THE HINDENBURG ZEPPELIN

 DISASTER IN THE MAKING: THE HINDENBURG ZEPPELIN

Gas-filled balloon flight has had a checkered history. Although balloons today are filled with helium, which is not flammable, early gas-filled balloons contained hydrogen, which is highly flammable. In fact, history’s first air disaster occurred in 1785 with the explosion of a hydrogen-filled balloon that took the lives of two people.

Commercial balloon flights began through the efforts of the inventor, Count Ferdinand von Zeppelin, born in Germany in 1838, whose work resulted in an airship the size of an ocean liner that could carry paying passengers. Soon, an entire fleet of “zeppelins” was servicing Europe. By the beginning of World War I in 1914, Zeppelin’s dirigibles had made almost 1,600 flights and had carried more than 37,000 passengers. Not a single accident had occurred, even though hydrogen was still the gas being used.

After the war, dirigibles were still a popular means of transportation and were far roomier and more comfortable than most of today’s jet airliners. Large deposits of helium had been discovered in Texas, so that American dirigibles began to be filled with helium instead of hydrogen, making them much safer than German dirigibles, which still used hydrogen exclusively. In the late 1920s, the leading German airship was the Graf Zeppelin (the “Graf”””), named after Count Zeppelin.

In 1934, a new airship was constructed—the Hindenburg—that was so huge, it was in fact almost as long as the RMS Titanic. The original plan was to use helium instead of hydrogen—it even installed a smoking room, since the danger of hydrogen gas would not be present. However, because the Nazis had assumed power in Germany, the United States refused to sell helium to Germany. Consequently, the Hindenburg continued to use hydro-gen. (The smoking room stayed!)

The Hindenburg’s first flight was in March 1936. During its short history, the Hindenburg made 10 successful round-trip flights to New York and several round-trip flights to Brazil. Then, in May 1937, disaster struck. The Hindenburg left Germany and flew to Lakehurst, New Jersey. To the horror of hundreds of spectators watching the Hindenburg’s arrival, a burst of flame appeared. Within seconds, the entire airship was on fire, falling to the ground completely ablaze. Of the 97 persons on board, 35 of them died.

For years afterward, people debated the cause of the fire. Did the hydrogen explode? Was there a bomb or other sabotage? The most current opinion is that a spark of static electricity ignited the fabric of the Hindenburg’s hull. Once a hole burned through the fabric and hydrogen gas began to escape, the hydrogen itself caught fire, quickly igniting the rest of the hull. The Grafff and the Hindenburg’s successor, Graf Zeppelin II, continued to be flown within Germany for several years, but finally Germany destroyed both airships in 1940 to salvage their aluminum for the war effort. The era of zeppelins was over.

In May 1937, the Hindenburggg left Germany for Lakehurst, New Jersey. To the horror of spectators watching the Hindenburggg’s arrival, a burst of flame appeared. Within seconds, the entire air-ship was on fire, falling to the ground completely ablaze.