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KF5JRV > TODAY 06.05.24 07:27l 34 Lines 2362 Bytes #999 (0) @ WW
BID : 20592_KF5JRV
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Subj: Today in History - May 06
Path: IW8PGT<IZ3LSV<DB0ERF<DK0WUE<DK0WUE<N2NOV<K5DAT<KF5JRV
Sent: 240506/0624Z 20592@KF5JRV.#NWAR.AR.USA.NA BPQ6.0.23
The airship Hindenburg, the largest dirigible ever built and the pride of Nazi Germany, bursts into flames upon touching its mo
oring mast in Lakehurst, New Jersey, killing 36 passengers and crew-members, on May 6, 1937.
Frenchman Henri Giffard constructed the first successful airship in 1852. His hydrogen-filled blimp carried a three-horsepower
steam engine that turned a large propeller and flew at a speed of six miles per hour. The rigid airship, often known as the “ze
ppelinö after the last name of its innovator, Count Ferdinand von Zeppelin, was developed by the Germans in the late 19th centu
ry. Unlike French airships, the German ships had a light framework of metal girders that protected a gas-filled interior. Howev
er, like Giffard’s airship, they were lifted by highly flammable hydrogen gas and vulnerable to explosion. Large enough to carr
y substantial numbers of passengers, one of the most famous rigid airships was the Graf Zeppelin, a dirigible that traveled aro
und the world in 1929. In the 1930s, the Graf Zeppelin pioneered the first transatlantic air service, leading to the constructi
on of the Hindenburg, a larger passenger airship.
On May 3, 1937, the Hindenburg left Frankfurt, Germany, for a journey across the Atlantic to Lakehurst’s Navy Air Base. Stretch
ing 804 feet from stern to bow, it carried 36 passengers and crew of 61. While attempting to moor at Lakehurst, the airship sud
denly burst into flames, probably after a spark ignited its hydrogen core. Rapidly falling 200 feet to the ground, the hull of
the airship incinerated within seconds. Thirteen passengers, 21 crewmen, and 1 civilian member of the ground crew lost their li
ves, and most of the survivors suffered substantial injuries.
Radio announcer Herb Morrison, who came to Lakehurst to record a routine voice-over for an NBC newsreel, immortalized the Hinde
nberg disaster in a famous on-the-scene description in which he emotionally declared, “Oh, the humanity!ö The recording of Morr
ison’s commentary was immediately flown to New York, where it was aired as part of America’s first coast-to-coast radio news br
oadcast. Lighter-than-air passenger travel rapidly fell out of favor after the Hindenberg disaster, and no rigid airships survi
ved World War II.
73 de Scott KF5JRV
Pmail: KF5JRV@KF5JRV.#NWAR.AR.USA.NA
Email KF5JRV@gmail.com
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