Hindenburg

The Hindenburg was the largest aircraft ever to fly (along with a sister aircraft), having a length nearly as long as the Titanic and more than three times as long as a Boeing 747. The Hindenburg weighed a massive 242 tons. The Hindenburg was a zeppelin design, an engineering masterpiece. It was designed to be filled with non-flammable helium rather than flammable hydrogen to make it lighter than air and capable of carrying passengers across the Atlantic Ocean.

But Congress passed a law prohibiting the sale of helium to Germany in the 1930s, and the Hindenburg was filled with the flammable hydrogen to make its flights to the United States. On May 6, 1937, the Hindenburg caught fire while landing at Lakehurst Naval Air Station in Manchester, New Jersey. About one third of those on board, 35 passengers, died not from the fire but by jumping to the ground the blow. Those who stayed calm and rode the aircraft to its landing survived unharmed.

The tragedy was caught on film, radio and pictures. The bad publicity destroyed the future of this type of aircraft. Scientists debate whether the fire was actually due to the hydrogen or the flammable skin of the aircraft. The cause remains undetermined to this day.

The Hindenburg was named after the President of Germany, Paul von Hindenburg, who served from 1925 to 1934.