Manny Laureano

Today is the 70th anniversary of the "Hindenburg Disaster". Those that are my age and a little younger, while not having lived through it, remember many references to it and there was even a 1975 movie made on the subject of this terrible air disaster.

Here's an article about it;

FOXNews.com - Hindenburg Survivors Mark 70th Anniversary of Crash - Local News | News Articles | National News | US News

There's a very famous radio report as the Hindenburg tried to land. It was a HUGE aircraft. As described, it was way longer than a football field. Anyways, this radio broadcast is very famous and you can hear the emotion in the reporter's voice. He feels the tragic loss of human life very deeply. The audio is coupled with the visual to create a stunning scene:

YouTube - Hindenburg disaster

In the 30s and 40s and even a little into the 50s America and the rest of the world got its news through newsreels that were shown in movie theatres. Notice how even in those days it wasn't enough to present the tragedy on its own. Music was added and since there was no audio of the sreams that surely happened that terrible day, they are added, theatrically, to make it more powerful to the audience in the theatres. After all, they were there to see movies and somehow, it all seemed natural to the filmmaking mind of the day.

YouTube - Special Release - Hindenburg Explodes 1937/05/10 (1937)

Finally, in 1975, a Hollywood film was made and here are the impressions of one director as to what happened and may have happened on that day. He did have the benefit of survivors that he could have interviewed, so, for all I know much of what was represented in the film may have happened

YouTube - Destruction Of The Hindenburg

Remember, that throughout all of what you've seen, the year was 1937. This is in case you're wondering why people didn't act faster, where were the paramedics... questions from a modern day perspective that just don't apply in pre-WWII America.

So, think of the Hindenburg disaster as one of the first "What were you doing when -------- occurred?" disasters. It would be worth a call to living grandparents and for some of us, parents, to ask about that day. They might be able to offer perspective on a day in history.

Respectfully submitted,

ML

B15M

Alex Yates

I have always found this bit of history very interesting. It still seems like an incredible feat even though it ended in disaster.

bluegill

The Hindenberg was a really cool machine. It's a shame that it crashed like that. I do remember seeing in a documentary that part of the reason the flames spread so quickly was that the fabric outer layer was coated with a special substance to, i think this was the reason, help with aerodynamics. It also happened to be quite flammable...

I'm also pretty sure that historians now believe that it was static electricity from the storm mentioned in one of the videos, that caused the fire. The electricity grew as the ship stayed in the clouds, and when the wires touched the ground it was like a giant static shock.

Other than that I'm amazed at how the camera man was able to film it all while it was happening. I don't think I could bring myself to do that.

Jon Kratzer

I'm a nerd so I watch shows like Mythbusters. I saw one in January that dealt with the Hindeburg, it was really cool to watch them bust myths.


Enjoy the read here :

Annotated Mythbusters: Episode 70: Hindenburg Mystery and Crocodile Zig Zags

rowuk

I thought that the Hindenburg was from the second set of concerts by J.S. Bach. The so trumpet part is so hard that only flaming @??holes with something to prove have ever tried to play it - and they all crashed! Amazing what a little careless light headedness can do!

Dr. Zink

My dad speaks of seeing the Hindenburg fly over when he was a kid (9yrs old) in grade school in Connecticut. Everybody was called out in the school yard to see it fly over in the distance.

Dr.Z

Vulgano Brother

I was thinking of the Hindenburg Sonate... Alle Menschen mussen brennen...

bluegill

That's a morbid name for a Sonate....

Jon Kratzer

Wow... that's just....*sighs* I need to get back to my beer, it's finally warm enough to drink.