This Day in
History: The
Hindenburg Disaster May 6, 1937 36 passengers and crew
members were killed when
the Hindenburg exploded as it touched
its mooring mast in Lakehurst, NJ. The luxury passenger zeppelin
had left Frankfurt, Germany,
three days earlier. Constructed in Nazi Germany,
the 804 foot-long Hindenburg
was the largest dirigible ever built. The zeppelin was lifted
by the highly flammable
gas, hydrogen. It is thought the cause
of the explosion was a spark
that ignited the dirigible's hydrogen core. Radio announcer
Herb Morrison witnessed
the disaster live, famously
declaring, "Oh the humanity!" His commentary became
part of America's first
coast-to-coast radio news broadcast. Passenger travel by
zeppelin never recovered
after the disaster.