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The LZ –129 Zeppelin Hindenburg was the pride of the German National Socialist Government. Designed specifically as a carrier over the North Atlantic route, the Hindenburg was 800 feet long and weighed 242 tons. The giant airship was the culmination of 25 years of German expertise with passenger airships. It had four 1050 horse power Daimler-Benz diesel engines that allowed the ship to ravel at top speeds of 132 kilometers per hour. It was to stand as a crowning achievement of Aryan Supremacy.
In March, 1935, new National Socialist air Minister, Hermann Goering, had formed the Deutsche Zeppelin Reederei. The German National airline Lufthansa was the main partner in the new enterprise. The major project of the Company was the building of the Hindenburg. By Christmas of 1935, the airship was completed. The inaugural flight took place on March 4th, 1936. The flight was a success. The airship, however, still did not have a name. A rumour circulated that the Director of the Zeppelin Company, Dr. Hugo Eckener wished to change the proposed name of Hindenburg to the more politically expedient ‘Hitler.’ The delay between completion and first flight, however, was really due to the inability of the United States government to sell the Germans the safe helium gas needed to fill the envelope. According to the Helium Control Act of 1927, it was illegal to export helium gas. To get the airship off the ground it was necessary to fill the envelope with hydrogen.
The United States Navy gave permission to the Deutsche Zeppelin Reederi to make ten round trips to Lakehurst in 1936, followed by ten more round trips to Rio de Janeiro. After these successful flights, 72 American businessmen travelled on the Hindenburg as it cruised around New England on a flag showing exercise. The American’s were so taken with the airship that talks were entered into to form an American Zeppelin Transport Corporation. It was proposed to operate two airships under the German flag and two under the American flag in a joint transatlantic service. The flight would take 64 hours westbound and 52 hours eastbound.
The plans for a joint U.S. – German airship operation, however, never materialised. On May 6, 1937 disaster struck the Hindenburg. On the first of 18 scheduled transatlantic flights from Frankfurt to the U.S. base at Lakehurst, the flight appeared to go extremely well. As the Hindenburg approached it’s mooring mast at Lakehurst Airfield, however, a blue flame was seen by observers running along the airship’s back. Seconds later hydrogen escaping from the front gas cells was ignited. Bystanders ran for cover as the whole ship exploded in flames. Within moments flight director Ernst Lehmann, 21 crew members and 13 passengers were dead. The showpiece of the Nazi regime had become a nightmare.
Rumours immediately began to circulate that a Nazi plot had brought down the Hindenburg. The truth, however, was far more mundane. An electrical discharge, coupled with the fact that the huge airship was operating on hydrogen as opposed to the far safer helium, was responsible for the explosion.
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