LZ 129 Hindenburg

Flight Number H 25 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 25 b
Airship Number	LZ 129 Hindenburg
Flight Name	Fourth North America Return Flight 1936
Departure Date	July 3, 1936
Departure Location	Lakehurst, USA
Arrival Date	July 6, 1936
Arrival Location	Frankfurt, Germany
Dispatch Type	Frankfurt Onboard Mail
Value	$

Notes

Onboard postmarks not actually posted aboard by passengers or crew members were often prepared in advance at the Frankfurt railway post office 19 where the mail was cancelled in advance, put in a sealed mailbag, and loaded onto Hindenburg for the flight. For the return flights such as this one, uncanceled German mail was put into a container for cancel service in flight. Most likely, this card flew roundtrip to receive the return cancel. Franked with Olympics stamps, the card has a private cachet for the U.S. Third International Philatelic Exhibition in New York City in 1936, known as TIPEX.