3rd May 1937, around 8 PM. A Hindenburg aircraft takes off from Frankfurt, Germany. This aircraft was headed to the other side of the Atlantic Ocean, to New Jersey, America. It carried about 97 passengers,36 passengers, and 61 crew members. And when I use the word 'aircraft' here, I don't mean an aeroplane.
Instead, the word aircraft means an Airship. Hindenburg was an airship. The world's largest airship. 245 meters long. Compare its size with today's Boeing 747 aircraft and you will realize how big it actually was. Titanic, which was once the world's largest ship, Hindenburg was only 24 meters shorter than it. This is why Hindenburg was called the Queen of the Skies and was the pride of Nazi Germany.
The view inside the Hindenburg airship was amazing. People would see such luxuries while flying in the sky, which perhaps is lost today. People had separate rooms to sleep in a separate dining room where everyone could eat together a separate lounge with a grand piano There was also a reading and writing room and a ticket price was $700 at that time which is more than $7,000 today. Basically, only the rich could afford to travel in this. On 6th May 1937 after a 3-day long journey, Hindenburg reaches America thousands of miles away.
The aircraft was about to land when suddenly a loud bang was heard. Within the blink of an eye, the airship was engulfed in flames. The plane crashed in just 34 seconds and the whole plane was destroyed in the fire.
The Hindenburg disaster shook the world. What was the reason behind this disaster? Experts and investigators try to find the answers. Three main theories were presented.
👉 The first theory was that this airship was targeted for sabotage. It was part of a dangerous plan to destroy the pride of Nazi Germany.
👉 Some people believed that some anti-Nazi activist or some other country had hidden a bomb in the Hindenburg airship. That's why the sudden explosion occurred.
👉 Some people believed that Adolf Hitler himself had blown up the Hindenburg airship. Hitler's people planted a bomb on it to blow up their own country's airship.
Why would they do that?
Actually, the owner of the company manufacturing these airships was a man named Hugo Eckener.
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Hugo Eckener |
He was among the few people who openly spoke against Hitler and the Nazis during Hitler's rule. It was not easy to raise your voice against Hitler publicly at that time. This is the reason why in 1933, when the Nazi party came to power, Hitler tried to arrest Hugo Eckener. But at that time, his arrest was blocked by the German President Paul von Hindenburg.
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Paul von Hindenburg |
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Nazi party flags |
You will see that in many photos of this airship Nazi party flags are drawn on the tail of this airship. It is said that Hugo Eckener was very strict about safety standards. But when Nazi Party took control of these airships, they put anyone they wanted in charge. But their followers were not qualified enough. Often they ignored safety standards. That's why when the Hindenburg airship took its first flight, it almost crashed. But the airship was badly damaged. There was a big argument following the incident between the Nazi propaganda ministry and Eckener. But if we come to the second theory,
Static Electricity
generated in the atmosphere by the airship. You must have read about static electricity in school. The static charge was said to have built up on Hindenburg's metal frame. When it sparked, the hydrogen gas in the airship suddenly ignited. It is said that the pilot took a sharp turn which caused the explosion. Then comes the third theory which focuses on a lightning strike.
Lightning strike
As I told you, the weather was bad that day. It is theorized that lightning might have struck, which caused the hydrogen to catch fire. Which theory fits the most here? Before we understand this, we need to understand the history of airships.
History of airship
Today, flying has become very commonplace due to airplanes. But if we go back 500 years, people could only dream of flying. In the 1500s, people used to see birds flying in the sky and felt very jealous. People used to wish that they could also fly. And many people tried to do the same.
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John Damien |
In 1507, a man named John Damien covered his hands with chicken feathers and jumped from the roof of a castle in Scotland. He started waving his hands like a bird in the hopes that he would also start flying. But unfortunately, he fell from the roof. He broke his bones.
And when he was asked later, he claimed that had he used an eagle's feathers instead, he would have flown. He was not the only one Throughout history, many people have tried to jump from a tower or a high wall. Sometimes they stuck feathers on themselves, sometimes kites, sometimes balloons. Eventually, people realized that if we want to fly, there are only two ways.
👉 First, we need to make ourselves lighter than air. Like through a balloon. Or second, we need to generate enough power to be able to take off in the sky.
👉 For the second way, we needn't be lighter than air. All the airplanes and helicopters you see flying in the air today, they use this second method. They generate enough power to fly in the air. But the story of airships, and friends, is the first method.
Flying in the air by making yourself lighter.
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Joseph-Michel and Jacques-Étienne Montgolfier |
In the 1770s, two brothers in France, Joseph-Michel and Jacques-Étienne Montgolfier. These brothers were highly intelligent and creative. One day, they saw someone drying clothes over a fire. Joseph observes that the heat produced by the fire caused the clothes to start flying upwards. This gave him the idea of doing the same thing on a bigger scale. He started by making a small box from thin wood and covered it with a lightweight cloth. Inside the box, he put a crumpled piece of paper and set it on fire. He saw that the box started flying once the fire was lit. Immediately, he started making a bigger model of the box with his brother.
On 14th December 1782, the first test flight was conducted with a full-size model. They set fire to wool and hay. The lifting force produced was so strong that they lost control of their box and it kept flying for 2 km. Next year,
in 1783, they did a public demonstration in the presence of the king of France, King Louis, in his palace in Versailles.
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First balloon passengers |
In this demonstration, they put a duck and a hen in the box, to demonstrate that animals could fly safely in it. When the king saw this, he was pleased. And thus they got permission to test it with humans inside the box. And this, friends, is how the hot air balloon was invented. Jacques-Étienne became the first man to fly in a balloon.
Moving on with our story,
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Ferdinand Adolf Heinrich August Graf von Zeppelin |
in the 1850s, in a small town in Germany, lived a young boy named Ferdinand Adolf Heinrich August Graf von Zeppelin. It was certainly a long name with a lot of gravitas. This boy went to America and during the American Civil War, he saw how the Union Army was using balloons in the army. His interest in balloons increased, and as he kept rising through the ranks in the army by 1874, this boy penned down the idea of an airship in his diary. By this point in time, balloons had become quite advanced. Engines were being installed on balloons so that they could be steered toward the desired direction. Some balloons used steam engines, and some used electric-powered engines.
In 1891, Zeppelin resigned from the army at the age of 52 and focused entirely on developing airships. The base idea was that there is only one gas bag in a balloon. But if we were to use multiple gas bags and somehow the whole structure could be made more rigid, then a big and sturdy aircraft could be built. Zeppelin worked with a team of engineers to refine his idea. An aluminium framework was made. In 1898, he received some investment with which he developed the first airship. It was called LZ-1. And friends, this is why we still call airships Zeppelins. Because the name of the man who invented them was Zeppelin. But, there are many problems and hurdles in the story after this. Zeppelins used to use hydrogen power. But in America, helium was used. The difference between the two gases is unsurmountable. Hydrogen gas can easily catch fire. But helium is an inert gas. It doesn't catch fire easily. The concept is the same. Both gases are light than air. They help the airship fly in the air. On 2nd July 1900, LZ-1 successfully completed its first flight. It stayed in the air for 20 minutes but suffered damages during the landing. Zeppelin started repairing it but due to a shortage of funds, he got his wife's assets mortgaged to gather more money. He then completed LZ-2 in 1905 But before it could fly, a control part broke off and so it never flew. It took another year to repair it. In 1906, he runs it through testing once again but another major flaw was revealed. Due to strong winds, the control of the airship was lost. He used the remaining parts to build LZ-3. He wanted to prove to the military that he could successfully build an aircraft. The military demanded that it needed to be durable for at least 24 hours. It would need to pass a durability test. But the airship failed. To pass this test, he made LZ-4. But one night, after a strong storm the LZ-4 was left completely destroyed.
This story is a very good example of this real-life quote.Try, try till you succeed. Those who never stop trying, never fail. Around the same time, in 1903, the famous Wright brothers completed their first successful flight in an aeroplane. Their story is quite historical in itself.
After so many attempts, Zeppelin finally started getting publicity. People started noticing how hard he was trying to build airships. He got more investments and he founded a company. He carried out improvements in LZ-3 and finally in 1908 test flights were conducted. Despite bad weather, these test flights were successful. LZ-3 was officially accepted by the government. And Zeppelin was highly celebrated. Over the next few years, Zeppelin made a lot of improvements but he die in 1917. After World War I ended in 1918 and the Treaty of Versailles was signed it held that Germany was not allowed to keep military aircraft any longer. Till now, these airships were being used only for military purposes. Here, Dr Hugo Eckener enters our story. After the death of Zeppelin,
he took over the company. And he was the first to realise that not only during military or war, Zeppelins could be used for commercial flights as well. After this, in 1924, LZ-126 takes its first flight. It was flown by none other than Hugo Eckener himself. A journey of more than 8000 km was completed in 80 hours. When this airship landed in America, people welcomed it with applause. Calling it an Angel of Peace. A machine which was, until then, used only for fighting, was being used for the public. Eckener developed the next model LZ-127 in 1928. But there weren't destined to last long. As I told you, the Nazi Party came into power in 1933, and Eckener was one of the people who openly criticised Hitler. Now, if we get back to the time after the Hindenburg disaster, after investigation ranging several decades, it was found that neither Hitler nor the Nazi Party played a role in the disaster. The biggest reason behind this accident, what is said to be the most probable theory is hydrogen leakage and explosion due to static electricity. Unfortunately, this disaster ruins the reputation of all the airships. People realize how easily hydrogen catches fire. Travelling in airships could be very dangerous. Although helium gas was also being used at the time. But the problem was that the supply of helium gas was majorly restricted to America. America had imposed a ban on the export of helium gas. By the 1940s, on one hand, the reputation of airships was declining. People were scared to travel in them. On the other hand, airplanes started improving. The speed, reliability and operating cost of passenger airplanes improved rapidly. In comparison to aeroplanes, the speed of airships was very slow. Around 100 km per hour Whereas, the airplanes were flying at 700 or 800 or 1,000 km per hour. It was difficult to get Helium gas and in bad weather, airships were more vulnerable. This is why people of our generation neither travelled in these airships nor saw them. It is very unfortunate because the experience of travelling in them was very different. Flying slowly at a low altitude, and with such big windows, what a view it must've been.
The good news is that in the coming years, these airships can be revived again. In 2017, a UK-based company, Hybrid Air Vehicles, ran a test flight for their giant airship, Airlander 10, known as the world's largest aircraft. Today, it is not so difficult to get helium gas, so it is much safer. Plus, due to climate change, the concern for carbon emissions is increasing. So, in comparison to aeroplanes, these airships release of the carbon emissions. Fuel costs are also reduced. And they fly almost silently without much noise. So, it is estimated by this company that after 2030, they will start commercial flights in their airships. How will it be? Only time can tell.
