Hindenburg crash: 76 years later

Published May 9, 2013
By Airman Tara A. Williamson
Joint Base McGuire-Dix-Lakehurst Public Affairs

JOINT BASE MCGUIRE-DIX-LAKEHURST, N.J. -- The 76th anniversary of the Hindenburg airship disaster was held at 6:30 p.m. May 6, 2013, at the Hindenburg Memorial here.

The Navy Lakehurst Historical Society and joint base community members held the annual ceremony to commemorate the 36 passengers, air and ground crew members who lost their lives in the crash May 6, 1937.

The Hindenburg had flown for two and a half days at 80 miles an hour before arriving at New Jersey to land at then Lakehurst Naval Air Station.

First-hand accounts say the vessel circled the runway for three hours, dumping more water counterbalance than normal, creating concern for the ground crew members. The airship finally dropped the anchoring lines, much to the relief of crew.

Reports from the disaster say minutes later, at 7:25 p.m., ground-crew members saw blue sparks at the back of the airship. The enormous airship was incinerated in nearly half a minute, facilitated greatly by the 16 bags filled with the highly flammable hydrogen gas used to keep the vessel in the air.

"On May 6, 1937, (Robert Buchannan) was standing right under the Hindenburg as it burst into flames," said Rick Zitarosa, NLHS vice president and historian. "He got the dream job. For $1 you could come out here and stand in the rain for two hours and help land a German zeppelin. It was the opportunity of a lifetime for a young man."

Buchannan, at 93 years old, is the last known living member of the ground crew that night, but was unable to make the ceremony as a guest speaker due to health reasons.

The night of the crash, Herbert "Herb" Morrison recorded a reactive broadcast in which he described scenes such as, "those aboard leaping for life from a flaming inferno," and a "twisted mass of girders, the seared and scorched skeleton of what was once a mighty airship."

Morrison's recording of the disaster contains the infamous words, "oh, the humanity!" The Hindenburg disaster was the first recorded on video.

Carl Jablonski, NLHS president, ended the ceremony by reading off the names of the 36 passengers, air and ground-crew members lost in the blaze. Wreaths were laid at the memorial to represent each military branch, the Lakehurst Borough Historical Society and the Lakehurst Cub Scout Troup 10 in honor of those who had fallen.