On this date in 1937, while landing at Lakehurst, New Jersey, at around 180 feet above the ground, the airship Hindenburg suddenly caught fire and crashed to the ground, killing 36 people. The event was caught on newsreel and alongside a radio commentary by Herbert Morrison (who uttered the famous words “Oh, the humanity!”) made it the best known airship disaster in history. Here are 10 things you might not know:
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Although 36 people died, including one person on the ground, 62 survived, including the captain, Max Pruss, and a professional acrobat called Joseph Spah, who, like many others, escaped through a window.
This wasn’t the deadliest airship disaster. The 1930 crash of the British military airship R101, which claimed 48 lives, was deadlier, and even worse was when the Helium-filled USS Akron, a U.S. Navy airship, crashed off the coast of New Jersey in a severe storm in 1933, killing 73.
The Hindenburg was built from salvaged remains of the R101. Those of a superstitious bent could therefore argue it was cursed from the start! Construction began in 1931 on the Hindenburg which was 804 feet long (that’s three times longer than a Boeing 747, making it the largest aircraft ever) and had a cruising speed of 126 km (78 miles) per hour and a maximum speed of 135 km (84 miles) per hour.
It wasn’t designed to run on hydrogen, but on the rather less flammable helium. However, the United States had a monopoly on the world supply of helium and feared other countries might use it for military purposes. America banned the export of helium and so Hindenburg had to be re-engineered to use hydrogen.
Unlike the Titanic, Hindenburg had crossed the Atlantic 17 times already and had even set a new two way Atlantic crossing record of five days, 19 hours, and 51 minutes.
The Hindenburg was intended to be a luxury travel experience. A specially designed lightweight Piano was made to entertain the passengers, made from Aluminium and weighing less than 400lb.
The piano was not on board at the time of the disaster. Despite the presence of all that flammable gas, the Hindenburg even had a smoking room. Passengers weren’t allowed to bring their own cigarettes, cigars or lighters on board but could go to the smoking room, which was pressurised and accessible only through a two door airlock. Once inside they could buy cigarettes or cigars and use a single electric lighter to light them. They were not allowed to leave the room with a lit cigarette, cigar or pipe.
Before the disaster, it had been a symbol of Nazi power. Named for Paul von Hindenburg, the president of Germany who’d appointed Hitler as chancellor in 1933, its maiden flight was as part of an aerial tour of Germany ordered by propaganda minister Joseph Goebbels. It blasted pro Nazi propaganda through its speakers and dropped leaflets using parachutes with swastikas on them. In 1937 it made an appearance at the Olympic Games, towing an Olympic flag behind it.
On its final voyage, the Hindenburg was carrying approximately 17,000 items of mail. Some of it even survived the disaster. About 176 pieces of mail were in a protective container, and while a little charred at the edges, were still readable. Postmarked four days after the disaster they are now valuable collectors items.
So what caused it? Nobody knows for sure but the accepted theory is that some hydrogen leaked and was ignited by static Electricity. Some of the other theories: it was struck by Lightning; the paint used was flammable too and the initial spark set fire to the paint, not the hydrogen; sabotage by anti-Nazi factions.
The six richest people in Britain decide to hold a contest to settle the question of which of them is most successful. It will be a gladiator style contest with each entrant fielding a team of ten super-powered combatants. Entrepreneur Llew Powell sets out to put together his team, which includes his former lover, an employee of his company with a fascinating hobby, two refugees from another dimension (a lonely giant and a drunken sailor), two sisters bound together by a promise, a diminutive doctor, a former Tibetan monk initiate and two androids with a history. As the team train together, alliances form, friendships and more develop, while others find the past is not easy to leave behind.
Meanwhile, a ruthless race of aliens has its eyes on the Earth. Already abducting and enslaving humans, they work towards the final invasion which would destroy life on Earth as we know it. Powell’s group, Combat Team Alpha, stumble upon one of the wormholes the aliens use to travel to Earth and witness for themselves the horrors in store if the aliens aren’t stopped. Barely escaping with their lives, they realise there are more important things to worry about than a fighting competition.
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