The end of the Hindenburg, Lakehurst 1937
The approach over Manhattan, the fire at the mooring mast and the burnt-out wreck: 6 May 1937 at Lakehurst, as five American newsreels saw it.
On the evening of 6 May 1937 the airship LZ 129 Hindenburg, after a delayed crossing from Frankfurt, reached the naval air station at Lakehurst, New Jersey. She had passed over New York first; thunderstorms held up the landing. At about 7.25 p.m., with the landing lines already dropped, fire broke out near the tail. The hydrogen in her gas cells burned in about half a minute. Of the 97 people on board, 35 died, together with one man of the ground crew.
Four newsreel crews had set up their cameras close together beside the mooring mast. The clips in this collection come from five newsreels. Pathé News shows the flight over New York and the approach to Lakehurst, Paramount News and Movietone News the fire, Universal Newsreel the inspection of the wreck and the injured being carried to ambulances. Hearst's News of the Day, whose fire footage Universal also used, adds a scene of passengers at table, apparently in the airship's dining room. The newsreel footage of the disaster was added to the US National Film Registry in 1997.
American and German commissions investigated the disaster. Its cause, most likely a static spark igniting escaping hydrogen, was never finally established. The Hindenburg ended the era of the passenger airship.
Film The Hindenburg in flight, swastikas on its tail fins
Film The Hindenburg approaches the mooring mast at Lakehurst
Film The Hindenburg over Lower Manhattan
Film The Hindenburg over the landing field before the fire
Film Passengers at table in what appears to be the Hindenburg's dining room
Film Fire bursts from the hull of the Hindenburg
Film The Hindenburg burns beside the mooring mast
Film The burning Hindenburg sinks to the ground
Film A man in silhouette before the burning airship
Film Men on the field before the burning wreck
Film The burning frame of the Hindenburg on the ground at Lakehurst
Film Inside the burnt framework of the Hindenburg
Film The wreckage of the Hindenburg after the fire
Film A column of ambulances on a road through the pines
Film