LZ 129 Hindenburg

The LZ 129 Hindenburg was a German zeppelin-type airship, destroyed by fire while landing in New Jersey on May 6, 1937. The accident caused the death of 36 people (about one third of the people on board). It was widely covered by the media at the time and marked the end of airships as a means of transportation.

Description

The Hindenburg flying over Berlin during the 1936 Olympic Games

The LZ 129 Hindenburg and its twin, the LZ 130 Graf Zeppelin II were the two largest airships built, and the largest airships ever built. It was named in honor of German President Paul von Hindenburg. It was a new design, completely constructed of duralumin: 245 m long, 41 m in diameter, 16 bags (14 of hydrogen and two balloons of air) with a capacity of 200,000 m³ of gas, with a useful thrust of 112.1 t (1,099 MN), thanks to four 1,200 hp (890 kW) Daimler-Benz DB 602 diesel engines. It reached a top speed of 135 km/h.

The Hindenburg was longer than three Boeing 747s put together. Originally, it had a capacity for 50 passengers —being increased to 72 in 1937—, and a crew of 61 people. For aerodynamic reasons, the passenger quarters were located inside the airship structure, and not in gondolas. It was covered with cotton cloth, varnished with iron oxide and cellulose acetate-butyrate impregnated with aluminum powder (aluminum powder and iron oxide form a mixture called "thermite" which is highly flammable). Manufactured by Luftschiffbau Zeppelin in 1935 at a cost of £500,000, she made her maiden flight on March 4, 1936.

Dining

Salon, with world map painted on the wall

Originally, it was intended to fill the Hindenburg with helium, but a US military embargo on helium forced its builders to change the design to use highly flammable and highly explosive hydrogen. Despite the density of hydrogen being half that of helium, its thrust was only increased by 10%. Thanks to this small increase, in the winter of 1936 its capacity was increased by adding another 10 passenger cabins. Nine of them had two beds, and the last four. A piano was also removed to save weight.

The Germans had extensive experience in handling hydrogen safely, never having an accident related to the highly reactive gas. Even so, and for greater safety, the airship's envelope was treated so that it did not accumulate static electricity, thus preventing sparks from flying. German engineers were so confident in their ability to safely handle hydrogen that they included a smoking room on the airship.

First successful flights

The early days of the Hindenburg were endorsed by the many achievements of its predecessor, the Graf Zeppelin, which by then had flown one million miles (1,609,344 km). During 1936, in its first year of commercial use, the Hindenburg flew 308,323 km, carrying 2,798 passengers and 160 tons of cargo and mail. She crossed the Atlantic Ocean 17 times, 10 of which to the US, and the remaining seven to Brazil. In July of the same year, she broke a record by crossing the ocean twice in 5 days, 19 hours and 51 minutes, with the boxer Max Schmeling as a passenger, after beating Joe Louis.

The image of the Hindenburg was appropriated by the Nazi regime as a sign of the greatness of German might. On August 1, 1936, during the opening of the Berlin Olympic Games, the airship flew over the Olympic stadium moments before the appearance of Adolf Hitler.

Accident

Hindenburg fire, disaster sequence filmed by Pathé

On May 6, 1937, after having crossed the Atlantic, the Hindenburg approached the mooring base at Naval Air Station Lakehurst (New Jersey), after waiting several hours for stormy weather to allow maneuvers docking

At 19:25, as the Hindenburg had already cast off her moorings and was approaching the tower, a flash of St. Elmo's fire, which are large, unarmed sparks of static electricity, was observed astern (there was an electrical storm and the air was electrically charged). A fire suddenly ignited at the top of the stern, spreading almost instantly throughout the airship as the structure slowly fell on top of passengers jumping from a height of 15m and sailors assisting in the manoeuvres. It was completely destroyed in 32 seconds and its skeleton lay on the ground for a long time until it was sold for scrap.

Infographic of the accident

Rest of the accident

Despite the shock of the disaster, of the 97 people on board only 35 died, most of them burned or crushed under the structure. Specifically, 13 of the 36 passengers and 22 of the 61 people who made up the crew service died in the accident. Many of the crew and passengers were saved thanks to the rupture of the water tanks that fell on them, saving them from the flames.

Recent research has suggested that the composition of the coating may have contributed to the fire. This would have helped to accelerate the fire, specifically being able to reach temperatures of up to 3000 °C.^{[citation needed]}

After the disaster and subsequent investigation, Hitler ordered an end to the fleet of commercial airships. The veteran LZ 127 Graf Zeppelin was scrapped, but the LZ 130 Graf Zeppelin II, having been completed despite the fatal accident of its sister aircraft (for which it never carried out any passenger service), was briefly used. before its withdrawal from service, as a platform for secret research into experimental British radar systems that proved unsuccessful.

Media coverage

The disaster is remembered for the extraordinary media coverage, through films, photos, and especially, Herbert Morrison's radio narration from the accident site. The presence of so many journalists was due to the announced first transatlantic passenger flight that arrived on US soil that year. Morrison's account was not released until the following day. Even so, it soon became one of the most remembered in history, with the memorable expression "Oh, humanity!" (“Oh, the humanity!”), which has since been linked to the memory of the disaster. These words from Morrison must be placed in the context of the production. The journalist had previously referred to all the people there as the "mass of humanity." He used the phrase when he saw that the burning airship was going to fall on those people.

The extensive media coverage of the accident had a major impact on the future of passenger airships. The multiple images of the accident went around the world, ending the confidence that was had in this transport. Germany stopped using it for commercial purposes. In the United States, however, there was an impact on its military use as it was feasible to make non-rigid airships filled with helium, which at that time was only mined in Texas.

Cultural references

• The first album of the British group Led Zeppelin has on its cover an image of the disaster.
• In 1975 the film is released Hindenburg, based on the events that occurred on the day of the disaster, mixing them with a plot of fiction that explains the explosion of the aircraft as an attack.
• 2011 was made another film, Hindenburg, last flight, narrating the true cause of fire.
• In the pilot episode of the television series Timeless the plot revolves around the last flight of Hindenburg.
• In episode number 52 of the animated series Patoaventuras originally known as DuckTales, mention is made of the Hidenburg supporting it Hamburger, when Scrooge McPato and the Magic Witch accidentally approach it as they travel in time.
• In the chapter Bart, the snitch.the seventh season of the animated series The Simpsons, the Bart's checkbook shows the LZ 129 Hindenburg.
• The song Those swarms in their inflated cacharros (Hindenburg) of the humorous group The Gandules recreates the conversation of the drivers of the airship just before the accident.
• Faye Glenn dedicated himself to the Nursing thanks to this accident, proposing his theory "21 problems of Nursing", in addition to various advances regarding his profession.