Hindenburg Disaster
Hindenburg Disaster Over 95% of the Hindenburg was empty space for her gasbags. The structure of the airship was 250 tons, compared to the Titanic, 46,000 tons. The entire passenger compartment was in the area of the little ridge just aft of the control gondola. She carried 7.5 million cubic feet of hydrogen.
84 years ago the German airship Hindenburg exploded when arriving at Lakehurst, New Jersey and these incredible photos were taken of her demise. 36 people were killed but incredibly 62 survived. The last survivor passed away in 2019 at the age of 90.
Hindenburg left Frankfurt with 97 souls on board; 62 survived the crash at Lakehurst, although many suffered serious injuries. Thirteen of the 36 passengers, and twenty-two of the 61 crew, died as a result of the crash, along with one member of the civilian landing party.
The fire spread so quickly — consuming the ship in less than a minute — that survival was largely a matter of where one happened to be located when the fire broke out…
Witnesses saw a glowing aura emitted from parts of the ship. And a number of contemporary scientists point to Corona discharge. This is also known as St. Elmo’s fire.
