The LZ 129 Hindenburg was the largest airship ever made. Its size was massive, just 78-feet shorter than the Titanic and four times larger than the Good Year Blimp. It was a luxury to fly in the ship, and on May 3, 1937, ninety seven people got the chance to fly from Germany to the United States in the ship. It would be the last flight for the Hindenburg when in mere seconds it went down in a wild display of fire in Lakehurst, New Jersey, as it tried to land. Thirty six people died in the disaster, which is still a topic of conversation today.

The crash was caught on video and is typically heard with the historic commentary by Herbert Morrison, who at one point refers to it as “one of the worst catastrophes of the world.” You hear the disbelief and sadness in his voice as he tries to continue reporting what he’s seeing, yet can’t find the words to express the horror that he’s witnessed.

Since the disaster, numerous studies have been done to determine what caused the crash that day, with new shows cropping up on television that examine the footage and try to figure out what went wrong. Many theories have come out of these studies, including sabotage, lightning, a static spark, engine failure, a puncture, and a fuel leak among them, though it would seem the only certainty is that it was not the zeppelin’s fabric covering.

One thing is for certain: The fact that only thirty six perished in this disaster is amazing. To watch the footage, it would seem that nobody could get out of it alive.

See footage from that day in stabilized HD:

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