The " Hindenburgh " Disaster !

In the 1930's crossing the Atlantic from Europe to America was very much the province of the great passenger ships of that time - and the journey took five days.  PanAm had begun offering a faster seaplane service but the mere handful of passengers possible in that type of aircraft put the fare in reach of just the very wealthy.

The concept of todays jet aircraft seemed an impossible dream and many people pinned their hopes on the airship.   It seemed to offer travel much faster than a ship and still deliver the luxury and comfort that the great liners boasted.   In May, 1937 the German airship Hindenburgh embarked thirty six passengers and a crew of sixty-one and set out to deliver luxury travel between Europe and New York.

The airship would travel at a low height to avoid the discomfort of cold and open windows would give a great viewing experience.  The ratio of crew to passengers ensured every comfort would be provided and special attention had been given to making this a fine dining experience.  It was hoped that Hindenburgh would be the first of a vast fleet of airships travelling the world.

The landing at Lakehurst, New Jersey was a disaster.  Fire enveloped the airship and it crashed, killing thirteen passengers and twenty-two of the crew - and one handler on the ground.  The American FBI investigated how the fire started and there was suspicion that this had been no accident. Rumours of a bomb being planted circulated wildly.

Conjecture centred on a mystery passenger who perished in the crash.  He had his dog in the cargo hold and just as the airship prepared for landing he insisted on attending to its meal and because the crew were busy he entered the cargo area unattended.  Enquiries after the crash revealed no trace of his former lifestyle or habitat and many thought he may have been an anti-Nazi saboteur.

We will never know what caused the Hindenburgh crash because forensics was not an advanced science at that time.  The fact that the Hindenburgh used highly flammable hydrogen opens many scenarios. Airships maintain stability by venting gas when they need to descend and dumping water ballast when they need to rise.  Todays scientists speculate that a rogue spark of static electricity probably caused the disaster.

The German need for punctuality meant the crew needed to land the airship on schedule and the arrival coincided with an electrical storm.  If they had vented gas during the descent the static electricity in the air may have triggered the fire.

Airships also drop many handling ropes to allow the ground crew to manually close the gap with the ground.  Hindenburgh passed through a rain storm as it approached Lakehurst and those ropes would have been wet.   A wet rope can conduct electricity and when they touched the earth they would have completed the circuit to " ground " an electrically charged airship.  That is all it would need to ignite vented gas.

The fact that this disaster happened before a waiting media sealed the fate of airships.  The world was at war just two years later and the need for bomber aircraft quickly expanded the size and capacity of aircraft, resulting in a fast growing airline industry when the war ended.  The coming of the jet age made speed an equation with which airships could not possibly compete.