The actual death toll was small. When the German Zeppelin Hindenburg exploded into flames on the evening May 6, 1937, 36 of the hindenburg’s crew and passengers were killed. The Hindenburg was the pride of the german air fleet, the largest of aircraft ever built. It was run buy hydrogen and blue gas, while most of the airships had swicthed to helium, which was non flammable. 100 passengers could ride aboard the airship in 25 luxury rooms.

The airship was capable of traveling at speeds of 84 miles per hour. In the first year of service, 1936, it had already made 10 transatlantic crossings when it made way to lakehurst. The hindenburg dropped it’s mooring lines at 7 p.m. to the waiting crewmen below, but it had to much momentum and floated past the mooring station. Its nose dipped and rose to the air as it’s tail began to fall and burst into flames. The passengers took a moment to realize that the ship had burst into flames. Out of 97 crew and passengers, only 36 died. That was the end of the “lighter-than-air-ships” age.