How the Hindenburg Disaster Ended Airship Travel
"Oh, the humanity!" said radio journalist Herb Morrison as he watched fire destroy the world's largest airship, the Hindenburg.
Cameras were also filming when the burning airship fell to the ground at Lakehurst near New York on May 6, 1937.
In the days following the disaster, people across the world saw it on film and heard Morrison's recorded report. The report became one of the most famous radio broadcasts in English.
Built by the Zeppelin company in Germany, the Hindenburg was 245 meters long, and traveled at up to 135 kilometers per hour. The airship had beautiful private rooms, a lounge, a bar and a dining room.
On May 6, the Hindenburg arrived in the United States after a 77-hour flight across the Atlantic Ocean from Frankfurt. It had already made 63 flights in 1936 and 1937, including many from Europe to North and South America.
Nobody is sure what happened to the Hindenburg that day, but it is likely that static electricity started the fire that caused the disaster. Of the 97 passengers and crew, 35 died, and one person was killed on the ground.
The accident happened because the Hindenburg was filled with hydrogen, which burns easily. It had been built to use helium but the US government would not sell helium to Nazi Germany.
This disaster helped end passenger travel by airship. By 1937, US planes were carrying passengers across the Pacific and Pan Am started passenger flights to Europe in 1939.
Today, some companies are making safer airships filled with helium to carry goods or passengers. Much smaller Zeppelins have flown tourists over Germany, Austria and Switzerland since 1997.
