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1937: The Hindenburg suddenly explodes in Lakehurst, New Jersey. There is still wide speculation as to what caused the initial spark which ignited the hydrogen filled airship.
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Hindenburg
The Hindenburg - (1937) 2 min
Named for the late president of Germany, Paul von Hindenburg, the D-LZ 129 Hindenberg was the largest derrigible or rigid airship ever built. It had made 17 successful trips the previous year. But on May 6, 1937, the hydrogen filled Hindenburg burst into flames while beginning landing procedures in Lakehurst , New Jersey.
36 people - passengers, ship and ground crew - lost their lives. Survivors escaped by jumping from the falling aircraft.
Both newsreel cameras and a radio reporter using new, state-of-the-art recording equipment were on the scene to chronicle the airship's landing.
The silent film footage, and radio report are combined bringing us one of the earliest recordings of an event of this kind. Today, cell phones with video cameras are common. If a disaster like this were to happen today, we'd likely have multiple recordings of it.
But in 1937, it was an amazing coincidence to have both sound and visuals on site to capture this historical event.
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