LZ 129 Hindenburg

Flight Number H 24 b

In 1936, Hindenburg flew ten round trips to the United States and seven round trips to Brazil in half the time of ship travel. The domestic flights were often for testing, repositioning, charter flights, or political propaganda.

Hindenburg flew passengers, freight, and mail to offset operating expenses. Celebrity passengers included actor Douglas Fairbanks, journalist Lady Grace Drummond Hay, pilot Eddie Rickenbacker, businessman Nelson Rockefeller, boxer Max Schmeling, and explorer Sir George Hubert Wilkins. A variety of freight benefited from the faster crossing, including dogs, queen bees, pronghorn fawns, an Opel automobile, and an airplane. Special stamps, postmarks, and postal cachets attracted stamp collectors and dealers, who prepared mail to and from many countries. Onboard passengers and crew members posted mail on the world’s largest flying post office, and their signatures add to the desirability of their postcards and letters.

Flight Number	H 24 b
Airship Number	LZ 129 Hindenburg
Flight Name	Fourth North America Flight 1936
Departure Date	June 30, 1936
Departure Location	Frankfurt, Germany
Arrival Date	July 2, 1936
Arrival Location	Lakehurst, USA
Dispatch Type	Onboard Passenger Mail
Value	$

Notes

Karl Victor Hagen mailed this card on his return to the United States after attending his grandfather's 80th birthday in Berlin. He had flown to Germany on Hindenburg's previous Third North America Return Flight, allowing him four days in Germany. Hagen was Jewish from a banking family that lost their business and family members to the Nazi regime. Hagen served in the U.S. Army during WWII and later the Allied Control Commission. Sadly, during the Berlin Airlift, he died in a U.S. C-47 plane crash.