 51 the hindenburg during construction the exposed skeleton Schirmer Airship Hindenburg_Layout 1 12/23/2011 11:02 AM Page 52 the lounge with its grand piano the dining room aboard the hindenburg Schirmer Airship Hindenburg_Layout 1 12/23/2011 11:02 AM Page 53 SCHIRMeR dining room, a bar with pressur - openly opposed to the nazi ized smoking room, lavatories for regime. He was eventually ousted passengers, and crew messes. By as head of the Zeppelin company the end of 1936, the Hindenburg and replaced by ernst Lehman, had made ten successful who did not share eckener’s anti- roundtrips, Frank furt to Lakehurst. nazi sentiments. Lehman often one leg of the trip took two days. piloted the Hindenburg, but was It also made a total of eight trips to on board as an observer on the day Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. Its last trip of the fateful crash. Lehman died to Rio was in March 1937. of his injuries the day after the The Hindenburg was pow - crash. ered by four daimler LoF-6 six - the FateFul day teen-cylinder diesel engines, each In the winter of 1936–1937, the capable of delivering 1070 horse - Hindenburg was refurbished with power at 1500 rpm. Its four-bladed nine additional double cabins and wooden propellers were twenty was then capable of accommodat - feet in diameter. Through 1936 the ing seven-five passengers. A rigid Hindenburg made fifty-three safety inspection found the ship flights, flown 3088 hours and ready to begin the scheduled transported 3059 passengers with transatlantic service in 1937. It postal service as well as some started its last and fatal voyage freight. It had made thirty-eight from Frankfurt to Lakehurst to successful crossings over both the May 3, 1937, with sixty-one crew north and South Atlantic. members and thirty-six passengers By 1937 Germany had re - on board. With the cost of one- armed, and the threat of an annex - way ticket at $400, the equivalent ation of Austria or Czecho slovakia to purchase price of an automobile was very real. Although many at the time, travel by airship individuals both in Germany and remained far beyond the pocket - beyond resented it, the Hinden - book of most individuals. burg was very much a propaganda After battling strong head - tool of the nazi government. It winds over the north Atlantic, the was heavily subsidized by the Hindenburg passed new York City German state and carried the in the afternoon on May 6, 1937, swastika insignia on its rudder headed for Lakehurst, new Jersey. fins. dr. eckener was, in fact, delayed by headwinds over the —53 — Schirmer Airship Hindenburg_Layout 1 12/23/2011 11:02 AM Page 54 the dirigible and its sucessors the growing expense oF aircraFt Schirmer Airship Hindenburg_Layout 1 12/23/2011 11:02 AM Page 55 SCHIRMeR Atlantic and further delayed by a airship flapping during the landing thunderstorm approaching new maneuvers, indicating the escape Jersey, the Hindenburg was finally of gas from a defective rear gas cleared for landing at 6 p.m. cell. Shortly thereafter a dim blue Because of the delay, the captain, flame known at Saint elmo’s fire Max Pruss, chose to make a high was seen near the upper vertical landing over the anchor mast at fin. Inside the tail of the Hinden - 200 feet rather the usual landing at burg the chief engineer noticed low altitude of less then 100 feet. that gas cell number three in the Hurried by the delay in arriving, rear had risen very high, another Pruss made a tight turn with fairly indication of leaking gas. Within high speed over the airfield. He seconds flames shot out of the released gas from forward gas ship, and in less than sixty seconds cells several times to bring the the entire ship was destroyed by ship into a level horizontal posi - the explosion of hydrogen gas tion. As the Hindenburg was still burning at 2600 degrees Fahren - tail-heavy even after dropping heit. Miraculously only twenty- 3500 kilograms of water ballast two of the crew and thirteen pas - from the stern, Captain Pruss sengers lost their lives in the infer - ordered crew members into the no. Many suffered burns, cuts, and bow for counterweight. Because broken bones but were able to of the forthcoming coronation of escape the burning wreck. King George VI of Great Britain, looking back the Hindenburg was fully booked The Hindenburg explosion was for the return flight and was not the greatest airship in history.