Hindenburg Disaster: Deadliest Airship Accident

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Airships were once a popular and luxurious way to travel. However, the Hindenburg disaster brought an end to the age of the rigid airship

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Notably, a German airship called Hindenburg caught fire and crashed in New Jersey on May 6, 1937

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The airship left Frankfurt for the US East Coast on May 3, 1937, and was considered one of the most luxurious and technologically advanced airships of its time

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But while trying to land, disaster struck. The airship was engulfed in flames and crashed to the ground in a ball of fire

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The accident killed 35 persons on the airship, and one member of the ground crew. Miraculously 62 of the 97 passengers and crew survived

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The most likely theory for the crash is that a discharge of atmospheric electricity ignited the airship's hydrogen gas cells

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The entire disaster was captured on newsreel and was also narrated by a radio news reporter who uttered the infamous phrase ''Oh, the humanity!''

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Notably, the LZ 129 Hindenburg was a German commercial passenger-carrying rigid airship. It was designed and built by the Zeppelin Company

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It was named after Field Marshal Paul von Hindenburg, who was president of Germany from 1925 until his death in 1934

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The airship was often used by the rich to travel long distances across the Atlantic Ocean. It made 17 round trips in 1936, 10 to the United States and 7 to Brazil

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