This Day in <br />History: The <br />Hindenburg Disaster May 6, 1937 36 passengers and crew <br />members were killed when <br />the Hindenburg exploded as it touched <br />its mooring mast in Lakehurst, NJ. The luxury passenger zeppelin <br />had left Frankfurt, Germany, <br />three days earlier. Constructed in Nazi Germany, <br />the 804 foot-long Hindenburg <br />was the largest dirigible ever built. The zeppelin was lifted <br />by the highly flammable <br />gas, hydrogen. It is thought the cause <br />of the explosion was a spark <br />that ignited the dirigible's hydrogen core. Radio announcer <br />Herb Morrison witnessed <br />the disaster live, famously <br />declaring, "Oh the humanity!" His commentary became <br />part of America's first <br />coast-to-coast radio news broadcast. Passenger travel by <br />zeppelin never recovered <br />after the disaster.
