LZ 129 Hindenburg
Also known as Luftschiff Zeppelin #129, D-LZ 129, Hindenburg, Hindenburg airship, the Hindenburg, German airship "Hindenburg", Hindenburg zeppelin
German airship
AI overview
The LZ 129 Hindenburg was a large German airship built in the 1930s that was filled with hydrogen gas to achieve flight. It became historically significant due to its catastrophic fire and explosion in 1937, which killed many people and effectively ended the era of passenger airship travel.
AI-generated from the Wikipedia summary — may contain errors.
Key facts
- Type
- Hindenburg -class airship
- National origin
- Germany
- Manufacturer
- Luftschiffbau Zeppelin GmbH
- Owners
- Deutsche Zeppelin Reederei
- Registration
- D-LZ129
- Radio code
- DEKKA
- Manufactured
- 1931–1936
- First flight
- March 4, 1936
- In service
- 1936–1937
- Last flight
- May 6, 1937
- Fate
- Destroyed in fire and crash ; remains later scrapped
via Wikipedia infobox
Wikidata facts
Article
LZ 129 Hindenburg (Luftschiff Zeppelin #129; registration: D-LZ 129) was a German commercial passenger-carrying rigid airship, the lead ship of its 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, Germany, and was operated by the German Zeppelin Airline Company (Deutsche Zeppelin-Reederei). It was named after Field Marshal Paul von Hindenburg, who was President of Germany from 1925 until his death in 1934.
The airship first flew from March 1936 as a Nazi propaganda vessel until it burst into flames 14 months later on May 6, 1937, while attempting to land at Lakehurst Naval Air Station in Manchester Township, New Jersey, at the end of the first North American transatlantic journey of its second season of service. This was the last of the great airship disasters; it was preceded by the crashes of the British R38, the US airship Roma, the French Dixmude, USS Shenandoah, the British R101, and USS Akron.