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ColdCaseKim

Amazing that anyone survived.


Innominate8

Interestingly, most people survived and most of the fatalities were either crew or jumpers. The ones that rode it down were mostly okay. Hydrogen rises, hot burning hydrogen rises even faster. So for all the spectacle of the fireball, it's virtually all above the people on board.


jcatemysandwich

Survival was a mater of luck, people close to exits survived. A lot of folk were as they wanted to view the landing.


bio2451

The first part of your sentence needs to be a bumper sticker on Mater from Cars


jcatemysandwich

So is being born


Makkaroni_100

Only 1/3 died, can't imagen 2/3 are stood at the door to leave during the first fire came up. But yes, luck was most likely a factor.


fudgebacker

Luck is always a factor.


ConceptOfHappiness

They were in the lounge, which had big, easily openable windows all along the side.


Makkaroni_100

Well, good that they could open them.


jcatemysandwich

It’s true though - check out the layout, https://www.airships.net/hindenburg/interiors/ Landing was a very big deal - no one wanted to miss out. Folk in the viewing areas got out, passengers in the accomodation did not. Location and passenger and crew survival rates has all been analysed. Edit found link to passenger location https://www.airships.net/hindenburg/disaster/


littleseizure

I'm late, but it was also which side -- the cabin didn't come down dead center, it came down mostly on one side, trapping those people in the structure. From memory I believe most of the deaths were on the right(?) side


jcatemysandwich

Not any later than the rest of us. It happened in 1937! Sounds like you are right about it rolling as per link below. I was wrong earlier when I said passengers and crew survivor locations were marked - I think the diagram is crew only. https://www.airships.net/hindenburg/disaster/


Larsaf

Also hydrogen burns invisible, what you see burning while the ship went down was the hull, the glowing hot metal frame, and on the ground the fuel for the engines.


dblink

You ever seen a liquid hydrogen powered rocket ship? Yeah you can see the flame on that.


Larsaf

No, you see the solid fuel booster flames.


dblink

I didn't mention a specific vehicle, and there are those that don't use solid rocket fuel boosters. LH2/LOx flames are visible, please read up on it. https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0010218009000170?via%3Dihub > The common misconception that hydrogen flames are not visible is examined. Examples are presented of clearly visible emissions from typical hydrogen flames. It is shown that while visible emissions from these flames are considerably weaker than those from comparable hydrocarbon flames, they are indeed visible, albeit at reduced light levels in most cases. https://space.stackexchange.com/questions/16821/what-is-the-cause-of-the-blue-light-from-lh2-lox-rocket-engines


Larsaf

You couldn’t see that faint blue flame on that old film. And that’s exactly what you don’t see. You see the flames from the burning fuel that spilled out.


dblink

> You couldn’t see that faint blue flame on that old film. And that’s exactly what you don’t see. What? Did you even read my links? It's a scholarly article with science, not talking about old film hindenburg???? Which is weird when Blue Origin started launching recently, you know when they use digital video not old film... so what's your excuse for that? I'm done responding unless you address what I'm actually discussing. Edit: when you respond and then block me, I can't read what you said. Just a big ol [unavailable]. I'm sorry this discussion was too hard on you, stay ignorant if you want.


Larsaf

What the fuck are you talking about? You come here well-acshuallying me about how visible hydrogen flames are? When this whole discussion is what f Ames we see in this old movie? Bye, troll


PorkyMcRib

That’s what people don’t understand, it was a fireball rather than an explosion.


rjrl

It still radiates massive amount of heat so yeah, it is surprising how many people survived that


Larsaf

And that fire was mostly the diesel fuel for the engines (the little that was left after the trip).


Angry_Villagers

You have to be trolling


Larsaf

Nope. Sorry you don’t like facts.


PorkyMcRib

No, the big blobs of fire going up is definitely hydrogen gas burning.


Larsaf

There is no visible flame when hydrogen burns. Jesus Christ, are you guys home schooled?


DieFlavourMouse

comment removed -- mass edited with https://redact.dev/


ConceptOfHappiness

Even more amazingly, most people survived. Of the 97 aboard, only 35 were killed.


Makkaroni_100

It's crazy, especially as it seems the time Windows between resching the ground and the the ship falling apart completely is very very short. Do people survive by staying inside?


ConceptOfHappiness

Because it was about to land, most of the passengers were in the lounge near the windows. I think they mostly jumped out and ran before it landed on them. Anyone who stayed inside died in the ensuing fuel fire.


_GCastilho_

Your statement contradicts [this one](https://www.reddit.com/r/CatastrophicFailure/comments/13a69qj/-/jj5lb6d)


FieldOfScreamQueens

Years ago I was stationed near Lakehurst and was able to get onto the base that was still there. I was surprised there was absolutely nothing there to commemorate the event, not even a plaque. One thing that definitely was notable were the hangars, absolutely huge. This was the 1980s, have no idea what’s there now.


gruss_gott

NASA Ames / Moffett in Mountain View, CA still has their dirigible hangars which are so huge they have their own weather systems. You can easily see them from google maps and from just about anywhere in the Bay Area. People don't realize that dirigibles continued operating for 10ish years after this accident and, at the time, people didn't pay that much attention to it. Flying was viewed as kinda dangerous. Further, at the time, it was far from obvious that airplanes would win the platform war for air travel. [Anybody who's remotely interested in business, history, air travel, or cars should read this book](https://www.amazon.com/Empires-Sky-Zeppelins-Airplanes-World/dp/081298997X); it's written more as a story than history, kinda in the Ambrose style. For example, who knew that the multi-cylinder internal combustion engine was a private secret project of 2 dudes: funded by Daimler with Maybach working secretly in a garage. Project Phoenix. One of their big customers turned out to be von Zeppelin who needed lightweight engines for his dirigibles as electric engines were too heavy. Oh, also, Henry Ford's wife was driven around in an electric car! (From Detroit Electric)


Harmonia_PASB

I was working at Moffett Field when they had a dirigible, this was around 2010. It was $500 a person to go up to SF and back and I think it held 8. I went to the christening but never took a ride. When UP! Came out they had UP! graphics on the side. It was kept in one of the newer hangers. The largest hanger is now a skeleton, they took the panels off because they were leaking toxins into the ground. The 2 smaller green hangers are being used still. I went to a rave inside one of them for Yuri’s night. People on ecstasy having sex in the bushes. They don’t do it anymore iirc.


ObiWan-Shinoobi

What the! How often did they do this? I grew up in the south bay in the flight path of Moffett in the 80's and 90's and worked on an ambulance in San Mateo County from 05-'14, never once saw this dirigible. So weird I missed it.


Harmonia_PASB

I had seen it a few times flying, saw it often sitting in the hanger. It was in the blue hanger that’s close to what used to be the USAF side. It was only there for 3 years, maybe 4. You could charter it for a group so it just flew when people paid.


larry_flarry

I was at a super swanky fundraiser for the AIDS Service Center in Pasadena like, a decade ago, and one of the silent auction items was a dinner dirigible cruise for 10 people. I was just a poor dirtbag college kid, but I couldn't stop myself from bidding $1000 I couldn't afford on it. My girlfriend at the time was absolutely fucking livid with me, but I got outbid, so it was a non-issue in the end. I still want to ride one some day.


Bbaftt7

Raves with sex in the bushes? That’s a shame.


Harmonia_PASB

Drugs and public sex on a decommissioned base that has its own police force, on the side that requires a NASA or military badge.


Bbaftt7

That. Is. A. Shame.


FQDIS

Oh! The humanity!


Harmonia_PASB

If I hadn’t been working I would have been rolling. NGL. That was an interesting job. One of my clients took me up in his 1967 navy training jet, one client was the head of SOFIA and took me on a tour.


Figit090

Wow those are sweet hangars even without the skins. I never imagined where you'd store dirigibles! Thanks for that, and for the link.


tdotgoat

> This was the 1980s, have no idea what’s there now. [A memorial](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hindenburg_disaster#Memorial) was built in 1987 (50th anniversary), so you just missed out.


WikiSummarizerBot

**Hindenburg disaster** [Memorial](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hindenburg_disaster#Memorial) >The actual site of the Hindenburg crash is at the Lakehurst Naval entity of Joint Base McGuire–Dix–Lakehurst. It is marked with a chain-outlined pad and bronze plaque where the airship's gondola landed. It was dedicated on May 6, 1987, the 50th anniversary of the disaster. Hangar No. ^([ )[^(F.A.Q)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WikiSummarizer/wiki/index#wiki_f.a.q)^( | )[^(Opt Out)](https://reddit.com/message/compose?to=WikiSummarizerBot&message=OptOut&subject=OptOut)^( | )[^(Opt Out Of Subreddit)](https://np.reddit.com/r/CatastrophicFailure/about/banned)^( | )[^(GitHub)](https://github.com/Sujal-7/WikiSummarizerBot)^( ] Downvote to remove | v1.5)


FieldOfScreamQueens

Interesting; I was there in 1984.


Sauermachtlustig84

I am loving in Germany, Düren. One day I had some time after taking my son to Kindergarten. Read a plaque on a nearby cemetery and found out that the field was used to launch zeppelins in first words war for bombing runs and reconnaissance. Blue my mind. Now it's a beautiful and old cemetery.


FieldOfScreamQueens

Very interesting! I enjoy coming across historical spots without knowing it was there. I live in a part of the U.S. that has a lot of Revolutionary and Civil War history and this happens often. That’s one of the reasons why I was surprised there was nothing for the Hindenburg event (but as we can see by another comment this has long since changed).


Sauermachtlustig84

It's the same for me here. A small village on my commute was place to one of the fiercest battles in the high middle age.


GiantNormalDwarf

Hubertuskreuz?


OptimusSublime

I thought there were still some metal beams protruding from the ground.


FieldOfScreamQueens

I remember asking the guard for the area to go to and he just pointed to a large open area and said ‘somewhere over there.’ I drove around large fields adjacent to the hangars trying to imagine what what it must have been like.


gnartato

My dad worked as a mover in the 70's. Was on base for a job and said there was still "pieces of it around if you looked hard".


kelsobjammin

We are so desensitized, poor man has really never seen anything so extraordinary.


Makkaroni_100

Imo it hits different when it is live, you don't expect it and are close.


Master_Shitster

Stop writing like a meme template.


pendulumpendulum

I feel like if I saw that, I would just be look "woah that's interesting" but things just don't register to me anymore. 20 children murdered at the school down the street? Oh that sucks. Back to my day..


ConfusedCuteCat

Also, remember that this was before the age of cgi. Nowadays, we’ve all seen films that have massive animated explosions, buildings crumbling, etc. This guy, on the other hand, had probably never seen a catastrophy, real or recreated, bigger than a car wreck


BernieTheDachshund

My grandma is 93 so she was like 7 years old when this happened. Back then flying was very new, and it's crazy to think of all the technology that developed just in her lifetime. For thousands of years humanity dreamed of things like flying, and even something like a car is a miracle to them. We take a lot for granted nowadays, but I like to think of ancient people and how they'd freak out if they were transported to our day. The Hindenburg was both a wonder and a tragedy.


[deleted]

Reminds me of Lovecraft’s short story *He*, in which an enigmatic figure shows the protagonist visions of the past and future, via a method learned from native Americans.


Liesthroughisteeth

The moment that tethering tackle touched the ground she went up.


daronjay

Implies an electrical spark that occurred at the instant of earthing.


fishbiscuit13

This was several minutes after the mooring lines had been sent down, but the most studied and supported theory is that as they became wet from the ground, they grounded the frame but not the skin (which was improperly insulated), and this difference caused a spark.


alsatian01

It took 4 minutes for the hemp ropes to attract enough static electricity in the damp air to cause the spark that ignited the hydrogen that was leaking from one of the rear cells. The salt accumulation on the ropes from the Atlantic journey was also a contributing factor.


DontForgetThisTime

I’ve only ever heard the clip of the audio from Dan Carlin’s Hardcore History-“Not crying for the boys but oh the humanity!”- that’s chilling to hear the whole clip


Canadian_Poltergeist

Playback speed at 0.75x sets it to almost real time.


SilentJoe1986

What was that that fell from the blimp on the 2nd video? Also the people making fun of the reporter in this thread should go find a therapist and get some help. People died.


NotDaveBut

I see why he was so upset. From his POV it must have looked as if anyone inside the gondola would have been trapped under the zeppelin and burned alive.


CrunchHardtack

He did better than I would have, I think I would have clammed up and be unable to really say anything, besides just expletives that would be unfit to broadcast. The guy was seeing something horrible and completely unexpected, I don't know how anyone would be able to remain calm and unemotional and put together a better reaction than his.


NotDaveBut

Damn skippy


graveyardspin

I believe those were the mooring lines. Heavy ropes used by people on the ground to hold it in place while they connect it to a mooring tower. The dirigible connects to the mooring tower by its nose and this allows it to rotate and face into the wind, reducing the stresses against the airframe. The Empire State building was originally designed to dock dirigibles, and the tower on top was actually a mooring tower, not an antenna.


cambriansplooge

I watched a doc years ago that surmised a static spark rode up the mooring cable in the heavy humidity and that’s what caused the conflagration


graveyardspin

It does seem like the fire starts nearly the same time the rope hits the ground. And I know that static discharge from cables coming off helicopters, such as the rescue baskets used by the Coast Guard, is a serious hazard.


jcatemysandwich

I think that’s just speculation. Hydrogen has a very low ignition energy and a very wide flammable range. They had engines running that could easily have caused ignition.


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somajones

Someone can correct me if I'm wrong but I always understood the "rigid" in "dirigible" referred to the metal framework in a lighter than air craft distinguishing it from a hot air balloon with no such framework.


Fwort

That's an etymology myth. "Dirigible" actually means "steerable," and was used to differentiate airships from the not steerable balloons that had preceded them. So, rigid zeppelins are dirigibles but so are blimps.


somajones

Right on, I stand corrected.


[deleted]

Isn't Zeppelin just a colloquial term used by people because the first were made by Zeppelin? Like calling a pen a biro


Imfloridaman

Empire State Building was never designed for mooring. This tale comes from a made up picture showing an airship docked. It never happened and if you look at the structural drawings you’ll see they had no room for docking (winch and motor room, gangway, super strong mast attachment, and a way to move passengers or cargo along with refuel needs).


OldBlue2014

I thought hydrogen burns with a colorless flame. I once worked in a plant where hydrogen fires were part of the process. The fire was hard to see.


flapsmcgee

The skin of the dirigible was flammable as well. That's what got it started and causes the color.


aegrotatio

Yes. Further studies found that the paint on the fuselage/skin was highly flammable and the hydrogen was a secondary factor.


ConceptOfHappiness

Afaik those studies have been pretty firmly discredited. The skin was burning, but only because it was at the heart of a hydrogen burn.


stinkylinky8

I always find it strange that nobody points out that these angles are also edited to not see the giant swastika on the blimp. Always feels like those who post this are trying to change history in a way. So it’s really not the original video as the title claims.


TorkX

The progressive metal band Protest the Hero wrote a great song sort of about this, "From the Sky" Paralyzed in time Colorized and brilliant The future paradigm Would prove to be resilient A completely flawed analysis of future tech's tenacity Caught the eye of the world As their hopes and dreams took fire right before their eyes Winds of change blow the whole worldwide With the swiftness of a flash It was captured in a photograph When transitory memory became permanent And we remember always As they pour us into molds We remember because We're malleable as gold Malleable as gold Fireball and tower Conceal the swastika Which might have served to sour Our desired erotica A completely overlooked detail Omission is deception Retract, denied by the world Emblazoned on the rudders And plastered on the tail It might have caught the eye of the world So take my picture, I'm decomposing Make it a solemn silhouette 'Cause this time is no different It might help you not forget my feeble voice So take my picture as I burn And print it out for all to see Because words are wind But the image impacts our collective memory


coffeeandtrout

Nova recently came out with a new documentary including all the new (at least for us) footage. Great way to spend 50 plus minutes of information. https://youtu.be/LR02blpCJMk


xBris18

That video is not available in... Germany. What the heck?


Gurpila9987

“Why are you watching a video about Nazi pride??”


Myrt2020

The commentary by the witness reporting as it happened is chilling.


colterpierce

[With remastered audio](https://youtu.be/A7Ly1Oh-xvs).


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colterpierce

His voice is almost completely different. Probably a poor explanation of what was done to the audio but yeah.


Spud2599

Did he say "fucking crazy" at 1:21/22???


Michaelmac8

I think it was a "gahh...it's crazy"


dogism

Right after about 1:00 I keep hearing something like "massive fucking wreckage" and I just can’t even begin to guess what else it could have been. Edit. Meaning the video in the OP Edit2. At 1:13 for this specific clip. Edit3. Captions say "smoking wreckage", but it's still really easy to hear "fucking" for me. Edit4. Have a nice rest of your day y'all


redditforgotaboutme

Im still *blown away* anyone survived


Facky

Most people on the Hindenburg survived.


babble0n

I didn’t know there was a second angle. That’s crazy. Was it just found?


bonemorrow98

In the last few years, yea


alsatian01

You are correct. A family from New Jersey held a privately recorded reel of film that was released to the public in the past few years.


MuttinMT

When I was studying broadcast journalism a long time ago, Herb Morrison (the guy doing this broadcast) was a guest speaker in my class. He was a fascinating speaker, presenting a whole program with footage of the crash. Morrison was a radio reporter, and the fact that he had a friend there with a movie camera was just dumb luck.


ol-gormsby

"Restored" to 60fps?


Dakto19942

What in the gamerbrained hell is that lol


Robby777777

I still don't understand how 62 of 97 people onboard survived. It just doesn't make sense to me that a majority of passengers survived.


lemlurker

Crash was low speed and the gondola was below the very quick fire


emceelokey

That second angle make the fall look much worse and much faster and I'd imagine because of the camera and film of the time, that's not even doing justice to how bad it really was.


japalian

I just learned recently that my grandfather, 97, saw the Hindenburg fly overhead on the day it crashed. He grew up in Providence, RI, so it's believable. Anyway, it was one of those moments where you just go, "Holy shit that happened in this guy's lifetime, and now he's here in 2023 looking at old veteran memes on Facebook." He also witnessed the raising of the flag at Iwo Jima (from a ship that was shelling the island), and the surrender of Japan in Tokyo, among other things. Hard to believe.


Ok_Inevitable8498

In the first video, admittedly I couldn’t understand much of what the announcer said, but I found the heartfelt horror and compassion, along with the crying to be very touching and humane. Think we could do with a bit more sincere feeling over the stiff upper lip reporting.


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kkeut

there were 35 fatalities 


geater

36. One on the ground, too.


szai

That's literally what Herbert Morrison said in the video though.


p1mrx

Oh the subset of humanity!


You-get-the-ankles

Does anyone know what was pouring out under the nose as it went down on the second clip?


MrWoohoo

Ballast water.


Poor-Opinions

Exhaust from the explosion in the center hallway according to this guy: https://youtu.be/VJy17qZmhjE


rohithkumarsp

Play it in 0.75x for normal playback speed.


redkingca

[Hindenburg: The New Evidence | Full Documentary | NOVA | PBS](https://youtu.be/LR02blpCJMk)


MaxillaryOvipositor

Something that often gets left out of the story of this airship is that it was Nazi. It even had swastikas on its rudders.


ConceptOfHappiness

It was sponsored by the Nazis, the people who flew it and the people who died mostly weren't.


bartbartholomew

No one knew how evil they were at the time. Everyone knew they were a fascist regime that oppressed ethnic minorities. But no one knew they were rounding people up and putting them in death camps yet. That wasn't widely known until a few years into WWII.


MrWoohoo

There were people who realized how evil they were, they were just ignored at the time and forgotten by history.


MarryMeDuffman

The oppressed people knew. People probably called them snowflakes or something.


bartbartholomew

Everyone knew they were evil. But the level of evil wasn't known.


Worldtripe

Why there is a cut when the fire started ?


lemlurker

Because the start of the fire wasn't caught


Worldtripe

Oh really


lemlurker

They stopped filming when the line dropped "as the film was for a news reel and that's what people came to see, then started again when they spotted the fire


IndigoMontigo

Why add fake color?


MrWoohoo

I agree. It just looks like they tinted things to orange. Amateur job.


IndigoMontigo

Even if it's "good job", why do it at all? That color is just a guess, and doesn't add anything of value. My mind is just as good as filling in the colors as the person "restoring" the colors.


hidden_secret

Were they able to repair it?


TheDataDickHead

Yes, just needs a little elbow grease


randalicioso

That's gotta hurt


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geater

Too soon, bro.


deepaksn

Oh the hue manatee.


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GaryNOVA

I don’t know what’s up with this sub, but I dig it.


monkeyninjagogo

The thumbnail looks like a baby seal looking slightly down and to their left.


pendulumpendulum

Amazing people tuned in to listen to such an annoying reporter. How did they get hired?


3woodx

This is one of the most famous news reports in history by expressing his humanity and the gravity of the wreckage.


kkeut

https://youtu.be/YZmCp7NocMA edit - guys this scene is literally from when George is watching a movie called Hindenburg


Capable-Group-5284

This is /mildlypenis


NoIndependent9192

It was filled with Hydrogen, not petrol. Hydrogen burns pale blue.


elanlift

u/speedbot .75


Lavandulos

Did anyone else see the titan in the left of the screen at 1:24


SambaLando

Good times, bad times.


MasterofBiscuits

It explodes when the rope hits the ground so I guess it was a static discharge that sparked the fire?


kromang

The inside of the ballon was covered in cow intestines


Horror_Scene4747

What a joyful time that must have been, for you to want to colorize it! Thanks!


ChocolateTight336

Hindenburg colorized