Environmental Engineering Reference
In-Depth Information
u
The Hindenburg
Disaster
The Hindenburg was a German airship—a craft with a rigid
(stiff) frame. Inside was a large balloon fi lled with hydrogen gas,
which caused the ship to lift up. Airships with balloons fi lled
with hydrogen fi rst fl ew in the 1850s, and they had become
relatively common by the 1930s. In 1937, however, disaster
struck during a fl ight of the Hindenburg, which was the world's
largest airship. The airship burst into fl ames and exploded while
landing in Lakehurst, New Jersey, killing 36 people. It was long
thought that the hydrogen gas in the balloon had caught on fi re.
Recently, though, some scientists have said that a spark from
lightning may have caused the airship's covering to catch on
fi re, so hydrogen was not responsible for the explosion.
The
Hindenburg
,
traveling from
Germany to New
Jersey, burst
into fl ames and
exploded as it
neared its
landing i eld.
