History UsefulNotes / TheHindenburg

* ''Series/SecondsFromDisaster'' also had an episode involving modern detectives trying to come up with a plausible theory for the ''Hindenburg'' disaster. The theory they ultimately arrived at was that the sharp turns the pilot made to line up for the landing, which were not standard operating procedure, caused one of the bracing wires to snap and whip backwards from the sudden release of tension, tearing a gash in one of the hydrogen cells. They further speculated that the after-effects of the thunderstorm not only wet the mooring ropes, but also generated static electricity that charged the ''Hindenburg'''s exterior. When the wet ropes were dropped, the charge from the metal frame would have been conducted through the ropes to the ground, while the less-conductive skin would remained charged. This differential, they speculated, would have caused static sparks, and hydrogen leaking from the damaged cell could easily have come into contact with one or more sparks, which would have been enough to ignite the highly-flammable gas. With the sheer volume of hydrogen on board, disaster was at that point inevitable.

* One of the differences in the AlternateHistory of ''ComicBook/BakerStreet'' is that the Hindenburg never crashed, and remained in service for more than 50 years. A newspaper article reports it being retired to an aviation museum in 1988. Its success (and UsefulNotes/WorldWarII not happening) resulted in airships becoming a major form of air transport, and a [[ZepplinsFromAnotherWorld common sight in the series]].

* Literature/ThePendragonAdventure actually has a take on how the incident really happened in its third book, The Never War: a fireworks rocket was shot at the Hindenburg, setting it on fire. In the story, [[TheHero Bobby]] actually considered the possibility of knocking the rocket aside and changing history. Thankfully, [[StableTimeLoop Gunny stopped him]], or history would have gotten [[FromBadToWorse much, much worse from there.]]

Nobody is sure what happened that day. Inquiries held afterwards suggested everything from a lightning strike to deliberate sabotage, although most investigations indicate that, just like other disasters, it was a cascade of preventable events, like [[DisasterDominoes dominoes]], that led to the crash. The most likely scenario is that a discharge of static electricity ignited a small amount of leaked hydrogen gas, which quickly grew into an unstoppable chain-reaction.[[note]]The Germans had to use flammable hydrogen for their ship because the United States, which at the time had the only sources of helium in the world, wouldn't sell any to Nazis[[/note]] Whatever caused it, the crash of the ''Hindenburg'' is an iconic moment in the histories of aviation and broadcasting. It was the end of the use of airships for passenger flights for decades, until the 1990s, when the Zeppelin company went back into the airship business with their smaller "NT" semi-rigid tourism airships. In 2019, a group of scientists proposed helping to solve pollution by [[ https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2590174519300145?via=ihub creating giant robot-crewed airships for cargo transport]], using earth's jetstream.

Nobody is sure what happened that day. Inquiries held afterwards suggested everything from a lightning strike to deliberate sabotage, although most investigations indicate that, just like other disasters, it was a cascade of preventable events, like [[DisasterDominoes dominoes]], that led to the crash. The most likely scenario is that a discharge of static electricity ignited a small amount of leaked hydrogen gas, which quickly grew into an unstoppable chain-reaction.[[note]]The Germans had to use flammable hydrogen for their ship because the United States, which at the time had the only sources of helium in the world, wouldn't sell any to Nazis[[/note]] Whatever caused it, the crash of the ''Hindenburg'' is an iconic moment in the histories of aviation and broadcasting. It was the end of the use of airships for passenger flights for decades, until the 1990s, when the Zeppelin company went back into the airship business with their smaller "NT" semi-rigid tourism airships.

The world knows what happened next. With the ''Hindenburg'' only a few feet from its mooring mast, it ignited. The gargantuan fireball was over ''a thousand feet high'', and the impact broke the skyscraper-sized airship's metal skeleton in half. The airship sank steeply, crumpling into the ground. Burning hydrogen rocketed up the axial catwalk and erupted from the bow as the rest of the airship was incinerated from within, the ship's fabric hull bearing the name ''Hindenburg'' melting away from the skeleton. As the Zeppelin sank to the ground, people streamed from the windows of the passenger decks. As panic set in on the ground, US Navy Chief Petty Officer Fred "Bull" Tobin[[note]] Chief Tobin was an experienced airship crewman who had survived the catastrophic crash of the US Navy zeppelin ''Shenendoah'' several years earlier[[/note]] shouted, ''"[[DareToBeBadass Navy men, STAND FAST!]] We have to get those people out of there!"'' and led the sailors into the inferno. Finally, the hydrogen gave out, and the white-hot frame collapsed on the still-burning wreckage as people continued to stumble and jump out and sailors under CPO Tobin rushed to pull people from the decks. The horrified Morrison kept right on talking through all of this, describing exactly what was happening until he was overcome with smoke and emotion and had to step inside the hangar to recover himself. In total, the disaster claimed the lives of 35 people aboard the ''Hindenburg'' and one American sailor on the ground, with 62 passengers surviving. The entire ordeal lasted thirty seconds. The whole crash was [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H47x9q5-C2k caught on film,]] if you wish to see it.

[[folder:Real Life]]
* An old, somewhat cruel joke, often used in politics, directed at right-wing commentators (Radio/RushLimbaugh being the most common target):
--> What's the difference between [right-wing commentator] and the ''Hindenburg''? One's a flaming Nazi gasbag, and [[BaitAndSwitchComparison the other is a dirigible]].
[[/folder]]

!!The ''Hindenburg'' and its horrific last flight provide examples of:

* AirborneAircraftCarrier: The ''Hindenburg'' was actually one of these. It had an airplane installed to expedite various duties such as mail and cargo transfers. However, during testing the airplane accidentally destroyed its own mooring and the system was uninstalled right before the final flight. [[http://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=1955&dat=19360521&id=DuUxAAAAIBAJ&sjid=zuIFAAAAIBAJ&pg=4908,4360787 It carried in May 1936 a racing airplane in a cargo bay]].
* ArtifactOfDeath: The ''Hindenburg'' really, '''really''' shouldn't have used that five thousand kilograms of Duralumin. You don't even have to be superstitiously inclined to see that reforging that hunk of metal was a terrible idea, and in very poor taste as well. See TemptingFate for the story behind it.
* CoolAirship: It remains the largest object made by man to ever fly.
** Technically, its sister ship, the LZ-130 Graf Zeppelin II was slightly larger, but, though completed, it was never used in any revenue-earning capacity.
* DareToBeBadass: Chief Petty Officer Tobin gave what is probably the most succinct real-life example ever, at just four words, as a fireball the size of a football field was about to fall on them: "Navy men, stand fast!" Not only did his men stop running away, ''they turned around and ran back into the flames.''
* FoodPorn: The ''Hindenburg'' prided herself on her four gourmet chefs, who prepared the finest German cuisine imaginable: fattened duckling, Bavarian style, served with savory potatoes and Madiera gravy; venison cutlets; and grilled sole with parsley butter and mushrooms. And of course there were sausages and cheeses ''galore''. As for alcohol, it consumed roughly 250 bottles of fine wine, and hundreds of bottles of beer per voyage, not counting the other spirits served in the bar!
* IntrepidReporter: Herbert Morrison is remembered as a hero by radio and television newscasters. He had a long and successful life and career. His assistant Charlie Nehlsen, who actually operated the disc recording machine, should also be remembered; he had the presence of mind to adjust the needle back onto the disc after the massive explosion had jarred it askew (you can hear this, right after Morrison says, "It burst into flames," if you listen carefully).
* MadeOfExplodium: Airships can use helium, which is very stable and nonflammable. But this was available only in and from the United States, which had [[HoldingBackThePhlebotinum imposed a ban on overseas sales for strategic reasons]]. The Germans used the less expensive (and extremely volatile) hydrogen gas instead. If that was not enough, the construction materials involved compounds commonly seen in incendiary weapons, though not in the proportions that would normally be volatile.
** Tragically, or [[{{Irony}} ironically,]] the ''Hindenburg'' very nearly wasn't MadeOfExplodium. It was only the Nazi takeover of the Zeppelin company--and a subsequent panicked act of congress--to cause the Helium deal with the USA to collapse. Originally, the ''Hindenburg'' was designed to use nonflammable Helium, and it had to actually be ''converted'' to use Hydrogen. Helium, being very rare at the time, was to be carefully conserved- the ''Hindenburg'' was supposed to have small-volume Helium gas cells with large-volume Hydrogen cells contained safely within. The Hydrogen could then be vented off or burned in a fifth engine to compensate for fuel and ballast weight, instead of wasting Helium.
* UsefulNotes/NaziGermany: The ''Hindenburg'' bore prominent swastikas, (originally, Hitler wanted the swastikas to be gigantic ones on the envelope itself, but this was tactfully bargained down to the ones on the rear fins by Dr. Eckner) Plus, many of the people involved with the ''Hindenburg'' were, of course, Nazis. Its first flights involved dropping leaflets to urge people to vote for Hitler for chancellor. However, manager Hugo Eckener, head of the Zeppelin company and longtime captain of the ''Graf Zeppelin'', was an outspoken anti-Nazi. In fact he quickly named the airship "Hindenburg" after Germany's then-president, before the Nazis could name it the "UsefulNotes/AdolfHitler."
** This worked both ways. Hitler hated airships, and Dr. Hugo Eckener, president of the Zeppelin company (and also an [[RenaissanceMan airship captain, politician, editor, explorer, reporter, engineer and doctor of psychology]]) was his political rival for the Chancellorship. It was the Nazis' revenge-based takeover of the Zeppelin Company that caused the US to deny Helium to them in the first place, and directly caused the disaster. Needless to say, Herr Eckener and the Nazis were NOT on good terms.
** Dr. Eckener had always been an Americanophile and from the 1918 Armistice the operations of the Zeppelin Luftschiffbau company relied on American contracts, funding and publicity. The takeover of the airship business under the guise of the Deutsche Zeppelin Reederei in 1935 was a great blow and sparked a furious quarrel between him and Hermann Göring. His reputation was so awesome Göring had to keep him as Chairman of DZR [[PragmaticVillainy only to get the business running as usual]].
** His right hand man and UsefulNotes/WorldWarOne veteran, Captain Ernst Lehmann, [[HoistByHisOwnPetard who died of wounds the next day after the crash]], was sympathetic towards the Nazis though and sought to advance his career through them. They had quarrelled since the 1935 takeover over the fact that Lehmann [[YesMan rushed to satisfy any demand]] from the Reich government, regardless the cost or risk. Something says that that may have contributed to the disaster, and why he was overeager to get the airship landed even in less-than-safe conditions.
* {{Newsreel}}: Most people at the time saw the silent footage from the film cameras, or [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H47x9q5-C2k something like this]]. Morrison's audio recording was only dubbed onto these films many years later.
* NoOneShouldSurviveThat: The incineration of the ''Hindenburg'' was extremely violent and took maybe 30 seconds. The flaming wreckage was a prison of imploding white-hot girders; burning, collapsing decks and rampant diesel fires. Yet somehow, ''sixty-two people survived.'' A lot of it was due to the way the decks were constructed and where people were on the airship, but some were just ridiculously lucky. An elderly woman was standing near the double grand staircase, and the pair of folding stairs on the lower deck for landing popped open when the Zeppelin impacted the ground. She simply walked out. One crewman was drenched when a ballast canister burst overhead, protecting him and clearing him a path to safety. It had also rained heavily in Lakehurst that morning, which may have contributed to the survival of all but one of the numerous ground crew who were standing beneath the ship when it exploded as their uniforms were thoroughly soaked.
** One passenger, Joseph Spah, happened to be a trained Vaudeville acrobat, and when he realised what was happening, he smashed the window with his camera, climbed out and hung outside, and when his part of the zeppelin was about 20 feet off the ground he dropped. He got away with nothing worse than a hurt ankle.
** In fact, the survivors consisted mostly of people who ''didn't'' jump - because the zepplin was lowering itself rather slowly (around 25-30 mph) and the fire was burning ''up''wards, passengers could literally wait until the cabin was close to the ground and hop out. In fact, looking at [[https://youtu.be/gXJjtMbfniY?t=183 this colour-corrected footage]], you can see a lot of people running away like nothing happened. (In all fairness, by that point, the cabin was pretty much on the ground)
* NoOntologicalInertia: Commercial Zeppelins had a perfect 37-year safety record, ever since their ''invention.'' Then the ''Hindenburg'' exploded, and that was the end of Zeppelins. Every single one worldwide was scrapped afterwards, even though blimps lived on quite successfully. There weren't any more Zeppelin-made semi-rigid airships until the 1990s, and there is only one rigid airship left in the world, an experimental cargo airship undergoing flight testing.
* OhTheHumanity: TropeNamer. Morrison's emotional broadcast recording actually included the words "all the humanities, all the passengers". Humanity was a known Morrison-ism for any large group of people.
* TheOperatorsMustBeCrazy: As Morrison and Nehlsen were about to leave, Morrison tried to call NBC News in New York. The switchboard operator at NBC refused to put his call through to the newsroom -- didn't he know a terrible disaster had just taken place? Morrison identified himself, and she responded "What would a WLS reporter (a Chicago station) be doing in Lakehurst?" ''and hung up on him.'' Morrison took the discs back with him to Chicago, where they were played on WLS the following morning.
* RealityIsUnrealistic: Watching the footage now, it's hard to believe just how many people survived or that this even happened. Well, roughly two thirds of the people on board survived - most of the passengers could literally hop ''right'' on out once the cabin neared the ground (in fact, most people who survived ''didn't'' jump.) Several people were also close to the fire and weren't thrown back or lit on fire. That's because a hydrogen fire burns ''up''wards.
** Only one person on the ground crew died... because he had the unfortunate luck of having the Hindenburg crash on top of him.
* SchizoTech: To avoid any possible fire risk, the LZ-127 ''Graf Zeppelin'' had no heating devices in passenger spaces (the only heating apparatus were in the electric galley) which proved [[{{Understatement}} rather unpleasant]] in winter months and limited the flight altitude with passengers to 800-1000 meters. By 1936, [=DZR=] had to bend itself to necessity and provide small electric radiators for the ''Hindenburg'' cabins (and presumably for the other 2 airships in operation).
** The airships ''themselves'' were considered SchizoTech, even at the time, and they certainly were chock full of it as well. For example, the ''Hindenburg'' actually had an ''autopilot,'' which was absurdly advanced for the era, and yet the steering of the 800-foot sky vessel was also done by a ''[[http://asset1.cbsistatic.com/cnwk.1d/i/tim/2012/04/30/ludwig-felber-at-helm_620x436.jpg spoked ship's helm.]]'' The ''Hindenburg'' was one of the first airships, or any aircraft, to boast things like a double grand staircase, a piano, a bar, and a smoking room protected by a pressurized, hydrogen-proof airlock.
* StarshipLuxurious: Although actually making very efficient use of space, the ''Hindenburg'' had staterooms, though they were windowless and rather reminiscent of a railway sleeping car compartment. Still, it was unprecedented luxury for an aircraft, with ''air conditioning,'' running hot and cold water, a call button for the steward service, a closet and a little desk. The first-class cabins on B deck were larger and had huge windows. But passengers were only supposed to sleep in their staterooms anyway; they were supposed to enjoy the spacious public facilities during the day.
* TheSkyIsAnOcean: The ''Hindenburg'' was the ultimate example of this trope. Air'''ships''' in general are full of nautical references, being essentially flying ships, complete with bows, sterns, ship's officers, actual spoked ship's helms, TheCaptain, and so on and so forth. The constant need to balance lift with ballast in order to maintain buoyancy means an airship operates like submarine in reverse. But the ''Hindenburg,'' as well as her sister ship ''Graf Zeppelin ll,'' were literal flying luxury liners, and were predictably even more nautical in styling than any other airship before or since. (So far as we know, however, the ''Hindenberg'' was never boarded by SkyPirates.)
* SquareCubeLaw: LZ-129 ''Hindenburg,'' LZ-130 ''Graf Zeppelin ll'' and especially the utterly gargantuan, unfinished stretch-limousine version of the ''Hindenburg''-class Zeppelin, LZ-131, gleefully took advantage of the square-cube law to get away with exponential increases in lift with negligible weight penalties.
* TemptingFate: There was once an airship called the R-101. Devised as a part of the British "Imperial Airship Scheme," the contract pitted two competing designs against one another- the exemplary Vickers-built R-100, and the government-built R-101. The materials, design, and capabilities of the R-101 were woefully inadequate in comparison to the R-100, to the point where the airship had to be lengthened so that it would have enough lift to fly- making it the largest airship in the world. More consideration was given to the incredibly spacious, opulent(and heavy) interior than airworthiness. Eager to get a lead on its rival, the government pulled strings to have [[UnfinishedUntestedUsedAnyway flight and safety testing rushed through or neglected]] so that it could make a maiden voyage to India. [[UsefulNotes/RMSTitanic Despite being warned of a vicious storm ahead,]] the captain [[WhatAnIdiot decided to plunge straight into it.]] The R-101 never made it to India. The ship went down nose first, and the resulting crash and explosion killed 48 of the 54 people on board. Afterwards, the Duraluminum wreckage of the R-101 was collected. It was reforged into an airship, one of unprecedented size and exquisite luxury... [[TheReveal called the Hindenburg.]]
** The ''Hindenburg'' was thought to be TemptingFate at the time, as well. It was a very ostentatious symbol of UsefulNotes/NaziGermany, proudly flying swastikas the size of a house on its tail fins. People thought it was vulnerable to sabotage or external attack. In reality, normal bullets and small arms fire wouldn't even register to something the size of the ''Hindenburg,'' and the cargo and passengers were kept under extremely tight control in case of bomb threats. But clearly, the Zeppelin company failed to properly account for the possibility of accidents...
* UrbanLegends: In spades. The cause of the crash is still a mystery, and some of the theories include, but are not limited to:
** Two hard turns that Pruss ordered caused one of the bracing wires to snap, and slice open a gas cell. The leaking hydrogen was ignited by a spark flowing through the mooring ropes. An analysis of the disaster in a National Geographic ''Seconds from Disaster'' episode suggests that this is the closest to the truth, since such a theory would explain why ground eyewitnesses claimed they saw a fluttering effect in the skin near the rear of the airship, the point where the blaze started, just before the fire began. It also explains why the crew thought the airship was tail heavy and tried to rectify the problem by dumping water ballast;
** The rear port engine backfired and caught the envelope on fire;
** The ship was struck by lightning, ignited by St. Elmo's Fire, or suffered from the unusual electrical phenomenon of Ball Lightning
** Political factions sabotaged the ship with a bomb...
** It goes on and on. But there are some that are clearly myths, and are impossible as explanations. For instance, claims that the wreckage contained fragments of a bomb or a pistol are false, as are claims that the ship was painted in "Thermite" or "Rocket Fuel", and therefore, the hydrogen had [[InsaneTrollLogic nothing to do with the crash.]] Needless to say, this subject is major [[JustForPun Flame]] [[FlameBait Bait]] due to the sheer pervasiveness of the "exploding skin" myth in particular, as well as the fact that ''nobody knows for sure what happened.'' The Administrivia/RuleOfCautiousEditingJudgment is in full effect here.
*** The ''Series/{{Mythbusters}}'' took on the "exploding skin" myth. Their finding was that the myth as stated (The skin burned because it was painted with thermite, hydrogen wasn't to blame) was Busted. The Hindenburg was ''not'' painted with thermite (though the paint ''did'' include some of the ingredients for thermite), and yes, it exploded because of the hydrogen. Interestingly enough, they did conclude that the skin might have been part of it- their miniature ''Hindenburg'', painted just as the original was and filled with hydrogen, burned almost ''exactly'' like the original, and the camera caught evidence of thermite reactions.
** Herb Morrison was ''not'' fired from WLS for his emotional report. In fact, he was commended and highly regarded as a Badass Broadcaster. The rumor most likely got started because a year after the disaster, he accepted a higher paying job at Mutual.
* WhatCouldHaveBeen: The ''Hindenburg'' is often heralded as the turning point at which Zeppelins lost popularity, but people also claim that Zeppelins were going to tumble into obsolescence anyways. The reality is much more ambiguous. Nobody really knows what would have happened if the ''Hindenburg'' had obtained Helium as intended. On one hand, the DC-3 had challenged its monopoly on transatlantic flight, Zeppelins were never common at all, and the technology to make them safer and lessen their restrictive special infrastructure requirements- ground crew, masts, hangars- would not be invented for decades. On the other hand, the ''Hindenburg'' was the first Zeppelin to actually turn some profit, and Zeppelins ''massively'' outclassed passenger airplanes of the time[[note]]''and still today'', in terms of floor space and luxury[[/note]] in everything but speed and landing sites. They might have retained a "cruise ship" or similar niche, and even in light of the ''Hindenburg'' disaster, airships and aerostats were and are still used with great success(the ones that survived DevelopmentHell, at least) by the military for surveillance and heavy cargo, theoretically proving their viability in the passenger market in the decades that followed the ''Hindenburg'' disaster.
** The ''Hindenburg'' made profit due to heavy initial investment [[UsefulNotes/NaziGermany from the state]]. In practice, airship operating costs were unjustifiable for other purposes than military or heavy lift cargo, since they were built with luxury in mind and never with any purpose of mass transportation - the 7 million cubic feet giant carried at best 70 paying passengers for a round trip cost higher than a small car. [[note]]The original [[CoolCar VW Beetle]], then-named [=KdF=]-Wagen, was to be sold for 900 Reichsmark, while a round trip to the USA on ''Hindenburg'' needed 1200 Reichsmark.[[/note]] It had been FairForItsDay, as transatlantic trips by ship or aircraft were costly anyway and only for the upper classes, but since the advent of the modern large airliner and mass tourism in the [[TheFifties late 1950s]] things have changed. Even modern cruise ship tickets are expensive, and they are tremendously cheap in terms of percentage of a working family's wages in the modern day compared to a ticket on an ArtDeco age ocean liner.
*** While not competitive with aircraft, large Zeppelins ''were not very competitive with surface ships, either''. ''Hindenburg'' and ''Graf Zeppelin'' needed 2 1/2 to 3 days for a transatlantic crossing, while SS ''Rex'' and SS ''Normandie'' took 4 1/2 to 5 days for the same trip.
%%*** It's not disputed whether airships would have overtaken jet airliners for speedy mass transit- if nothing else, their dependence on special infrastructure ensured that never happened- but whether they would have continued their luxury transportation role. Using your example, prohibitively expensive ocean liners morphed into more affordable cruise ships when airplanes rendered them obsolete for mass transit as well. Until new luxury airships are built, we won't know exactly how it will work out in modern times.
* WhatCouldPossiblyGoWrong: The Germans had always used hydrogen in their airships. They were very experienced with it and believed they were taking adequate safety precautions. The Zeppelin Company and its precursor, the world's first airline, DELAG, had a perfect safety record. Not so much as a sprained ankle in the decades, millions of miles, and untold thousands of passengers carried. The ''Hindenburg'' had been flying back and forth for over a year with no problems. More significantly, the ''Graf Zeppelin'' had been flying for over a decade[[note]]the Graf Zeppelin's record is nothing short of staggering. It circumnavigated the globe, explored remote regions never before seen, made a journey unmodified to the North Pole, and became the first transatlantic airliner in history.[[/note]], and none of the other 120 airships built by Luftschiffbau Zeppelin (it was called "LZ-''129''" for a reason) had spontaneously combusted. However, the majority of those Zeppelins were built for UsefulNotes/WorldWarOne, and the [[GameBreaker British invention of the Incendiary bullet]] meant that by war's end a whole third of them were shot down in flames. Another third were lost to various accidents or unknown causes, or literally got lost. Some civilian ships were also involved in accidents where no one was harmed, particularly in the very early days of DELAG.
* ZeppelinsFromAnotherWorld: The ''Hindenburg'' disaster is the ultimate reason why Zeppelins signal "not of this world" in modern media, though not the only reason, as it was simply the last and most spectacular of series of disastrous airship crashes--specifically, the ''R101,'' ''Akron,'' ''Macon'', ''Shenandoah'', and the less publicized Soviet ''V-6''--in the 1920s and [[TheThirties 1930s]]. The advent of commercial aircraft capable of crossing the Atlantic without massive government subsidies (not to mention ''much faster'') soon made Zeppelins obsolete anyway.

----

* TemptingFate: There was once an airship called the R-101. Devised as a part of the British "Imperial Airship Scheme," the contract pitted two competing designs against one another- the exemplary Vickers-built R-100, and the government-built R-101. The materials, design, and capabilities of the R-101 were woefully inadequate in comparison to the R-100, to the point where the airship had to be lengthened so that it would have enough lift to fly- making it the largest airship in the world. More consideration was given to the incredibly spacious, opulent(and heavy) interior than airworthiness. Eager to get a lead on its rival, the government pulled strings to have [[UnfinishedUntestedUsedAnyway flight and safety testing rushed through or neglected]] so that it could make a maiden voyage to India. [[UsefulNotes/RMSTitanic Despite being warned of a vicious storm ahead,]] the captain [[WhatAnIdiot decided to plunge straight into it.]] The R-101 [[CaptainObvious never made it to India.]] The ship went down nose first, and the resulting crash and explosion killed 48 of the 54 people on board. Afterwards, the Duraluminum wreckage of the R-101 was collected. It was reforged into an airship, one of unprecedented size and exquisite luxury... [[TheReveal called the Hindenburg.]]

Nobody is sure what happened that day. Inquiries held afterwards suggested everything from a lightning strike to deliberate sabotage, although most investigations indicate that, just like other disasters, it was a cascade of preventable events, like [[DiasterDominos dominoes]], that led to the crash. The most likely scenario is that a discharge of static electricity ignited a small amount of leaked hydrogen gas, which quickly grew into an unstoppable chain-reaction.[[note]]The Germans had to use flammable hydrogen for their ship because the United States, which at the time had the only sources of helium in the world, wouldn't sell any to Nazis[[/note]] Whatever caused it, the crash of the ''Hindenburg'' is an iconic moment in the histories of aviation and broadcasting. It was the end of the use of airships for passenger flights for decades, until the 1990s, when the Zeppelin company went back into the airship business with their smaller "NT" semi-rigid tourism airships.

Nobody is sure what happened that day. Inquiries held afterwards suggested everything from a lightning strike to deliberate sabotage, although most investigations indicate that, just like other disasters, it was a cascade of preventable events, like [[DiasterDominoes dominoes]], that led to the crash. The most likely scenario is that a discharge of static electricity ignited a small amount of leaked hydrogen gas, which quickly grew into an unstoppable chain-reaction.[[note]]The Germans had to use flammable hydrogen for their ship because the United States, which at the time had the only sources of helium in the world, wouldn't sell any to Nazis[[/note]] Whatever caused it, the crash of the ''Hindenburg'' is an iconic moment in the histories of aviation and broadcasting. It was the end of the use of airships for passenger flights for decades, until the 1990s, when the Zeppelin company went back into the airship business with their smaller "NT" semi-rigid tourism airships.

Nobody is sure what happened that day. Inquiries held afterwards suggested everything from a lightning strike to deliberate sabotage, although most investigations indicate that, just like other disasters, it was an cascade of preventable events, like dominoes, that led to the crash. The most likely scenario is that a discharge of static electricity ignited a small amount of leaked hydrogen gas, which quickly grew into an unstoppable chain-reaction.[[note]]The Germans had to use flammable hydrogen for their ship because the United States, which at the time had the only sources of helium in the world, wouldn't sell any to Nazis[[/note]] Whatever caused it, the crash of the ''Hindenburg'' is an iconic moment in the histories of aviation and broadcasting. It was the end of the use of airships for passenger flights for decades, until the 1990s, when the Zeppelin company went back into the airship business with their smaller "NT" semi-rigid tourism airships.

** It goes on and on. But there are some that are clearly myths, and are impossible as explanations. For instance, claims that the wreckage contained fragments of a bomb or a pistol are false, as are claims that the ship was painted in "Thermite" or "Rocket Fuel", and therefore, the hydrogen had [[InsaneTrollLogic nothing to do with the crash.]] Needless to say, this subject is major [[JustForPun Flame]] [[FlameBait Bait]] due to the sheer pervasiveness of the "exploding skin" myth in particular, as well as the fact that ''nobody knows for sure what happened.'' The RuleOfCautiousEditingJudgement is in full effect here.

[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/hindenburg.jpg]]
[[caption-width-right:350:TheSkyIsAnOcean, and you're flying in the ''[[UsefulNotes/RMSTitanic Titanic.]]'']]

-->'''Herbert Morrison in 1937:'''''"It's practically standing still now they've dropped ropes out of the nose of the ship; and (uh) they've been taken ahold of down on the field by a number of men. It's starting to rain again; it's... the rain had (uh) slacked up a little bit. The back motors of the ship are just holding it (uh) just enough to keep it from...It's burst into flames! Get this, Charlie; get this, Charlie! It's fire... and it's crashing! It's crashing terrible! Oh, my! Get out of the way, please! It's burning and bursting into flames and the... and it's falling on the mooring mast. And all the folks agree that this is terrible; this is the worst of the worst catastrophes in the world. Oh it's... [unintelligible] its flames... Crashing, oh! Four- or five-hundred feet into the sky and it... it's a terrific crash, ladies and gentlemen. It's smoke, and it's in flames now; and the frame is crashing to the ground, not quite to the mooring mast. Oh, the humanity! And all the passengers screaming around here. I told you; it – I can't even talk to people, their friends are on there! Ah! It's... it... it's a... ah! I... I can't talk, ladies and gentlemen. Honest: it's just laying there, mass of smoking wreckage. Ah! And everybody can hardly breathe and talk and the screaming. I... I... I'm sorry. Honest: I... I can hardly breathe. I... I'm going to step inside, where I cannot see it. Charlie, that's terrible. Ah, ah... I can't. Listen, folks; I... I'm gonna have to stop for a minute because I've lost my voice. This is the worst thing I've ever witnessed."''

On May 6, 1937, the ship was just about to complete its inaugural flight for the year, flying into Lakehurst Naval Air Station in Lakehurst, New Jersey. Due to previous heavy weather conditions, the ship was already late, and Captain Max Pruss had kept in the air for a few additional hours longer than expected while waiting for a thunderstorm at Lakehurst to clear. At around 7 p.m., the ''Hindenburg'' came into Lakehurst and attempted an midair mooring in heavy winds. Newsreel cameras were rolling and veteran radio newscaster Herbert Morrison of WLS (a Chicago radio station) was making a test recording (on special phonograph disks) of what he thought was going to be a routine landing with subsequent passenger interviews.

The world knows what happened next. With the ''Hindenburg'' only a few feet from its mooring mast, it ignited. The gargantuan fireball was over ''a thousand feet high'', and the impact broke the skyscraper-sized airship's metal skeleton in half. The airship sank steeply, crumpling into the ground. Burning hydrogen rocketed up the axial catwalk and erupted from the bow as the rest of the airship was incinerated from within, the ship's fabric hull bearing the name ''Hindenburg'' melting away from the skeleton. As the Zeppelin sank to the ground, people streamed from the windows of the passenger decks. Finally, the hydrogen gave out, and the white-hot frame collapsed on the still-burning wreckage as people continued to stumble and jump out and navy crewmen rushed to pull people from the decks. The horrified Morrison kept right on talking through all of this, describing exactly what was happening until he was overcome with smoke and emotion and had to step inside the hangar to recover himself. In total, the disaster claimed the lives of 35 people and a ground crewman, with 62 passengers surviving. The entire ordeal lasted thirty seconds. The whole crash was [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H47x9q5-C2k caught on film,]] if you wish to see it.

* NoOntologicalInertia: Commercial Zeppelins had a perfect 37-year safety record, ever since their ''invention.'' Then the ''Hindenburg'' exploded, and that was the end of Zeppelins. Every single one worldwide was scrapped afterwards, even though blimps lived on quite successfully. There weren't any Zeppelin-made semi-rigid airships until the 1990s, and there is only one rigid airship left in the world, an experimental cargo airship undergoing flight testing.

* BroadcastingInTheUnitedStates: A historic moment remembered (and replayed) even today. [[http://jeff560.tripod.com/hindenburg.html Extremely detailed discussion here]] by broadcasting experts and old-time radio fans.

Nobody is sure what happened that day. Inquiries held afterwards suggested everything from a lightning strike to deliberate sabotage, although most investigations indicate that, just like other disasters, it was an cascade of preventable events, like dominoes, that led to the crash. The most likely scenario is that a discharge of static electricity ignited a small amount of leaked hydrogen gas, which quickly grew into an unstoppable chain-reaction. Whatever caused it, the crash of the ''Hindenburg'' is an iconic moment in the histories of aviation and broadcasting. It was the end of the use of airships for passenger flights for decades, until the 1990s, when the Zeppelin company went back into the airship business with their smaller "NT" semi-rigid tourism airships.

* ''WesternAnimation/DuckTales'' managed to combine this airship with the Titanic in one episode.

[[quoteright:320:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/cf7b93f64bd5c922ba4b1b9290ee2736.jpg]]
[[caption-width-right:320:TheSkyIsAnOcean, and you're flying in the ''[[UsefulNotes/RMSTitanic Titanic.]]'']]

*** It's not disputed whether airships would have overtaken jet airliners for speedy mass transit- if nothing else, their dependence on special infrastructure ensured that never happened- but whether they would have continued their luxury transportation role. Using your example, prohibitively expensive ocean liners morphed into more affordable cruise ships when airplanes rendered them obsolete for mass transit as well. Until new luxury airships are built, we won't know exactly how it will work out in modern times.

* ''Film/TheHindenburg'' was a 1975 film based off a book about its last flight, with its plot centered around a fictional conspiracy to destroy the airship. It is notable for being one of the iconic disaster films in the heyday of that genre, and for having extremely accurate sets and depictions of the airship.

Nobody is sure what happened that day. Inquiries held afterwards suggested everything from a lightning strike to deliberate sabotage, although most investigations indicate that, just like other disasters, it was an cascade of preventable events, like dominoes, that led to the crash. The most likely scenario is that a discharge of static electricity ignited a small amount of leaked hydrogen gas, which quickly grew into an unstoppable chain-reaction. Whatever caused it, the crash of the ''Hindenburg'' is an iconic moment in the histories of aviation and broadcasting. It was the end of the use of airships for passenger flights for decades, until the 1990s, when the Zeppelin company went back into the airship business with their smaller "NT" semi-rigid tourism airshipss.

* In ''Anime/YuGiOhZexal'', Tobio Habara ([[DubNameChange Mayday Walker]]) uses a monster called Supercolossal Airship Giant Hindenberg ([[DubNameChange Indestructible Airship Hindenkraft]]). Despite its name, it doesn't get destroyed.