Hindenburg at Lakehurst: what the investigation concluded

The catastrophe and its toll

The joint base’s historical account records 35 deaths among the 97 people aboard and one death on the ground. Keeping the ground fatality separate matters: the often-repeated total of 36 does not mean 36 passengers died. Crew members were among those aboard. Joint Base McGuire-Dix-Lakehurst historical account.

A finding with degrees of confidence

The U.S. Commerce Department report concluded that a mixture of escaped hydrogen and air ignited. It placed the suspected leak around gas cells 4 and 5 in the upper stern and regarded an electrical brush discharge as the most probable ignition source. That was the investigators’ assessment of the evidence, not an eyewitness observation of the initiating spark. U.S. Commerce Department Hindenburg accident report (1937).

The report’s conclusion separates the combustible mixture from the proposed means of ignition. Retelling it simply as an unexplained explosion discards a substantial contemporary finding. Retelling its favored electrical mechanism as an absolutely observed fact removes the qualification the investigators retained. U.S. Commerce Department Hindenburg accident report (1937).

Lakehurst after the flames

The National Park Service’s history explains why this field was available: Lakehurst became the Navy’s lighter-than-air headquarters in 1921, and its enormous Hangar No. 1 supported rigid-airship construction and operations. The Hindenburg disaster undermined confidence in giant passenger airships, but activity at the base did not end. National Park Service history of Hangar No. 1.

During the Second World War, non-rigid naval airships expanded in use. The field’s later history therefore complicates the familiar idea that one disaster ended all airship operations. A particular commercial technology lost its future while other forms of lighter-than-air work continued. National Park Service history of Hangar No. 1.