Ferdinand von Zeppelin and the Hindenberg Disaster

 

Ferdinand von Zeppelin (German: Ferdinand Adolf Heinrich August Graf von Zeppelin; (July 8. 1838  -- March 8, 1917) was a German general and later inventor of the Zeppelin rigid airships. His name became synonymous with airships and dominated long-distance flight until the 1930s. 

A couple of airships named for him:

There were even some U.S. postage stamps showing the airships:

These were issued by the post office in 1930 for mail to be carried aboard the airships from the United States to Germany.

Of course what most folks remember about these airships is the Hindenburg disaster. On May 6, 1937, the German airship Hindenburg caught fire and was destroyed while attempting to land at the Lakehurst Naval Air Station in New Jersey, resulting in 36 deaths and marking the end of commercial airship travel. 

The airship had remarkable refinements for its passengers. Here are some photos:

The ship even had a piano: To meet the strict weight limits of a lighter-than-air dirigible, the Zeppelin company commissioned the firm of Julius Blüthner to create a lightweight aluminum alloy piano, and the Julius Blüthner Pianofortefabrik created a small grand piano that weighed only 356 lbs.  

Here's an excerpt from a book, Worst Ideas Ever:

The Hindenburg: People Plus a Balloon Filled with Gas and Oxygen Equals Disaster

 

Before airplanes were a viable method of moving groups of people around, blimps (called airships at the time) were considered a reasonable way to travel. Airships were not particularly efficient vehicles and even in their heyday, only the very wealthy could afford to use them. The Hindenburg was a large airship that could carry seventy passengers, but to do that, the blimp required approximately forty crew members. 

Airships were essentially long, stretched-out versions of what we now call a hot air balloon. Instead of the balloon shape, the airship looked more like a football, and instead of the basket there was an enclosed passenger cabin. Unlike today's blimps, which are essentially balloons, the huge Zeppelin transoceanic models like the Hindenburg actually had a rigid full skeleton supporting the balloon. The ship was steered with a mix of rudders and propellers. The size of a cruise ship (only eighty or so feet smaller than the Titanic), the Hindenburg remains the largest vehicle to ever fly, and before its horrifying end, it was meant to be the first of a huge fleet. 

The problem comes when you consider exactly how an airship like the Hindenburg stayed in the air. Basically, the Hindenburg was a giant balloon filled with hydrogen, and like any balloon, it was susceptible to popping. More importantly, in this case, the airship was a huge balloon made of flammable materials filled with hydrogen, which is also flammable. Then chairman of the company that built the Hindenburg, Zeppelin, Dr. Hugo Eckener actually had initially decided that the airship should be inflated with nonflammable helium.

Unfortunately, that was impossible because Zeppelin, having undergone some tough financial times, had accepted money from Germany's Nazi party. The Hindenburg and its sister ship, Graf Zeppelin, were adorned with Swastikas as they were both flown on a variety of propaganda flights over Germany. This made it impossible to obtain the necessary helium required for the vessel as the only suitable natural deposits of helium in the world were in the United States. Though the United States was not at war with Germany quite yet, more than a few Americans were not exactly trusting of Adolph Hitler, and Congress passed the "Helium Control Act," which made exporting the gas illegal. So that basically left the Hindenburg as a giant flying bag of flammable gas housed in a flammable casing. 

All it would take was one spark to set the Hindenburg ablaze, and because of that, all lighters and matches were confiscated from passengers. Of course, since these were rich people and smoking was still allowed on board in a special asbestoslined smoking room, a convenient built-in lighter was provided in the passenger cabin. 

If you fill a giant bag with flammable gas and then allow people to smoke on board, it's hard to imagine that something horrible won't happen. Still, the Hindenburg had made numerous successful flights—which seems hard to imagine—before its fateful journey. 

The actual disaster—made famous because of the incredible news footage shot and the "Oh, the humanity" line uttered by a reporter—took place took place on Thursday, May 6, 193 7, as the Hindenburg caught fire and was destroyed during its attempt to dock at the Lakehurst Naval Air Station in Lakehust, New Jersey. 

The ship was only carrying half its full capacity of passengers (thirty-six of seventy seats were filled), but it had an extra complement of trainee crew members and so there were sixtyone crew aboard. Of the ninety-seven people aboard, thirty-five died as did one person on the ground. The actual cause of the fire remains unknown, although a variety of theories have been suggested over the years. 

Of course, exactly how the Hindenburg caught fire was irrelevant as a giant balloon filled with flammable gas was bound the eventually go up in flames. After the Hindenburg disaster, travel via airship fell out of favor, and now, blimps are only used for sporting events and advertising, and, of course, they are filled with nonflammable helium.