The Hindenburg was a 245-metre- (804-foot-) long airship of conventional zeppelin design that was launched at Friedrichshafen, Germany, in March 1936. It had a
maximum speed of 135 km (84 miles) per hour and a cruising speed of 126 km (78 miles) per hour
.
How long did it take the Hindenburg to fly to America?
By 1936 – the year Hindenburg first flew – Cunard’s RMS Queen Mary sped at 30 knots, but it still took
about five days
to transport goods and passengers from Europe to America.
Why did the Hindenburg burn so quickly?
The airship was designed to be filled with helium gas but because of U.S. export restriction on helium, it was filled with hydrogen. Hydrogen is extremely flammable, and the official cause of the fire was
due to a “discharge of atmospheric electricity” near a gas leak on the ship’s surface
, according to History.com.
Did any passengers on the Hindenburg survive?
Anyone who has seen the graphic newsreel video of the Hindenburg plunging to earth in flames may be amazed to know that of the 97 passengers and crew on board,
62 survived
. The disaster’s 36 deaths included 13 passengers, 22 crewmembers and one worker on the ground.
How much did a ticket on the Hindenburg cost?
“Bert” Dolan wrote to his wife about his journey on the new airship, the Hindenburg. He had purchased his ticket for the trip on May 1, 1937, two days before setting off from Frankfurt, Germany. It cost him
1,000 RM
, equivalent to about $450 during the Great Depression, according to the National Postal Museum.
Did the Hindenburg have sleeping quarters?
Crew Areas and Keel
Other than the control car, the crew and work areas aboard Hindenburg were primarily located along the keel, including
officer and crew sleeping quarters
, the…
How was the Hindenburg able to float in the air?
Sixteen gas cells made from gelatinized cotton kept the Hindenburg aloft
. These cells were designed to be filled with helium, which was known to be safer than hydrogen because it is non-flammable. However, the Germans could not obtain helium.
How tall was Hindenburg?
In 1936, the Zeppelin Company, with the financial aid of Nazi Germany, built the Hindenburg (the LZ 129), the largest airship ever made. Named after the late German president, Paul von Hindenburg, the Hindenburg stretched 804-feet-long and was
135-feet-tall at its widest point
.
How long did it take for the Hindenburg to burn?
The hydrogen in the Hindenburg burned out within about
90 seconds
.
How many survivors of the Hindenburg are still alive?
As of August, 2009, the only survivors of the Hindenburg disaster who are still alive are
passenger Werner Doehner (age 8 at the time of the crash) and cabin boy Werner Franz (age 14)
.
How much fuel did the Hindenburg carry?
It held
200,000 cubic metres (7,062,000 cu ft) of gas in 16 bags
or cells with a useful lift of approximately 232 t (511,000 lb).
What gas is used today Hindenburg?
LZ-129 Hindenburg was designed to operate with
helium
and could have conducted transatlantic operations to North America, although with a much smaller payload, with helium as a lifting gas, and the U.S. Navy’s rigid airships were also able to fulfill their missions inflated with helium; U.S.S. Akron and U.S.S.
Was there a dog on the Hindenburg?
Two dogs were aboard the Hindenburg during its infamous flight from Germany to New Jersey in 1937
. One dog was named Ulla.
Did the captain of the Hindenburg survive?
Captain Pruss aboard Hindenburg
Max Pruss was in command of Hindenburg when it was destroyed by fire at Lakehurst, New Jersey on May 6, 1937.
He survived the crash
, but suffered very serious burns on much of his body, including his face, and remained in a New York hospital for many months.
Did a dog survive the Hindenburg crash?
In real life, Joseph Spah’s German Shepherd, Ulla, was on the Hindenburg during its final flight.
Ulla did not survive
. Like Reed Channing in the movie, Spah regularly visited his dog in the hull, against company regulations.
Did the Hindenburg fly over Philadelphia?
Commanded by Captain Ernst Lehmann,
the Hindenburg flew on August 8, 1936, for almost one full hour over Philadelphia
, floating low in altitude over City Hall, William Penn’s statue, the Philadelphia Museum of Art, and the dome of the Philadelphia Inquirer building.
Why did they use hydrogen in the Hindenburg?
At that time,
the US government controlled the only significant supplies of helium (a non-flammable lifting gas), and refused to supply it to the Nazi government
. So the Hindenburg had to use flammable hydrogen.
How did the Hindenburg survivors survive?
Survival and Death
Passengers and crew members began jumping out the promenade windows to escape the burning ship, and
most of the passengers and all of the crew who were in the public rooms on A Deck at the time of the fire — close to the promenade windows — did survive.
Could you smoke on the Hindenburg?
The real danger of allowing smoking on a hydrogen airship — and the reason it was strictly confined to the closely monitored smoking room — was the risk of a fire
; had even the smallest fire started in the passenger section, it could easily have spread to the gas cells above, destroying the ship.
How did they cook on the Hindenburg?
The galley of the ship was
fully electric, from stoves to ovens
. A head chef had a team of five assistants to help with all the duties of serving three meals a day to a hungry crew of 60 along with the 40 or so passengers.
Hindenburg Menu
Each lavish lunch and dinner had a specially printed menu. The XIth Olympic Games Berlin, 1936, flight luncheon featured
clam soup, beef in Madeira sauce, cauliflower, peas, potatoes, and salad
. Diners then enjoyed an ice cream bombe, hot chocolate, coffee or tea, and cake.
What was the fatal flaw of the Hindenburg?
Bain, who retired in 1994 as NASA’s hydrogen program manager, set out to debunk the long-accepted conclusion that hydrogen proved the Hindenburg’s fatal flaw, that
it leaked and was ignited by an electrostatic discharge
.
Why do blimps use helium instead of hydrogen?
Helium is extensively used for filling balloons as
it is a much safer gas than hydrogen
. The hydrogen used to inflate dirigibles and observation balloons being highly inflammable and explosive, the balloons were easy to destroy with bullets.
How heavy was Hindenburg?
With a length of 803.8 feet, a diameter of 135.1 feet (7,063,000 cubic feet of hydrogen gas volume), and weighing approximately
242 tons
, the Hindenburg required massive engine power to ply the sky.
Is the Hindenburg bigger than the Titanic?
Titanic was a little more than 882 feet in length, with a beam of 92.5 feet, and could carry approximately 2,500 passengers.
Hindenburg was roughly the same size
— the ship was approximately 808 feet in length, with a diameter of 135 feet — but had berths for only 72 passengers.
How fast do zeppelins fly?
Top speed of these Zeppelins:
73 mph
, increasing their range and allowing them to take part in more events. Lussier instructed me on how to turn the blimp left and right with pedals on the floor. The cockpit aboard the Zeppelin includes a joystick that will more easily allow the pilot to turn and to point up or down.
Was the Graf Zeppelin bigger than the Hindenburg?
6,850,000 cubic feet, so was larger than R. 101 and the Graf Zeppelin.
The Hindenburg was larger than all of these ships
, but was not built until 1938.
