LZ 129 Hindenburg in Frankfurt

Am Abend des 6.Mai 1937 berichtete der Radioreporter Herbert Morrison für den Chicagoer Sender WLS von der geplanten Landung des aus Frankfurt kommenden Luftschiffs LZ 129 "Hindenburg" in Lakehurst, während der Übertragung explodierte der Zeppelin -hier die Reportage (Real Audio): http://www.otr.com/ra/hinden.ram

als Text:

...in the rain, and if that is the case we're going to have a mighty fine description of you because... of it for you because the men will have difficulty keeping footing in the sand, and especially since it's wet. Now the structure is light and yet so strong in the Hindenburg. From the ground as the ship passes we can see the passenger quarters; they're located just about a third of the distance back of the nose and just about a third of the distance from the keel. They're sort of square in shape and seem to have spanned the entire width of the ship. There's two decks, A and B, A being the main one, and the one where most of the passengers assembled during the passing. Lining the sides of the deck are the observation windows. Now they're slanted, so that uh, it would give anyone in the interior a fine view downward. And no doubt as the ship went over another time where people were looking down at the great mass of humanity assembled here on the field. A thousand people have come out to witness the landing of this great airship.

Now there's a long wide counter inside the observation section of the ship, and you can look down for the ground below leaning on a table, and below the table you see a relief map of the various air routes of the world, so as you travel along in the Hindenburg, you can watch the progress shown up on this map.

Deck A is the upper of the two decks, and to get to deck B it's necessary for you to walk through a foyer, and down a pair of stairs. There you find what is really a combined smoking room and lounge. Passenger always thrills when Captain Max Bluth or Captain Ernst Lehmann will take you a trip through the giant airship.

So it's many sections, up and down along the aluminum alloy girder over the catwalks which lead from one area to another, and then you see a maze of bright metal girders everywhere. And after a walk through the ship you're ready to rest for you've covered a great amount of space and you realize you have travelled a great distance.

Now they're coming in to make a landing of the Zeppelin. I'm going to step out here and cover from the outside, so as I move out would you stand by for a second.

Well here it comes, ladies and gentlemen, we're out now, outside of the hangar, and what a great sight it is, a truly one, it's a marvellous sight. It's coming down out of the sky pointed directly towards us and toward the mooring mast. The mighty diesel motors just roared, the propellers biting into the air and throwing it back into a gale-like whirlpool. No wonder this great floating palace can travel through the air at such a speed with these powerful motors behind it.

The sun is striking the windows of the observation deck, on the eastward side, and flashing like glittering jewels on a background of black velvet. And every now and then the propellers are caught in the rays of the sun their highly polished surfaces reflect surfaces of gold. The field that we thought active when we first arrived has turned into a moving mass of cooperative action. The landing crews have rushed to their posts and spots, and orders are being passed along, and last-minute preparations are being completed, for the moment we have waited for so long.

The ship is ridin' majestically toward us, like some great feather. Riding as though it is mighty good -mighty proud of the place its claimed in the world's aviation. The ship is no doubt bustling with activity, frequency, orders are being shouted to the crew, the passengers are probably lining the windows looking down and ahead of them, getting a glimpse of the mooring mast.

And these fine flagships standing here, the American Airlines flagships awaiting directions to all points in the United States when they get the ship moored. There are a number of important persons that's on board, and no doubt the new commander, captain Max Bluth is thrilled too for this is his great moment, the first time he's commanded the Hindenburg, on previous flights he was chief officer under Captain Lehmann.

It's practically standing still now, they've dropped ropes out of the nose of the ship, and its been taken ahold of down on the field by a number of men. It's starting to rain again, the rain had slacked up a little bit, the back motors of the ship are just holding it just enough to keep it from - It burst into flame! It burst into flame and it's falling, it's fire, watch it, watch it, get out of the way, get out of the way, get this Charley, get this Charley, it's fire and it's rising, it's rising terrible, oh my god what do I see? it's burning-bursting into flame, and it's falling on the mooring mast and all of the folks agree that this is terrible, this is one of the worst catastrophes in the world, ohh the flames are rising, oh, four or five hundred feet into the sky. It's a terrific crash ladies and gentlemen, the smoke and it's flames now and the frame is crashing to the ground, not quite to the mooring mast, all the humanity, and all the passengers. Screaming around me, I'm so -I can't even talk, the people, it's not fair, it's -it's -oh! I can't talk, ladies and gentleman, honest, it's a flaming mass of smoking wreckage, and everybody can hardly breathe... I'm concentrating. lady, I'm sorry, honestly, I can hardly breathe, I'm going to step inside where I cannot see it. Charley that's terrible. I, I can't... listen folks I'm going to have to stop for a minute, just because I've lost my voice, this is the worst thing I've ever witnessed . . .

Ladies and gentlemen I'm back again, I've sort of recovered from the terrific explosion, and the terrific crash that occurred just as it was being pulled down to the mooring mast it's still smoking and flaming and crashing and banging down there, and I don't know how many of the ground crew were under it when it fell, and there's not a possible chance for anyone to be saved. The relatives of the people who are waiting here ready to welcome their loved ones as they came off that great ship... oh . . . are broken up . . . They're carrying them in to give them first aid and to restore them. Some of them have fainted and the people are rushing down to the uh, burning ship the uh, ???partide have all have gone down to see if they can extinguish any of the blaze whatsoever but the terrible amount of hydrogen gas in it just caused the tail surface broke into flame first, then there was a terrific explosion, and that followed by the burning of the nose and the crashing nose into the ground, and everybody carrying back at breakneck speed to get out from underneath it because it was over the people at the time it burst into flame.

Now whether it fell on the people who were witnessing it, we do not know, but as it exploded they rushed back and now it's smoking, a terrific black smoke flooding up into the sky, the flames are still leaping maybe thirty, forty feet from the ground, the entire eight hundred and eleven feet length of it. They're frantically calling for ambulances and things, the wires are being, humming with activity, and I've lost my breath several times during this exciting moment here.

Will you pardon me just a moment? I'm not going to stop talking, I'm just going to swallow several times until I can keep on.

I should imagine that the nose is not more than five hundred feet, or maybe seven hundred feet from the mooring mast. It had dropped two ropes, and whether or not some spark or something set it on fire we don't know, or whether something pulled loose on the inside the ship, causing a spark and causing it to explode in the tail surface. But everything crashed to the ground...