Imagine something the size of an ocean liner, that floats in the sky.
With amenities like piano lounges, dining rooms and private staterooms, they were a
luxurious way to travel the world.
80 years ago, we had airships.
Cruising 200 meters above the ground, they flew so smoothly, you could stand a pencil
on its end without it falling over.
And plans were being drawn up for even bigger, more luxurious airships. Until this happened.
The whole world watched in horror as one burned to the ground in front rolling cameras.
And giant airships, well, they seemingly disappeared overnight.
First taking flight in 1936, the Hindenburg was, and still is, the largest object to ever fly.
And it’s scale is simply awe inspiring.
Here’s an average person compared to a typical bus.
Compared to a Boeing 747.
And now here’s the Hindenburg.
It dwarfs anything flying today.
And many people are surprised to learn just how extensive the Hindenburg’s accommodations were.
Maybe it’s because you can’t really tell from the outside where the passenger spaces are.
But the inside of the Hindenburg was more like an ocean liner than an airplane.
Passengers could enjoy dinner in a full service dining room, then take in the views from one
of two promenades, or socialize in the piano lounge, or relax in the writing room.
Downstairs, passengers could enjoy a cigar in the smoking room or have a drink at the
bar.
Heading back upstairs, passengers would retire for the night in own their private sleeping cabin.
All of this, while floating in the sky.
The fastest ocean liners of the day could only cruise at around 35 miles per hour, but
an airship like the Hindenburg, well, it could easily do twice that.
A transatlantic crossing that would have taken five days by ocean liner, could be done in
just two days on the Hindenburg.
And an airship, well it wouldn't just take you to an ocean port, but to inland cities as well.
The Hindenburg regularly flew over Europe on it’s way to inland destinations.
But on May 6, 1937, after completing a trans-Atlantic crossing, the Hindenburg
began to dock in New Jersey. And suddenly...
Something ignited the Hindenburg's lifting gas. The Hindenburg was destroyed in a matter of seconds.
This wasn't the first airship disaster, it wasn't even the most deadly.
But this one was different.
It was captured on film.
People weren't used to seeing things like this and it made the tragedy all the more horrifying.
Many people consider the golden age of the airship travel to have
ended here with the Hindenburg catastrophe.
Public confidence was shattered, and the romance and the extravagance of airships suddenly
disappeared.
But did the Hindenburg disaster really bring an end to the giant airship?
Well, for something nearly the size of the Titanic, the Hindenburg
could only carry 72 passengers at most.
And it needed an additional 52 crew members to operate.
Compare that to an ocean liner of the day, which could comfortably carry almost 2000
passengers, and had a crew and staff of over a thousand.
Giant airships like the Hindenburg carried so few passengers despite their massive size,
because lifting gasses, such as Helium just don’t provide all that much lift.
Even when the Hindenburg switched from helium to hydrogen, it could still only manage to
lift about one hundred thousand pounds.
Sounds like a lot, but that’s only about the weight of eight elephants.
So, everything on the Hindenburg had to be designed to be as lightweight as possible,
to make sure the whole thing could stay afloat.
Those passenger cabins?
Tiny and cramped, complete with bunk beds.
Not so luxurious.
Even the walls and doors had to be made out of lightweight foam covered in fabric, so
you could hear your neighbor talking, coughing, or worse.
And none of the cabins had their own bathrooms.
That ‘s too heavy.
So you’d have to go down a flight of stairs to use shared bathrooms.
And for 72 passengers, there was a one single shower.
Water, which weighs a lot, had to be rationed.
So even that one shower wasn’t much more than a trickle.
The airship’s grand piano had to be made out of special lightweight aluminum, but even
that was eventually removed to save weight.
And yeah, maybe these are compromises you have to accept for floating in the sky, but
the whole thing was absurdly expensive too.
In today’s dollars a single one way trip aboard the Hindenburg cost almost $7000.
And sure, an ocean liner was half the speed, but a first class cabin on an ocean liner
came with a sprawling suite with a private bathroom.
Tickets on ocean liners were more affordable even as the accommodations were much more
luxurious, with giant ballrooms, theaters, and even indoor swimming pools.
And by 1937, if you really wanted to cross the ocean as fast as possible, aircraft were
just starting to make transatlantic crossings.
By the time the hindenburg went up in flames in 1937, the airship was already obsolete.
It couldn't compete with comfort and luxury of an ocean liner.
It’s speed couldn't match an aircraft.
and all of it was absurdly expensive.
Today, the giant airship remains an irresistible concept.
But physics, just like it did 80 years ago,
always manages to bring the giant airship idea back to earth.