After a transatlantic crossing, the hydrogen-filled Hindenburg caught fire as it approached its mooring mast at Naval Air Station Lakehurst. In just 34 seconds the 804-foot airship, the largest flying object ever built, was consumed by flame in front of newsreel cameras and a live radio broadcaster. Thirty-six of the 97 people aboard and one ground crewman died. The disaster, captured in Herbert Morrison's anguished radio cry, 'Oh, the humanity!,' effectively ended commercial airship travel.
The Hindenburg had crossed the Atlantic dozens of times without incident, a floating hotel of polished aluminum and mahogany veneer, carrying wealthy passengers in staterooms with a smoking lounge pressurized against the explosive hydrogen that kept it aloft. On May 6, 1937, it arrived over Lakehurst Naval Air Station in New Jersey a day late, delayed by headwinds, and circled for hours waiting for a thunderstorm to pass.
As ground crews took mooring lines, radio reporter Herbert Morrison was recording a routine arrival piece for a Chicago station. Then a flicker of flame appeared near the tail fin. Within seconds the entire rear of the ship was ablaze, and the airship's frame began to collapse into the inferno, nose pitching up before crashing to the ground. Morrison's broadcast, meant to be a mundane travelogue, became one of the most famous pieces of audio in American history: his voice cracking as he narrated the deaths of people he could see burning.
The cause remains debated, most likely a spark from static electricity igniting leaking hydrogen along the outer skin. Remarkably, 62 of the 97 aboard survived, many by jumping from windows as the ship settled to earth. The newsreel footage, shown in theaters worldwide, killed public confidence in airships within a single evening.
Key people: Herbert Morrison, Max Pruss