Hindenburg disaster

LZ 129 Hindenburg

Hindenburg begins to fall seconds after catching fire.
Occurrence summary
Date	May 6, 1937
Type	Airship fire
Site	Lakehurst Naval Air Station in Manchester Township, New Jersey, United States Coordinates: 40.030392°N 74.325745°W
Passengers	36
Crew	61
Injuries	Unknown
Fatalities	36 (13 passengers, 22 crew, 1 ground crew)
Survivors	62
Aircraft type	Hindenburg-class airship
Aircraft name	Hindenburg
Operator	Deutsche Zeppelin-Reederei
Tail number	D-LZ129
Flight origin	Frankfurt am Main, Germany
Destination	Lakehurst Naval Air Station in Manchester Township, New Jersey, United States

The Hindenburg disaster took place on Thursday, May 6, 1937, as the German passenger airship LZ 129 Hindenburg caught fire and was destroyed during its attempt to dock with its mooring mast at the Lakehurst Naval Air Station, which is located adjacent to the borough of Lakehurst, New Jersey. Of the 97 people on board^{[N 1]} (36 passengers, 61 crew), there were 35 fatalities as well as one death among the ground crew.
The disaster was the subject of spectacular newsreel coverage, photographs, and Herbert Morrison's recorded radio eyewitness report from the landing field, which was broadcast the next day. The actual cause of the fire remains unknown, although a variety of hypotheses have been put forward for both the cause of ignition and the initial fuel for the ensuing fire. The incident shattered public confidence in the giant, passenger-carrying rigid airship and marked the end of the airship era.^[1]