1937

Hindenburg only made seven flights in 1937, including a round trip to South America. On the First North America Flight, Hindenburg encountered a rainstorm that delayed landing at Lakehurst. Between squalls and moments after dropping the landing lines to the crew on the wet field, Hindenburg’s upper tail area burst into flames. The 34-second disaster was captured on film, and radio announcer Herb Morrison broadcast his eyewitness account, emotionally recording, “Oh, the humanity.”

Fire required both a spark and loose hydrogen mixed with oxygen. Debates continue over both what caused a spark and how hydrogen escaped the gas cells to create the “perfect storm.” Of the 97 persons aboard, 62 passengers and crew members survived by escaping through burning debris. Amazingly, of the 17,000+ pieces of mail aboard, nearly four hundred postcards and envelopes were salvaged from the wreckage, some burnt and others unburnt in a protective container.