It was on this date in 1937 that the zeppelin Hindenburg exploded and crashed at the Naval Air Station Lakehurst, New Jersey. Thirteen of the 36 passengers and 22 of the 61 crew were killed, as well as one ground crew member.
Listen to a brief version of Herbert Morrison’s famous broadcast [RealPlayer].
Here’s The New York Times report on the disaster.
The Writer’s Almanac has some details about the Hindenburg and the crash, including this:
The Hindenburg was about as big as the Titanic. It traveled at eighty miles per hour, so the trip between Frankfurt, Germany, and Lakehurst, New Jersey, took two and a half days, half the time needed by the fastest ocean liner of the era. Passengers on the Hindenburg paid $400 for a one-way trip. They had sleeping compartments, sitting and dining areas, as well as a 200-foot promenade deck with a spectacular view of the ocean passing below. Passengers were free to roam about, to eat meals at a table on the best china, and to sample the best wines from France and Germany. The passengers could even dance to the music of a lightweight, aluminum grand piano, probably the only grand piano ever to provide entertainment for people in a flying machine.