There’s a memorial service planned on the landing site today, and one has been held in Germany, already.
I am amused more than I should be that the last surviving passenger lives in Parachute, Colorado.
Airships fascinate me. I didn’t realise, until I read up on the subject, how many giant airships there were. The US Navy had Akron and Macon and a few others, while over here people would see the R-100 and R-101 scooting around the place on trial flights, the former travelling as far as Canada. Must have been awe-inspiring to see such giant ships overhead. Of course, three of those four met unfortunate ends, so I guess it’s no surprise that the airship age didn’t last very long.
I grew up not far at all from the crash site. I’ve had a few occasions to go to the Lakehurst Base, and it’s kind of sad how underwhelming their memorial is.
I was travelling up the east coast a few years ago and went to Lakehurst. I think it was the summer of 2001, so you could still get on the Naval Air Station without too much trouble. There’s a small sign pointing to a big, gravel field; in the middle is a 20-foot-long concrete pad and a post, and that’s about all. No interpretive center; no gift shop with “Oh, the humanity” t-shirts, nothing like that. And I certainly don’t want it trivialized, but at the time, it seemed strange to find a place so famous that also seemed so forgotten. I was the only person there.
The hangar is still there. From the size of it, seeing one of the airships in flight must have been amazing.
One person suspected of being a saboteur was one Joseph Spah. In real life, Joseph Spah had a brief, but very important, role in the 1976 movie Marathon Man (using the name “Ben Dova” ha ha!) playing Klaus Szell, an early victim of road rage at the hands of furious “yehudi” Lou Gilbert. In the 1975 movie Hindenburg, Robert Clary played the role of Joseph Spahn [sic].
(Oh, and a cursory glance at the Social Security Death Index indicates that Mr. Spah died in 1986 at the age of 81, but his wife Evelyn died just this past October at 94.)
My grandmother had a couple of interesting airship-related anecdotes. One was about being on the receiving end of a Zeppelin attack in WW1; the other was seeing the R-38 break up and crash.
Both events gave her very vivid memories.
Well, youngsters, I was living in NYC at the time, was 10 years old. We saw the thing fly over the city, and it was amazing how huge it was, glinting sort of silverish in the sun. We had seen other Zeppelins and a lot of blimps from time to time, but people just looked up with their jaws dropping, it was so impressive.
I did not know it crashed until the next day, as we were too poor to have a radio, as were a lot of people. A few days later, did see it on a newsreel (it only cost 25 cents to get into the movies, so went about once a month).
Tempus fugit
I know a woman who was a young girl in New Jersey at the time of the crash. She and her family lived along the flight path of the airships, and could wave to the passengers as they gradually lowered.
She didn’t witness the crash of course, but she saw the Hindenburg that day as it cruised towards Lakehurst, and hearing about the crash not long afterwards.
My grandfather saw the Hindenberg fly over New York City, which is where he lived. He recalls the big red swastika on the tail (which is actually incorrect- the pictures I’ve seen of the Hindenberg show the German flag- a black swastika on a red field- on the tail. This is probably what he meant).
Herb Morrison (the announcer who put the phrase, “Oh the humanity” into common parlance) retired near my hometown of Morgantown, WV. I learned that in an article the local paper ran in 1977 (presumably in observence of the 40th anniversary).
Though experts differ, some feel it would have burned even if it was filled with helium (The skin was highly flammible)
Brian
You think there should be a big memorial to a piece of Nazi propaganda? I’m sure there would be a problem if there was. There is a museum of sorts in Hangar One with some pieces of the ship.
One thing is for sure, Hangar One is freaking huge.
Last year I had to go down there with a bunch of other National Guard guys from my unit. I had been there many times before and pointed out where the Hindenburg crashed. Two guys had no idea what the Hindenburg was. How do you get through 25 years of life without seeing the footage at least once.
My father remembered the Hindenburg going over his house when he was a kid (Jersey City). He remembered his German grandmother shaking her fist at the swastika and cursing at it. In German of course.
Excellent film revolving around the German airship industry in general, and the Hindenburg in particular:
Zeppelin! (2005)
Am I the only one surprised it was only seventy years ago?
Navy men, stand fast!
. . . Which is, of course, a reference to IMO the most affecting part of the Hindenberg story. As everyone was fleeing in terror from the burning airship, the Bo’sun in charge of the ground crew bellowed, Navy men, stand fast!, stopping the crew in their tracks. They turned back and ran to the burning ship, saving a number of people including two children.
I’m thinking of a couple of ‘oh, the humanity’ jokes, but it doesn’t seem right. Godspeed to the 36 who perished. 
I take it you’ve not seen the Thanksgiving episode of WKRP in Cincinnati.
NPR did a nice piece on the disaster. Interestingly, the audio recording of Herb Morrison was improperly played all these years (wrong speed) and they corrected it for this broadcast.
Regarding the (supposed) unsafe nature of the HINDENBURG skin (aluminum powder on rubber); how was it that the german Zeppelin company had years of safe flights with the airships? one would think that the highly inflammable skin would have resulted in an earlier accident-yet, the zeppelins had an excellent safety record.
I remember seeing the rather obscure george C. Scott movie-it stronly intimated that sabotage was the cause. Of course, its not worth arguing about-airship travel ended with the Hindenburg disaster.