Hindenburg Disaster

The Hindenburg disaster occurred on May 6, 1937, when the German passenger airship LZ 129 Hindenburg caught fire and was destroyed while attempting to dock at Naval Air Station Lakehurst in New Jersey. The massive zeppelin, 804 feet long and filled with highly flammable hydrogen gas, burst into flames at 7:25 PM, killing 36 people (13 passengers, 22 crew members, and 1 ground worker) out of the 97 people on board. The disaster was captured on film and in the famous radio broadcast by reporter Herbert Morrison, whose emotional commentary ("Oh, the humanity!") became iconic. The entire airship was consumed in just 37 seconds, though remarkably 62 people survived by jumping from windows or riding the structure down. The cause remains debated—theories include static electricity igniting leaking hydrogen, sabotage, or engine sparks. The disaster effectively ended the era of passenger airship travel.