Airship LZ 129 Hindenburg

The LZ-129 Hindenburg was a German airship that was destroyed by fire on May 6, 1937 while landing at Lakehurst Airport in New Jersey. Of the 97 people on board, 13 passengers and 22 crew members were killed in the disaster, and one ground staff member died. In total, the disaster claimed 36 lives.

 

The Zeppelin LZ-129 Hindenburg, together with its sister ship LZ-130 Graf Zeppelin II, was the largest flying machine of all time. It was named after Reich President Paul von Hindenburg and was built in 1935 by the Luftschiffbau Zeppelin at a cost of £ 500,000 at the time. It had a completely new duralumin construction; was 245 m long (only about 25 m shorter than the Titanic), 41 m in diameter, contained about 200,000 m³ of gas divided into 16 compartments with a total lift of about 240 tons, of which 112 tons was the payload. It was powered by four Mercedes-Benz diesel engines, each with an output of 890 kW; allowed a maximum speed of 135 km / h. The cover was made of cotton impregnated for impermeability to mixtures of iron oxide and cellulose acetate and coated with aluminum dust.

 

The Hindenburg could carry 72 passengers (50 on a transatlantic flight), 61 crew members and cargo (even small cars were transported in the stern cargo area). In the interest of better aerodynamic properties, the passenger cabins were located inside the fuselage, not in the suspended gondolas, as was usual before. The interior offered unprecedented space and luxury for air transport: hot meals, showers with cold and hot water, in the clubhouse on the observation deck, even a pianist played the dural piano. The price of the ticket was comparable to a cheaper car.

 

The original plan provided for helium filling, but the United States military embargo forced German designers to change the design and use highly flammable hydrogen as the carrier gas. In addition, helium production in the United States was not enough for American airships at the time, and helium was not produced anywhere else. However, since hydrogen provides about 10% more lift than helium in the air, additional passenger cabins could be added during the modifications. The Germans already had experience with the use of hydrogen in airships, so the change was not a cause for concern for them. Due to the known risks of hydrogen, the design of the Hindenburg contained various safety features to prevent fire in the event of a gas leak, and the coating was specially modified to prevent sparks that could cause a fire. Their belief in the safety of handling hydrogen was so high that there was even a smoking room in Hindenburg.

 

Hindenburg completed his first flight in March 1936, and in June of that year made a record double flight of the Atlantic in 5 days, 19 hours and 51 minutes.