Disasters | Hindenburg - Titanic of the Skies (1937)
Docudrama exploring the background and build-up to this final flight to disaster. Using dramatic reconstruction, archive footage and exclusive interviews with leading historians and engineering experts, the special delves into the political and scientific
1937-05-06 07:25:00 - Naked Science
LZ 129 Hindenburg was a large German commercial passenger-carrying rigid airship, the lead ship of the Hindenburg class, the longest class of flying machine and the largest airship by envelope volume.
It was designed and built by the Zeppelin Company (Luftschiffbau Zeppelin GmbH) on the shores of Lake Constance in Friedrichshafen and was operated by the German Zeppelin Airline Company (Deutsche Zeppelin-Reederei).
The Hindenburg disaster took place on 6th May 1937 as the airship caught fire and was destroyed during its attempt to dock with its mooring mast at the Lakehurst Naval Air Station, located adjacent to the borough of Lakehurst, New Jersey.
The disaster was the subject of spectacular newsreel coverage, photographs, and Herbert Morrison's recorded radio eyewitness reports from the landing field, which were broadcast the next day.
A variety of hypotheses have been put forward for both the cause of ignition and the initial fuel for the ensuing fire. The incident shattered public confidence in the giant, passenger-carrying rigid airship and marked the end of the airship era.
This British film is narrated by Malcolm Tierney who plays the role of Dr Hugo Eckener, the most successful airship commander in history. It provides a re-enactment of the Hindenburg Disaster using a detailed computer animated model, and then focuses on the official investigation that followed the disaster.
“Hindenburg: The Untold Story” is known in Germany as “Das Geheimnis der Hindenburg” (The Secret of the Hindenburg) and “Die Hindenburg: