Hindenburg disaster: Wikis




From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

LZ 129 Hindenburg
A large zeppelin, next to a skeletal tower, burns violently in midair with a fireball larger than the zeppelin itself rising from the zeppelin's rear third.
Hindenburg a few seconds after catching fire.
Occurrence summary
Date May 6, 1937
Type Airship fire
Site Lakehurst Naval Air Station in Manchester Township, New Jersey, United States
Passengers 36
Crew 61
Injuries N/A
Fatalities 36 (13 passengers, 22 crew, 1 ground crew)
Survivors 62
Aircraft type Hindenburg-class airship
Aircraft name Hindenburg
Operator Deutsche Zeppelin-Reederei
Tail number D-LZ129
Flight origin Frankfurt, Germany
Destination Lakehurst Naval Air Station in Manchester Township, New Jersey, United States

The Hindenburg disaster took place on Thursday, May 6, 1937, as the German passenger airship LZ 129 Hindenburg caught fire and was destroyed as it was attempting to dock with its mooring mast at the Lakehurst Naval Air Station, which is located adjacent to the borough of Lakehurst, New Jersey. Of the 97 people on board, 35 people died in addition to one fatality on the ground. The disaster was the subject of spectacular newsreel coverage, photographs, and Herbert Morrison's recorded radio eyewitness report from the landing field, which was broadcast the next day. The actual cause of the fire remains unknown, although a variety of theories have been put forward for both the cause of ignition and the initial fuel for the ensuing fire.

The accident served to shatter public confidence in the giant, passenger-carrying rigid airship, and marked the end of the airship era.[1]



Post card carried on the D-LZ129 "Hindenburg" on its last flight and dropped enroute over Cologne (The Cooper Collections)

The first of 10 scheduled round trips between Europe and the United States to be made by the Hindenburg in the 1937 season departed Frankfurt for Lakehurst on the evening of May 3 and except for strong headwinds which slowed the passage the crossing was uneventful. The airship was only half full with 36 passengers (capacity 70) and 61 crew members (including 21 training crew members), but the return flight was fully booked by people planning to attend the festivities for the coronation of King George VI in London the following week.

The airship was hours behind schedule when it passed over Boston on the morning of 6 May, and its landing at Lakehurst was expected to be further delayed because of afternoon thunderstorms. Advised of the poor weather conditions at Lakehurst, Captain Max Pruss charted a course over Manhattan, causing a public spectacle as people rushed out into the street to catch sight of the airship. After passing over the field at 4 p.m., Captain Max Pruss took passengers on a tour over the seasides of New Jersey while waiting for the weather to clear. After finally being notified at 6:22 p.m. that the storms had passed, the airship headed back to Lakehurst to make its landing almost half a day late. However, as this would leave much less time than anticipated to service and prepare the airship for its scheduled departure back to Europe, the public was informed that they could not be permitted at the mooring location or be able to visit aboard the "Hindenburg" during its stay in port.

Landing timeline

Around 7:00 p.m. local daylight saving time, at an altitude of 650 feet (200 m), the Hindenburg approached the Lakehurst Naval Air Station. This was to be a high landing, known as a flying moor, because the airship would be moored to a high mooring point, and then winched down to ground level. This type of landing maneuver would reduce the number of ground crew, but would require more time.

7:09: The airship made a sharp full speed left turn to the west around the landing field because the ground crew was not ready.

7:11: The airship turned back toward the landing field and valved gas. All engines idled ahead and the airship began to slow.

7:14: At altitude 394 feet (120 m), Captain Pruss ordered all engines full astern to try to brake the airship.


7:19: The airship made another sharp turn and dropped 300, 300 and 500 kg of water ballast in successive drops because the airship was stern heavy. Six men (four were killed in the accident[2]) were also sent to the bow to trim the airship. These methods worked and the airship was on even keel as it stopped.


First hints of disaster

At 7:25, a few witnesses saw the fabric ahead of the upper fin flutter as if gas were leaking.[3] Witnesses also reported seeing blue discharges, possibly static electricity, moments before the fire on top and in the back of the ship near the point where the flames first appeared.[4] Several other eyewitness testimonies suggest that the first flame appeared on the port side just ahead of the port fin, and was followed by flames which burned on top. Commander Rosendahl testified to the flames being "mushroom-shaped" and knew at once that the airship was doomed. One witness on the starboard side reported a fire beginning lower and behind the rudder on that side. On board, people heard a muffled explosion and those in the front of the ship felt a shock as the port trail rope overtightened; the officers in the control car initially thought the shock was due to a broken rope.


At 7:25 p.m. local time, the Hindenburg caught fire and quickly became engulfed in flames.[3] Where the fire started is controversial; several witnesses on the port side saw yellow-red flames first just forward of the top fin, around the vent of cell 4.[3] Other witnesses on the port side noted the fire actually began just ahead of the horizontal port fin, only then followed by flames in front of the upper fin. One, with views of the starboard side, saw flames beginning lower and farther aft, near cell 1. No. 2 Helmsman Helmut Lau also testified seeing the flames spreading from cell 4 into starboard. Although there were four newsreel cameramen and at least one spectator known to be filming the landing, they were all recording the actions of the ground crew when the fire started and therefore there is no motion picture record of where it first broke out at the instant of ignition.

Wherever it started, the flames quickly spread forward. Almost instantly, a water tank and a fuel tank burst out of the hull due to the shock of the blast. This shock also caused a crack behind the passenger decks, and the rear of the structure imploded. The buoyancy was lost on the stern of the ship, and the bow lurched upwards as the falling stern stayed in trim.

A rare surviving fire-damaged 9" duralumin cross brace from the frame of the "Hindenburg" salvaged in May 1937 from the crash site at NAS Lakehurst, NJ. (The Cooper Collections)

As the Hindenburg's tail crashed into the ground, a burst of flame came out of the nose, killing nine of the 12 crew members in the bow. As the airship kept falling with the bow facing upwards (because there was more lifting gas still in the nose), part of the port side directly behind the passenger deck collapsed inward (where a crack formed during the initial blast), and the gas cell there exploded, erasing the scarlet lettering "Hindenburg" while the airship's bow lowered. The airship's gondola wheel touched the ground, causing the airship to bounce up once more. At this point, most of the fabric had burned away. At last, the airship went crashing on the ground, bow first. The ship was completely destroyed. Although the hydrogen had finished burning, the Hindenburg's diesel fuel burned for a few more hours.

The time it took for the airship to be completely destroyed has been disputed. Some observers believe it took 34 seconds, others say it took 32 or 37 seconds. Since none of the newsreel cameras were filming the airship when the fire started, the time of the start of the fire can only be estimated from various eyewitness accounts, and will never be known accurately. One careful analysis of the flame spread, by Addison Bain of NASA, gives the flame front spread rate across the fabric skin as about 49 ft/s (15 m/s), which would have resulted in a total destruction time of about 16 seconds (245 m / 15 m/s = 16.3 s). The duralumin framework of the airship was salvaged and shipped back to Germany were it was recycled and used in the construction of military aircraft for the Luftwaffe as were the frames of the LZ 127 Graf Zeppelin and LZ 130 Graf Zeppelin II as well when both were scrapped in 1940.[5]

Historic newsreel coverage

The disaster is well recorded because of the significant extent of newsreel coverage and photographs, as well as Herbert Morrison's recorded, on-the-scene, eyewitness radio report being made from the landing field for station WLS in Chicago which was broadcast the next day. Heavy publicity about the first transatlantic passenger flight of the year by Zeppelin to the U.S. attracted a large number of journalists to the landing. (The airship had already made one round trip from Germany to Brazil that year.) Parts of the Morrison report were later dubbed onto the newsreel footage and this gave the impression to many modern viewers, more accustomed to live television reporting, that the words and film were recorded together intentionally. Morrison's broadcast remains one of the most famous in history. His plaintive words, "Oh, the humanity!" resonate with the impact of the disaster, and have been widely used in culture. Part of the poignancy of Morrison's commentary is due to its being recorded at a slightly slower speed to the disk, so when played back at normal speed seeming to be at a faster delivery and higher pitch; when corrected, his account is less frantic sounding, though still impassioned.


Herbert Morrison, describing the events, as broadcasted to WLS radio.


There had been a series of other airship accidents, none of them Zeppelins, prior to the Hindenburg fire. Many were caused by bad weather, and most of these accidents were dirigibles of British or U.S. manufacture. Zeppelins had an impeccable safety record. The Graf Zeppelin had flown safely for more than 1.6 million km (1 million miles), including the first circumnavigation of the globe by an airship. The Zeppelin company's promotions prominently featured the fact that no passenger had been injured on one of their airships.

Death toll

Despite the violent fire, most of the crew and passengers survived. Of the 36 passengers and 61 crew, 13 passengers and 22 crew died. Also killed was one member of the ground crew, civilian linesman Allen Hagaman. The majority of the crew who died were up inside the ship's hull, where they either did not have a clear escape route or else were close to the bow of the ship, which hung burning in the air too long for most of them to escape the fire. Most of the passengers who died were trapped in the starboard side of the passenger deck. Not only was the wind blowing the fire toward the starboard side, but the ship also rolled slightly to starboard as it settled to the ground, with much of the upper hull on that part of the ship collapsing outboard of the starboard observation windows, thus cutting off the escape of many of the passengers on that side.[7] To make matters worse, the sliding door leading from the starboard passenger area to the central foyer and the gangway stairs (through which rescuers led a number of passengers to safety) jammed shut during the crash, further trapping those passengers on the starboard side.[8] Nonetheless, some did manage to escape from the starboard passenger decks. A number of others did not. By contrast, all but a few of the passengers on the port side of the ship survived the fire, with some of them escaping virtually unscathed. Although the most famous of airship disasters it was not the worst. Just over twice as many perished (73 of 76 on board) when the helium filled U.S. Navy scout airship USS Akron crashed at sea off the New Jersey coast four years earlier on April 4, 1933.

Some of the survivors were saved by luck. Werner Franz, the 14 year-old cabin boy, was initially dazed by the realization that the ship was on fire. As he stood near the officer's mess where he had been putting away dishes moments before, a water tank above him burst open, and he was suddenly soaked to the skin. Not only did this snap him back to his senses, as he would later tell interviewers, but it also put out the fire around him. He then made his way to a nearby hatch through which the kitchen had been provisioned before the flight, and dropped through it just as the forward part of the ship was briefly rebounding into the air. He began to run toward the starboard side, but stopped and turned around and ran the other way, because the flames were being pushed by the wind in that same direction. He made it clear of the wreck with little more than singed eyebrows and soaking wet clothes. Werner Franz is one of the two people aboard who are still alive as of 2008.





The four crew members in the tail fin all survived; they were closest to the origin of the fire but sheltered by the structure of the lower fin. They escaped by climbing out the fin's access hatch when the tail hit the ground.

Hydrogen fires are notable for being less destructive to immediate surroundings than gasoline explosions because of the buoyancy of H2, which causes heat of combustion to be released upwards more than circumferentially as the leaked mass ascends in the atmosphere; hydrogen fires are more survivable than fires of gasoline and of wood.[12] The hydrogen in the Hindenburg burned out within about 90 seconds.

Cause of ignition

Sabotage theory

At the time of the disaster, sabotage was commonly put forward as the cause of the fire, initially by Hugo Eckener, former head of the Zeppelin company and the "old man" of German airships. (Eckener later publicly endorsed the static spark theory — see below.) Eckener, who was at the time on a lecture tour in Austria, was awakened at about 2:30 in the morning (8:30 PM Lakehurst time, or approximately an hour after the crash) by the ringing of his bedside telephone. It was a Berlin representative of the New York Times with news that the Hindenburg "exploded yesterday evening at 7 p.m [sic] above the airfield at Lakehurst." The newsman had no additional details for Dr. Eckener at that time, and Eckener spent a sleepless night trying to make sense of what he'd been told. By the time he left the hotel the next morning to travel to Berlin for a briefing on the disaster, the only answer that he had for the reporters waiting outside to question him was that based on what he knew, that the Hindenburg had "exploded over the airfield", sabotage might be a possibility. However, as he learned more about the disaster, particularly that the airship had burned rather than actually "exploding", he grew more and more convinced that static discharge, rather than sabotage, was the actual culprit.[13] However there is also the theory that the hydrogen wasn't the initial source of the fire, seeing as hydrogen does not make visible flames. It is belived that the presence of aluminum and iron oxide in the airship's coating may have been a factor in the disaster as well.

Commander Charles Rosendahl, commander of the Naval Air Station at Lakehurst and the man in overall charge of the ground-based portion of the Hindenburg's landing maneuver, also came to believe that the Hindenburg had been sabotaged. He actually laid out a general case for sabotage in his 1938 book What About the Airship?,[14] which was as much an extended argument for the further development of the rigid airship as it was an historical overview of the airship.


In 1962, A. Hoehling published Who Destroyed the Hindenburg?, a book that rejects all theories but sabotage. The book even names Eric Spehl, a rigger on the Hindenburg who died in the fire, as the saboteur.

Hoehling claimed the following in naming Spehl as the culprit:

  • Spehl's girlfriend had communist beliefs and anti-Nazi connections.

Ten years later, Michael MacDonald Mooney's book, The Hindenburg, which was based heavily on Hoehling's sabotage theory, also identified Spehl as the saboteur. Mooney's book was made into the movie The Hindenburg, whose producers were sued by Hoehling for plagiarism, but Hoehling lost due to the fact that he had presented his sabotage theory as historical fact, and one cannot claim ownership of historical facts.[16]

Hoehling's (and later Mooney's) theory goes on to say that it is unlikely that Spehl wanted to kill people, and that he intended for the airship to burn after the landing instead. However, with the ship already over 12 hours late, Spehl was in the end unable to find an excuse to reset the timer on his bomb.

During the landing maneuver, rigger Hans Freund dropped a landing line in front of the lower fin. The line became caught in the bracing wires of the airship, so No. 2 helmsman Helmut Lau climbed up from the lower fin to release it. When both men looked up toward the front of the airship, they were surprised by what they saw.

Freund described a flash like a flashbulb's, and Lau said he saw a brilliant reflection between cells 4 and 5. They then heard a muffled detonation and a thud as the Hindenburg's back broke. Some believe that this is evidence for sabotage. Others believe Freund was actually looking rearward, away from cells 4 and 5, but that Rudolf Sauter, another crew member in the lower fin had seen the flash.[17]

Since the publication of Hoehling's book, most airship historians, including Dr. Douglas Robinson, have dismissed Hoehling's sabotage theory because no solid evidence was ever presented to support it. No pieces of a bomb were ever discovered (and in fact there is no evidence in existing documentation that the sample collected from the wreckage, and determined to be residue from a dry cell battery, was found anywhere near the stern of the airship,) and on closer examination the evidence against Spehl and his girlfriend turned out to be largely circumstantial.

Another suspect favored by Commander Rosendahl, Captain Pruss, and several others among the Hindenburg's crew, was a passenger, a German acrobat named Joseph Späh, who survived the fire. He brought with him a dog, a German shepherd named Ulla, as a surprise for his children. (Ulla did not survive.) He reportedly made a number of unaccompanied visits to feed his dog, who was being kept in a freight room near the stern of the ship. Those who suspected Späh based their suspicions primarily on those trips into the ship's interior to feed his dog, that according to some of the stewards Späh had told anti-Nazi jokes during the flight, recollections by stewards that Späh had seemed agitated by the repeated delays in landing, and that he was an acrobat who could conceivably climb into the airship's rigging to plant a bomb. As with the allegations about Erich Spehl however, the evidence against Joseph Späh was entirely circumstantial.

It has even been suggested that Adolf Hitler himself ordered the Hindenburg to be destroyed in retaliation for Eckener's anti-Nazi opinions.[18]



Neither the German nor the American investigation endorsed any of the sabotage theories. Proponents of the sabotage theory argue that any finding of sabotage would have been an embarrassment for the Nazi regime, and they speculate that such a finding by the German investigation was suppressed for political reasons.

Eckener believed that the reason why Pruss, Lehmann, and Rosendahl supported sabotage was because they may have felt guilty for their acts. Pruss made the sharp turn, Lehmann pressured Pruss to make it, and Rosendahl called the airship in.[20]

Static spark theory

Addison Bain and others posit that the fire was started by a spark caused by a build up of static electricity on the airship.[21] The spark ignited hydrogen or the outer skin (see Incendiary paint theory below).

Proponents of the static spark theory point out that the airship's skin was not constructed in a way that allowed its charge to be distributed evenly throughout the craft. The skin was separated from the duralumin frame by non conductive ramie cords which had been lightly covered in metal to improve conductivity, however not very effectively, allowing a large difference in potential to form between them.

In order to make up for the delay of more than 12 hours in its transatlantic flight, the Hindenburg passed through a weather front of high humidity and high electrical charge. The storm could have made the airship's mooring lines wet and thus conductive, and may also have built up an electrical charge in its skin. The mooring lines also could have gotten wet as a light rain continued to fall at Lakehurst.

When the mooring lines, which were connected to the frame, touched the earth they would have grounded the frame but not the skin. This would have caused a sudden potential difference between skin and frame (and the airship itself with the overlying air masses) and would have set off an electrical discharge — a spark. The spark would have jumped from the skin onto the metal framework. At the same time, it’s also possible that hydrogen, either released during landing, or perhaps built up due to a leak, was in turn ignited by the spark.[citation needed]

In his 1964 book, LZ-129 Hindenburg, Zeppelin historian Dr. Douglas Robinson points out that although ignition of free hydrogen by static discharge had become a favored theory, no such discharge was seen by any of the witnesses who testified at the official investigation into the accident back in 1937. He goes on to write:


Unlike other witnesses to the fire whose view of the port side of the ship had the light of the setting sun behind the ship, Professor Heald's view of the starboard side of the ship against a backdrop of the darkening eastern sky would have made the dim blue light of a static discharge (or burning hydrogen) atop the ship more easily visible.


There are two items not in common knowledge. When the outer cover of the LZ 130 [the Graf Zeppelin II] was to be applied, the lacing cord was prestretched and run through dope as before, but the dope for the LZ 130 contained graphite to make it conductive. This would hardly have been necessary if the static discharge theory were mere cover up. The use of graphite dope was not publicized and I doubt if its use was widely known at the Luftschiffbau Zeppelin.



Lightning theory

A. J. Dessler, former director of the Space Science Laboratory at NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center and a critic of the incendiary paint theory (see below), favors a much simpler explanation for the conflagration: natural lightning. Like many other aircraft, the Hindenburg had been struck by lightning several times. This does not normally ignite a fire in hydrogen-filled airships, because the hydrogen is not mixed with oxygen. However, many fires started when lightning struck airships as they were venting hydrogen as ballast in preparation for landing, which the Hindenburg was doing at the time of the disaster. The vented hydrogen mixes with the air, making it readily combustible.

However, Dr. Eckener believed that the way the fire appeared was not consistent with that of a fire caused by lightning. Witnesses described the fire appearing in a wave motion. Eckener believed that the shape of the fire was consistent with that of a static spark.[20]

Engine failure theory

On the 70th anniversary of the accident, The Philadelphia Inquirer carried an article[23] with yet another theory, based on an interview of ground crew member Robert Buchanan. He had been a young man on the crew manning the mooring lines.

The excessively stormy day had not only delayed the dirigible's arrival but also soaked him and many of the other mooring crew. As the airship was approaching the mooring mast, he noted that one of the engines, thrown into reverse for a hard turn, backfired, and a shower of sparks was emitted. He and others think that this was the trigger that ignited the craft, not static electricity, as the official version goes.

When the Hindenburg ignited, instead of an explosion there were just three sequential plumes of flame on the outer shell. Another ground crewman named Robert Shaw saw what looked like a blue ring behind the tail fin. He too had seen sparks coming out of the engine.[24] The cotton skin, depending on the exact makeup of its coating, may have been quite flammable, and therefore the heat and sparks from a backfiring engine could have ignited the skin, though this has not been proven beyond debate and it remains unknown if sparks did ignite the doping compound.

Dr. Eckener rejected the idea that hydrogen could have been ignited by an engine backfire when that theory was mentioned at an unofficial inquiry, which was a chat with crew members. Dr. Eckener believed that the hydrogen could not have been ignited by any exhaust because the temperature is too low to ignite the hydrogen. The ignition temperature for hydrogen is 700 °C, but the sparks from the exhaust only reach 250 °C.[20] The Zeppelin Company also carried out extensive tests and hydrogen had never ignited. Additionally, the fire was first seen at the top of the airship, not near the bottom.

Fire's initial fuel

Most current analysis of the fire assumes ignition due to some form of electricity as the cause. However, there is still much controversy over whether the fabric skin of the airship, or rather the hydrogen used for buoyancy, was the initial fuel for the resulting fire.

Incendiary paint theory

The incendiary paint theory is limited to the source of ignition and to the flame front propagation, not to the source of most of the burning material, as once the fire started and spread the hydrogen clearly must have burned. Instead, for this topic the incendiary paint theory asserts that the major component in starting the fire and feeding its spread was the canvas skin because of the compound used on it.

Proponents of this theory point out that the coatings on the fabric contained both iron oxide and aluminum-impregnated cellulose acetate butyrate (CAB). These components remain potentially reactive even after fully setting. In fact, iron oxide and aluminum can be used as components of solid rocket fuel or thermite. For example, the propellant for the Space Shuttle solid rocket booster includes both "aluminum (fuel, 16%), (and) iron oxide (a catalyst, 0.4%)". However, the coating applied to Hindenburg's covering did not have a sufficient quantity of any material capable of acting as an oxidizer,[25] which is a necessary component of rocket fuel.[26]


In television shows, Bain tried to prove the flammability of the fabric by igniting it with an electrical machine; critics claim it was not possible for the fabric to have been ignited by a static spark. Although the fabric ignited, critics point out that Bain had to correctly position the fabric so it would be ignited, and he used a Jacob's Ladder with a continuous electric current inconsistent to atmospheric conditions. Additionally, the German scientists at the time concluded that it was the poor conductivity, not the flammability of the doping compound, that lead to the ignition of hydrogen.[17]

Critics point out that port side witnesses on the field, as well as crew members stationed in the stern, saw a glow inside Cell 4 before any fire broke out of the skin, indicating that the fire began inside the airship (or that it was a hydrogen fire feeding on the whole cell). Newsreel footage supports this.[19]

Proponents of the paint theory claim that the glow can be explained. They claim that what witnesses saw was the fire on the starboard side (another proponent claims that a witness saw the fire start from the starboard side) through the structure, looking like a glow. However, photographs of the early stages of the fire show the gas cells of the Hindenburg's entire aft section fully aflame. Burning gas spewing upward from the top of the airship was causing low pressure inside, allowing atmospheric pressure to press the skin inwards. It should also be noted that not all fabric on the Hindenburg burned.[28] The fabric on several of the tail structures was not completely consumed. That the fabric not near the hydrogen fire extinguished itself is not consistent with the "explosive" dope theory.

Occasionally the Hindenburg's varnish is incorrectly identified as, or stated being similar to, cellulose nitrate, which, like most nitrates burns very readily. Instead, the cellulose acetate butyrate (CAB) used to seal the zeppelin's skin is rated by the plastics industry as combustible but nonflammable. That is, it will burn if placed within a fire but is not readily ignited. In fact, it is considered self extinguishing without some kind of additional fuel. That many pieces of the Hindenburg's skin survived despite such a fierce fire is cited as proof.

Hydrogen theory

Offering support for the theory that there was some sort of hydrogen leak prior to the fire is that the airship remained stern-heavy before landing. This could have been caused by a massive leak of the gas, which started mixing with air and filling up the space between the skin and the cells.[20]


The fire seemed to start near the top of the airship, far from any crew or passengers. Although proponents of the IPT claim that the hydrogen was odorized with garlic, it would have been detectable only in the area of a leak. Once the fire was underway, more powerful smells would have masked any garlic odor. There were no reports of anyone smelling garlic during the flight, but no official documents have been found to prove that the hydrogen even was odorized.


Opponents of this theory note that the fire was reported as burning bright red, while pure hydrogen burns blue if it's visible at all[30], although there were obviously many other materials that were consumed by the fire, possibly changing its hue.

Another problem is that most of the airshipmen at the time, including Captain Pruss, believed that stern heaviness was normal, since aerodynamic pressure would push rainwater towards the stern of the airship. However, reports of the amount of rain the ship had collected have been inconsistent. Several witnesses testified that there was no rain as the ship approached until a light rain fell minutes before the fire, while several crew members stated that before the approach the ship did encounter heavy rain.[31]

The stern heaviness was also noticed minutes before the airship made its sharp turns for its approach, and crew members stated that it was corrected as the ship stopped (after sending six men into the bow section of the ship). Additionally, the gas cells of the ship were not pressurized, and a leak would not cause the fluttering of the outer cover, which wasn't seen until seconds before the fire. Instead, it has been suggested that such fluttering was caused by the initial blast wave of the hydrogen cells igniting.

While not issuing an opinion about whether it was the hydrogen or the treated skin of the airship that ignited first, the MythBusters explored the incendiary paint theory. Their findings indicated that the aluminum/iron oxide ratios in the Hindenburg's skin, while certainly flammable, were not enough on their own to destroy the zeppelin. Had the skin in fact contained enough metal to produce pure thermite, the Hindenburg would have been too heavy to fly. And even if it somehow did, a pure thermite reaction (at ~2500 degrees C) would have completely melted the airframe (assuming Aluminium 2024's melt point of ~630 degrees C for the duralumin of the day), whereas the real disaster left the spars and ribs recognizable. The MythBusters team also discovered that the Hindenburg's coated skin required a higher temperature to ignite than untreated material, but that after it was ignited the treated cloth reacted more violently. This led to their conclusion that the paint may have contributed to the disaster, but that it was not the sole reason for such rapid combustion.[32]

Puncture theory

An aspect of the hydrogen theory above claims that one of the many bracing wires within the airship snapped and punctured at least one of the internal gas cells. Advocates of this theory believe that the hydrogen began to leak approximately five minutes before the fire.[20] Newsreels as well as the account of the landing approach show the Hindenburg made several sharp turns, first towards port and then starboard, just before the accident. Gauges found in the wreckage showed the tension of the wires was much too high, and some of the bracing wires may have even been substandard. One bracing wire tested after the crash, though possibly damaged by the fire, broke at a mere 70% of its rated load.[19] A punctured cell would have freed hydrogen into the air and could have been ignited by a static discharge (see above). Or it is also possible that the broken bracing wire struck a girder causing sparks.[19].

A ground crew member, R.H. Ward, reported seeing a piece of the airship fluttering, perhaps providing an opening for a spark to reach escaping hydrogen inside the airship, or vice versa. He said that the fire began there, but that no other disturbance occurred at the time when the fabric fluttered.[20] Another man on the top of the mooring mast had also reported seeing a flutter in the fabric as well.[33] People on board the airship reported hearing a muffled sound, and another ground crew member on the starboard side reported hearing a crack. Some speculate the sound was from a bracing wire snapping.[19]

Dr. Eckener concluded that the puncture theory was the most likely cause of the disaster. Because of this, he felt that Captains Pruss and Lehmann, and Charles Rosendahl were to blame for the whole disaster.[20] He believed that Lehmann told Pruss to make the sharp turn, and that Pruss and Rosendahl were concerned more about the time delay than the weather, because an unobserved storm front occurred just when the Hindenburg approached.[20] But in his heart, Dr. Eckener knew that he was to blame as much as anyone else, for a decision eight years earlier, which he kept a close secret.[20][34]

Eckener concluded that the fire was caused by the ignition of hydrogen by a static spark:



I am convinced, that a leak must have occurred in the upper rear section of the ship. My assumption is confirmed by the remarkable observations by one of the witnesses. He described seeing a peculiar flutter as if gas were rising and escaping. If I were to be asked to explain what had caused this abnormal build up of gas, I could only make to myself one explanation.


Other controversial hypotheses

Structural failure

Captain Pruss believed that the Hindenburg could withstand tight turns without significant damage. Other engineers and scientists believe that the airship would have been weakened by being repeatedly stressed. Even a 10-meter, scale replica of the Hindenburg's passenger quarters, displayed in the Zeppelin Museum in Friedrichshafen, has developed some metal fatigue.

The airship's landing approach actually proceeded in two sharp turns. The first turn was towards port at full speed as the airship circled the landing field. After it had circled the landing field, the wind shifted direction towards the southwest, and a sharper turn to starboard was ordered near the end of the landing maneuver. After the last turn the airship seemed to drop even more at the stern, though a slight stern heaviness had already been noticed before this turn. One or both of these turns in opposite directions could have weakened the structure.


The airship did not receive much in the way of routine inspections even though there was evidence of at least some damage on previous flights. It is not known whether that damage was properly repaired or even whether all the failures had been found. The Hindenburg had once lost an engine and almost drifted over Africa, where it could have crashed. Dr. Eckener was furious and ordered all section chiefs to inspect the airship during flight.

In March 1936, the Graf Zeppelin and the Hindenburg made three-day flights to drop leaflets and broadcast speeches via loudspeaker. Before the airship's takeoff on March 26, 1936, Captain Lehmann chose to launch the Hindenburg with the wind blowing from behind the airship, instead of into the wind as per standard procedure. During the takeoff, the airship's tail struck the ground, and part of the lower fin was broken.[35] Many spectators' cameras were confiscated to prevent negative publicity, but Harold G. Dick concealed his camera and took pictures of the damaged fin. Dr. Eckener was very upset and rebuked Captain Lehmann:


Though that damage was repaired, the force of the crash may have caused internal damage.

Only six days before the disaster, there was a plan assisted by the U.S. Navy to make the Hindenburg have a hook on her hull to carry aircraft in a similar way to what the Navy did with the USS Akron and the USS Macon. However, the trials were unsuccessful; the biplane had bashed the hook several times. This could have also caused damage and weakening of the structure.

Photographs and newsreels of the initial stages of the fire show that the stern section of the airship collapsed inward in a similar way to an eggshell, as well as a "crack" directly behind the passenger decks. When the stern of the ship hit the ground and collapsed, this part collapsed inward, causing another plume of fire to start. Some experts have suggested that the collapsing of the structure in this manner suggests problems within the cell bulkheads and the bracing wires.

This theory has not been very popular because it is not so much about what caused the fire as an element of support for the puncture theory.

Fuel leak


Critics say the documentary is misleading because it misconstrued the statements by the crewmen in the Hindenburg's lower fin. The crewmen said they saw a flash in the axial catwalk, but the film placed the flash in the keel catwalk closer to the passenger areas.

Luger pistol among wreckage

Some more sensational newspapers at the time said that a person on board committed suicide because a Luger pistol with one shell fired was found among the wreckage.[17][36] Yet, there is no such evidence suggesting an attempted suicide. One thing to consider was that the Luger pistol ejected each empty round after firing, and that some owners would keep an empty shell in the gun for safety reasons.

Rate of flame propagation



Proponents of both the incendiary paint theory and the hydrogen theory agree that the fabric coatings were probably responsible for the rapid spread of the fire. The combustion of hydrogen is not usually visible to the human eye in daylight, because most of its radiation is not in the visible portion of the spectrum but rather infrared. Thus what can be seen burning in the photographs cannot be hydrogen. However, black and white photographic film of the era had a different light sensitivity spectrum than the human eye, and was sensitive farther out into the infrared and ultraviolet region than the human eye. And while hydrogen tends to burn invisibly, the materials around it, if combustible, would change the color of the fire.


Of note is that in 1935 a helium filled blimp with an acetate aluminium skin burned near Point Sur in California with equal ferocity.[37] Even the USS Macon, a U.S. Navy airship, burned after crashing into the Pacific off Monterey Bay. Those who disagree with these claims insist these two incidents had nothing to do with the dope, instead the small blimp burned because of a fuel leak, and the Macon burned because it was firing flares.

Those skeptical of the incendiary paint theory cite recent technical papers which claim that even if the airship had been coated with actual rocket fuel, it would have taken many hours to burn — not the 32 to 37 seconds that it actually took.[38]

Modern experiments that recreated the fabric and coating materials of the Hindenburg seem to discredit the incendiary fabric theory.[39] They conclude that it would have taken about 40 hours for the Hindenburg to burn if the fire had been driven by combustible fabric. Two additional scientific papers also strongly reject the fabric theory.[38]

However these claims do not agree with the results the Mythbusters achieved on their Hindenburg special of their TV show and others feel the criticisms does not take into account the conditions that lead to firestorms, such as convection and ignition from radiant energy.




Television investigations

As mentioned previously, the Discovery Channel series MythBusters explored the incendiary paint theory (IPT) and the hydrogen theory in an episode that aired January 10, 2007.[40] While their experiments didn't concern what actually started the fire, the show's hosts, Adam Savage and Jamie Hyneman, demonstrated that when set alight with a blowtorch a 1:50 scale model of the Hindenburg burnt twice as fast in the presence of diffused hydrogen as without it. Combustion was observed in the burning skin, which would have accelerated the fire, but their experiments showed that hydrogen was the main fuel. The hydrogen filled model produced a fire with flames that came out of the nose and resembled the newsreel footage of the Hindenburg disaster. That program concluded that the IPT myth was "Busted".

The MythBusters constructed three 1/50 scale models made out of welded steel wire and covered in cotton fabric. They were suspended from a hangar ceiling and stayed horizontal the entire time. The first model was painted with iron-oxide and then aluminum powder dopes, closely replicating the actual skin of the Hindenburg. Ignited with a blowtorch, it took about 2 minutes to burn, with thermite-like events (sparkling blazes) noted in a few places. The second model had the same skin, but a water trough inside diffused hydrogen gas at sub-explosive concentrations. This one burned about twice as fast, with more thermite burning. The third model, done more for spectacle than anything else, had the skin painted with a thermite-like iron-oxide and aluminum powder enriched dope. It was noted that it would probably be far too heavy to fly. With model 2's hydrogen enrichment, it took 30 seconds to completely consume the skin. The conclusion was that neither the hydrogen gas nor the flammable skin bore sole responsibility for the speed of the fire, but both contributed.

The National Geographic program Seconds From Disaster had veteran air crash investigator Greg Feith study all of the available evidence, including eyewitness accounts, interviews with the last two living survivors, newsreel footage, weather reports, and the Hindenburg blueprints. Feith burned a sample of doped cloth and it took one minute to consume the whole piece, ruling out the skin as the primary accelerant. Feith's investigations concluded that a gas bag was punctured, probably by a bracing wire broken from the two sharp turns, and that electrostatic discharge from the skin to the ship's skeleton ignited the leaked hydrogen.

In Search of..., a show mainly focused on paranormal investigations and conspiracy theories, made an episode based on this tragic accident, and immediately raised the question of whether it was really an accident or instead sabotage by then-Nazi Germany.


Current marker at the disaster site, shown with Hangar #1 in background

The actual site of the Hindenburg crash at Lakehurst Naval Air Station (reestablished as Naval Air Systems Command (NAVAIR) at Naval Air Engineering Station (NAES) Lakehurst, or "Navy Lakehurst" for short[41]) is marked with a chain outlined pad and bronze plaque where the airship's gondola landed.[42] It was dedicated on May 6, 1987, the 50th anniversary of the disaster.[43] Hangar #1, which still stands, is where the airship was to be housed after landing. It was designated a Registered National Historic Landmark in 1968.[44] Pre-registered tours are held through the Navy Lakehurst Historical Society [45]. Due to security concerns, no foreign nationals are permitted on the tours.[46]

Popular culture


  • The band The Reverend Horton Heat recorded a track entitled "Aw, the Humanity," which contains the lyrics, among others referencing the crash of the Hindenburg as a humorous allegory for a public breakup, "Aw the humanity, though it really wasn't clear what that guy meant when he said 'Aw the humanity.'"

Film and television

  • The Hindenburg (1975 movie) is a speculative thriller based on the events leading up to and including the disaster.
  • In the The Waltons season 5 episode "The Inferno", first aired on February 10, 1977, John-Boy goes to Lakehurst, New Jersey, to report on the landing of the Hindenburg.
  • The disaster is referenced in FOX's sitcom 'Til Death (season 4, episode 3).


  • Hindenburg is the primary motif of the first section of Three Tales by Steve Reich and Beryl Korot.
  • Hindenburg is the main setting of the 2000 mystery novel "The Hindenburg Murders" by Max Allan Collins.
  • The last flight of the Hindenburg is a major plot element in Allen Steele's science fiction fix up novel Chronospace.
  • In the novel The Never War by D.J. MacHale, the main character can choose to keep the Hindenburg accident from happening, which he thought would keep World War II from starting. However, he decides not to, since he discovers that the airship is carrying payment to German spies that would allow the Nazis to develop atomic weapons before the Allies.
  • Images of the burning Hindenburg formed a part of Marilyn Manson's most recent tour, Eat Me, Drink Me.
  • Jim Shepard's collection of short stories, "Love and Hydrogen," features the eponymous story about a romance between two crewmen set on the Hindenburg's final flight.

See also


  1. ^ Craats 2009, p. 36.
  4. ^ Hoffmann and Harkin 2002, p. 235.
  5. ^ Mooney 1972, p. 262.
  6. ^ Blimps, dirigibles and Zeppelins are categorized as "airships." Airplanes and helicopters are categorized as "winged aircraft." The term aerostat is reserved for balloons.
  10. ^ Although Joseph Späh survived the Hindenburg accident and fire, ironically he was not as "lucky" when he appeared in the 1976 motion picture Marathon Man. Billed in the film under his longtime stage name, Ben Dova, Späh portrayed the brother of fugitive Nazi war criminal Dr. Christian Szell (Laurence Olivier). Ironically Späh's character is involved in an automobile accident early in the film in which his car collides with an oil delivery truck and he is burned to death in the ensuing fire.[1]
  11. ^ Board of Inquiry testimonies of Kurt Bauer and Alfred Grözinger
  12. ^ Werthmüller, Andreas. The Hindenburg Disaster. Rüfenacht Switzerland: Swiss Hydrogen Association, February 22, 2006.
  15. ^ Columbia University's Oral History Research Office interview
  16. ^ Hoehling
  17. ^ a b c d Archbold 1994
  18. ^ National Geographic 2000
  20. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Hindenburg: The Untold Story, distributed by Channel 4 International, May 6, 2007.
  21. ^ PBS television documentary on the Hindenburg disaster
  23. ^ "The real cause of the Hindenburg disaster?" Philadelphia Inquirer, May 6, 2007.
  24. ^ Hindenburg
  25. ^ Discussion of dope applied to Hindenburg covering
  26. ^ Description of rocket fuel
  28. ^ Flammability of Hindenburg Covering
  29. ^ Thirty-two Seconds
  30. ^ Theory
  31. ^ Commerce Department Inquiry
  32. ^ Mythbusters Episode 70." History Channel, first broadcast, January 10, 2007. Retrieved: May 3, 2009.
  33. ^ Botting 2001, pp. 249–251.
  34. ^ In 1929, Dr. Eckener was offered the opportunity to use helium, but because it was extremely expensive, and he did not have any facilities to hold or transport helium, he decided against it. By the time he needed it (after the disaster for building the LZ 130 Graf Zeppelin), it was too late to get any helium, for the U.S. had since banned any export of helium to Germany in concern that Hitler might use it for military purposes.
  35. ^ Exhibits
  36. ^ Toland 1972, p. 337.
  37. ^ Moments
  38. ^ a b Hindenburg fire theories
  39. ^ Citizen Scientist on the flammable coating (IPT)
  40. ^ MythBusters Season 5, Episode 70.
  41. ^ Lakehurst
  42. ^ Attractions
  43. ^ Tours
  44. ^ Documents
  45. ^ Navy Lakehurst Historical Society
  46. ^ NLHS Tours
  • Blackwell, Jon. Notorious New Jersey: 100 True Tales of Murders and Mobsters, Scandals and Scoundrels. Piscataway, New Jersey: Rutgers University Press, 2007. ISBN 978-0813541778.
  • Botting, Douglas. Dr. Eckener's Dream Machine: The Great Zeppelin and the Dawn of Air Travel. New York: Henry Holt & Co., 2001. ISBN 0-80506-458-3.
  • Craats, Rennay. USA: Past,Present, Future-Economy. New York: Weigl Publishers Inc., 2009. ISBN 978-1605962474.
  • Deutsche Zeppelin-Reederi. Airship Voyages Made Easy (16 page booklet for "Hindenburg" passengers). Friedrichshafen, Germany: Luftschiffbau Zeppelin G.m.b.H., 1937.
  • Hoehling, A.A. Who Destroyed The Hindenburg? Boston: Little, Brown and Company, 1962. ISBN 0-44508-347-6.
  • Hoffmann, Peter and Tom Harkin. Tomorrow's Energy. Boston: MIT Press, 2002. ISBN 978-0262582216.
  • Majoor, Mireille. Inside the Hindenburg. Boston: Little, Brown and Company, 2000. ISBN 0-316-123866-2.
  • National Geographic. Hindenburg's Fiery Secret (DVD). Washington, DC: National Geographic Video, 2000.
  • Toland, John. The Great Dirigibles: Their Triumphs and Disasters. Boston: Courier Dover Publications, 1972. ISBN 978-0486213972.

External links

Flammable fabric disaster theory

Got something to say? Make a comment.
Your name
Your email address