Hindenburg Flight Schedule
A list of all flights of the airship Hindenburg, with dates, departures, and arrivals.
(click to enlarge)
For details on particular flights, visit:
- Hindenburg Disaster: The Last Flight
- Maiden Voyage to USA (Passenger list with photos and bios)
- Maiden Voyage to USA (Journalist Webb Miller’s detailed description)
- The “Millionaires Flight” (A discussion of the flight and the passengers)
- A Passenger’s Diary Entry (Passenger Clarence Hall’s description of a voyage)
- Max Schmeling on the Hindenburg (The boxer’s flight home after defeating Joe Louis)
- 1936 Flight Schedule
- March 3-March 4: Friedrichshafen-Friedrichshafen (3hr6min) [Test flight]
- March 5-March 5: Friedrichshafen-Friedrichshafen (8hr) [Test flight]
- March 6-March 6: Friedrichshafen-Friedrichshafen (3hr14min) [Test flight]
- March 17-March 18: Friedrichshafen-Friedrichshafen (22hr45min) [Test flight]
- March 18-March 18: Friedrichshafen-Friedrichshafen (7hr49min)
- March 23-March 23: Friedrichshafen-Löwental (6hr23min) [Test flight, Mail flight]
- March 26-March 26: Löwental-Löwental (3ht16min)
- March 26-March 29: Löwental-Löwental (74hr4min) [Propaganda flight, dropping pro-Hitler election leaflets]
- March 31-April 4: Löwental-Rio de Janeiro (100hr40min) [First South America flight]
- April 6-April 10: Rio de Janeiro-Löwental (103hr52min)
- May 4-May 4: Löwental-Frankfurt (7hr32min)
- May 6-May 9: Frankfurt-Lakehurst (61hr40min) [First flight to North America]
- May 12-May 14: Lakehurst-Frankfurt (49hr13min)
- May 17-May 20: Frankfurt-Lakehurst (78hr57min)
- May 21- May 23: Lakehurst-Frankfurt (48hr8min)
- May 25-May 29: Frankfurt-Rio de Janeiro (85hr13min)
- May 30-June 3: Rio de Janeiro-Frankfurt 93hr17min)
- June 5-June 5: Frankfurt-Löwental (8hr19min)
- June 16-June 16: Löwental-Löwental (9hr4min) [(Krupp/Essen flight]
- June 18-June 18: Löwental-Frankfurt (3hr17min)
- June 18-June 18: Frankfurt-Frankfurt (11hr)(Rhineland flight)
- June 19-June 22: Frankfurt-Lakehurst (61hr30min)
- June 24-June 26: Lakehurst-Frankfurt ( 61hr5min) [Max Schmeling return]
- June 30-July 2: Frankfurt-Lakehurst (52hr49min)
- July 4-July 6: Lakehurst-Frankfurt (45hr39min)
- July 8-July 8: Frankfurt-Frankfurt (1hr26min)
- July 8-July 8: Frankfurt-Frankfurt (1hr)
- July 10-July 13: Frankfurt-Lakehurst (63hr27min)
- July 15-July 17: Lakehurst-Frankfurt (60hr58min)
- July 20-July 24: Frankfurt-Rio de Janeiro (85hr38min)
- July 25-July 19: Rio de Janeiro-Frankfurt (96hr35min)
- August 1-August 1: Frankfurt-Frankfurt (14hr) [Olympic Games flight]
- August 5-August 8: Frankfurt-Lakehurst (75hr56min) [Passenger description]
- August 10-August 11: Lakehurst-Frankfurt (43hr2min)
- August 17-August 19: Frankfurt-Lakehurst (90hr10 min)
- August 20-August 22: Lakehurst-Frankfurt (43hr49min)
- August 27-August 30: Frankfurt-Rio de Janeiro (88hr34min)
- September 4-September 8: Rio de Janeiro-Friedrichshafen (109hr55min)
- September 14-September 14: Friedrichshafen-Friedrichshafen (10hr53min) [Flight over 1936 Nazi Party Nuremberg Rally]
- September 16-September 16: Friedrichshafen-Frankfurt (3hr6min)
- September 17-September 20: Frankfurt-Lakehurst (62hr54min)
- September 22-September 24: Lakehurst-Frankfurt (55hr36min)
- September 26-September 29: Frankfurt-Lakehurst (63hr14min)
- October 1-October 3: Lakehurst-Frankfurt (58hr2min)
- October 5-October 7: Frankfurt-Lakehurst (55hr35min)
- October 9-October 9: Lakehurst-Lakehurst (10hr25min) ["Millionaires Flight"]
- October 10-October 12: Lakehurst-Frankfurt (52hr17min)
- October 21-October 25: Frankfurt-Rio de Janeiro (111hr41min)
- October29-October 30: Rio de Janeiro-Recife (21hr48min)
- October 30-November 2: Recife-Frankfurt (85hr20min)
- November 5-November 9: Frankfurt-Rio de Janeiro (97hr50min)
- November 12-November 16: Rio de Janeiro-Frankfurt (105hr57min)
- November 25-November 29: Frankfurt-Rio de Janeiro (94hr59min)
- November 30-December 1: Rio de Janeiro-Rio de Janeiro (26hr37min)
- December 3-December 4: Rio de Janeiro-Recife (22hr57min)
- December 4-December 7: Recife-Frankfurt (83hr34min)
- March 11-March 11: Frankfurt-Frankfurt (6hr17min)
- March 11- March 11: Frankfurt-Frankfurt (1hr14min)
- March 16-March 20: Frankfurt-Rio de Janeiro (88hr48min)
- March 23-March 26: Rio de Janeiro-Frankfurt (97hr8min)
- April 27-April 27: Frankfurt-Frankfurt (6hr59min) [Udet flight/Rhineland]
- April 27-April 27: Frankfurt-Frankfurt (2hr23min) [Udet hook-on trial flight]
- May 3-May 6: Frankfurt-Lakehurst (77hr8min) [Hindenburg crash at Lakehurst]
Hindenburg's Flights to North America (click to enlarge)
1937 Flight Schedule
{ 21 comments… read them below or add one }
Hello, great info on your site. My mother told me she saw what she thought the Hindenburg going over Rathlin Islandat some point as a child. She was born in 1927 but alas is dead now. Could this have been the Hindenburg as I see on the map flight 4 west bound goes over that part of the north of Ireland and flight 2 towards the east flys over as well.
Thanks for any info.
John
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Hi Dan,
I lived in north London England and i think i remember seeing an airship from my pram in about 1937.
Could this have been a Zepelin?
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Dan (Airships.net) Reply:
February 12th, 2010 at 11:01 am
Hindenburg did not fly over London in 1937, but if it could have been earlier, you might have seen a zeppelin.
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I was living in Egypt from 1936 till 1940 and was but a young lad. I have somewhere in my mind a recollection of seeing an airship perhaps flying over Cairo. Am I dreaming it or was it true. Can anyone help? were the airships still flying then and what airship would it have been?
John Weeks now 76 years old
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Dan (Airships.net) Reply:
February 10th, 2010 at 10:28 am
LZ-127 Graf Zeppelin (1928-1937) visited the area on its Orient Flight to Palestine in 1929, but neither Hindenburg (1936-1937) nor LZ-130 Graf Zeppelin (1938-1939) ever visited Egypt. Perhaps it was a blimp rather than a rigid airship?
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I saw the flight refered to by Richard Thornton. I was 5 years old, living in Hunslet Leeds, We all went out in the street to watch,,,The adults said it should be shot down as it would be taking photographs of where to bomb. It was accompanied by a relatively tiny aireoplane, which we hoped would stop it mis-behaving.
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I was looking thru an old family photo album the other day and I found one that I think is the Hindenburg. I don’t think my uncle was anywhere around New York when it was taken. My question is, did the Hindenburg land/dock any where in the south, like maybe Miami?
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Dan (Airships.net) Reply:
January 30th, 2010 at 5:07 pm
Hindenburg never visited Miami. If you have a photo of an airship in Miami that generally resembled Hindenburg (in terms of size and shape), it was likely USS Macon at Opa Locka. LZ-127 also visited Opa Locka, although Graf Zeppelin is visibly different from Hindenburg in terms of general appearance. If you would like to send me a high-resolution scan of the photo (or if you can give me the precise date of the photo) I will be very happy to identify the airship for you.
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Jared Reply:
January 30th, 2010 at 10:30 pm
As soon as I get my scanner up and running I’ll send you a scan. I should have mentioned it in my earlier question, I do know its from Germany, you can clearly see the swastikas on the top and bottom tail fins, sorry. I could be wrong on the location of the photo. Once again, i’ll send you a scan once I can get it up and running again.
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I have recently had my father’s 9.5mm cine film (1929-1993) transferred onto DVD.
Among his 1930’s black and white film is a short film which his diary identifies as showing Hindenburg passing over at 1-20pm on Tuesday June 30th 1936. This was taken from our home in Shipley, Yorkshire with Hindenburg travelling north westwards along the Aire Gap which is one of the few gaps in the Pennine Range. I should be pleased to know if information is available about the route and timetable of this particular journey.
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Dan (Airships.net) Reply:
January 10th, 2010 at 11:00 am
I am happy to be able to help.
The flight observed by your father was Hindenburg’s 24th flight, from Frankfurt to Lakehurst. Due to weather conditions the ship left Frankfurt at an unusually early hour (4:29 in the morning) and followed a lengthy route much to the North of its usual flight path, which gave your father a rare opportunity to see Hindenburg in flight over Northern England.
You can see the route taken by Hindenburg on this flight labeled “4″ on the Westbound chart above, and the ship passed over the following points:
Frankfurt – Vlissingen – North Sea – Cromer – Hull – Hessle – H0wden – Goole – Leeds – Keighley – Skipton – Warton – Morecombe – Flookburgh – Barrow – Mull of Galloway – Isle of Man – Northern tip of Ireland – North Atlantic – Southern tip of Greenland – Labrador – Quebec – Montreal – Lake Champlain – New York – Lakehurst
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P Pattison Reply:
February 27th, 2010 at 2:20 pm
I also saw the airship from the cricket field at Mountain but was given to understand it was the Graf Zeplin. It was moving very slowly and was told it flew over Keighley. Maybe some one has more accurate information to give us.
I believe the Telegraph and Argus had a report in the paper.
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Dan, my great grandfather was on the September 22, 1936 voyage and I have the passenger list along with a small photo. Would copies of any of these records be helpful to your site? Thank you.
Mike Bartnett
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Dan (Airships.net) Reply:
December 26th, 2009 at 12:20 pm
That would be great! And I would be happy to add your photo and a scan of the passenger list to the site with your permission.
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thanks for the information.i need to do notecards for school.P.S.i love the site and my teacher wants me to do at least 8 note cards so with this site i can do like a billion.
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what was the actual departure time at Frankfort on May 3rd
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Dan (Airships.net) Reply:
November 28th, 2009 at 8:41 pm
LZ-129 departed Frankfurt at 19:16 (7:16 PM) on May 3, 1937.
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WOW! this website is amazing. Thanks so much for all the great info which has really helped me with this short story i have to write for schoo;l
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Would it have been possible for the Hindenburg to have passed by Frankenthal on her way from or to Frankfurt in 1937? I was a very small child then and remember this so vividly, but am not sure if it is reality or imagination. I remember my father excitedly calling me to see this huge oval flying object in the sky passing by our veranda and telling me that this Zeppellin is of major technical significance. I would very much appreciate an answer.
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Dan (Airships.net) Reply:
July 13th, 2009 at 10:28 pm
Hindenburg made several flights in the Frankfurt area in early 1937, and Frankenthal is only about 100km from Frankfurt, so it is certainly possible.
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Good Morning, I was wondering about the landing pads, big city locations and if they were ever used. Example: Empire State Bank Building. I understand it was designed for landing. How did it work? Were there any plans to land on a building in Chicago? Did they ever use the landing pad in a big city? How did they plan to hook to the buildings?
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Dan (Airships.net) Reply:
June 10th, 2009 at 8:39 am
No zeppelin ever used the mooring mast at the empire state building, or on any other tall building, which would have been a difficult proposition. (See the page on the USS Los Angeles for information about the difficulty of using high masts.)
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I was also wondering if you could give me some information on the Millionaires Flight, that would be a great help. There isn’t much information about events and flights other than the Hindenburg disaster out there on the web.
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Dan (Airships.net) Reply:
May 10th, 2009 at 3:54 pm
Hi Kyle.
I have been planning to publish a short page about the “Millionaires Flight” anyway, so in response to your request, I went ahead and prepared it.
I hope this helps!
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Like a few others who’ve commented, I myself am doing a project on the Hindenburg. My goal is to create five diary entries of an eyewitness in New Jersey around the time of the first Trans-atlantic flight, up until it crashed on May 6th. I did however notice that the times where from a catalog in Germany. Do you happen to know the time and date when the Hindenburg arrived in Lakehurst, New Jersey on it’s first flight there, in correct times for New Jersey?
Thanks for yout help in advance.
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Dan (Airships.net) Reply:
May 10th, 2009 at 4:03 pm
Hindenburg reached New York City at approximately 4:00 AM on Saturday, May 9, 1936, and flew a circuit over the island of Manhattan before heading south to Lakehurst, where it landed at 6:10 AM.
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Jon I love the website and it helped with my research project.
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Well honestly it’s just 10 facts on the a plane, 10 time-line facts, and 10 facts about how this plane impacted flight. I’ve always been kind of interested in the Hindenburg and how it crashed but many websites say that that could be various different things.
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oh!!!
thank you so much!!! And thanks for answering quick too!! This website really really helps. Which flights do you think were the most important though?
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Dan (Airships.net) Reply:
April 26th, 2009 at 5:18 pm
@ Julia:
What a fascinating question, about which flights were most important! But that’s a hard question to answer, because it depends on importance in which regard; technological, historical, political, etc.? In a sense, I guess the easy answer is that the last flight was the most important, historically, because it brought almost four decades of zeppelin travel to an immediate end. But one could have a lot of fun discussing that question and debating the various answers.
If you like, tell us a little more about your project; what you are discussing, where you are finding your information, what (if anything) your project is trying to prove, where you are at school, what class/year you are in; just anything you might like to share with other readers.
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I’m doing a Hindenburg project for my science class and I didn’t think that there were that many flights. I’ve seen on most websites that the Hindenburg took 10 flights then it’s 11th is where it crashed. Which one is right??
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Dan (Airships.net) Reply:
April 26th, 2009 at 5:03 pm
@ Julia:
Did you think I just made up all these dates and flights?
Hindenburg made 10 roundtrips between Europe and North America in 1936, and was on its first North American flight of 1937 when it crashed; that may be the 10 flights you have seen described on other websites.
(When using the web for research, it’s always a good idea to see if the website cites its sources, similar to the footnotes and bibliography in a book. For example, at the top of this page, I mention that the information is taken from the Sieger Katalog, so that readers can check the details for themselves if they like.)
Thank you for visiting my website, and best of luck with your Hindenburg project!
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This is very helpful. Also, if possible, the officers or even the passengers on the flight of June 24, 1936 to Frankfurt would be helpful. Also on your schedule, it shows this flight ending July 26. Was that a mistake?? I have a post card, addressed to my mother, postmarked on 24.6.1936 on the Hindenburg and I believe it is from the co-pilot but not sure. I cannot read the last name but the first name looks to be Harry J.. Any help would be appreciated. Thank you in advance John
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Dan (Airships.net) Reply:
April 13th, 2009 at 12:04 pm
@ John:
The flight you mention landed in Frankfurt at 4:30 PM Frankfurt time on June 26, 1936. (The previous typo has been corrected.)
As the ship was German, there were no officers named “Harry.” < G > The commander on that flight was Hugo Eckener, and the watch officers were Max Pruss, Albert Sammt, and Heinrich Bauer.
If your autograph reads “Harry J” it is most likely Harry J. Schneiders, who was a passenger on the flight.
(Unfortunately I don’t have time at the moment to type in the complete list of passengers, which included boxer Max Schmeling on his return to Germany after knocking out Joe Louis on June 19, 1936 in New York. Typing in complete passenger lists is a goal of mine, but one which will unfortunately have to wait, as this website is an unpaid labor of love.)
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In August 1936 I believe that I may have seen the Hindenburg flying over Southern Ontario near Toronto. A few years ago I heard that the Hindenburg made an unscheduled detour over Niagara Falls in Aug 1936. If this is true, then there is a very good chance that I did in fact see it. I clearly remember the rumble of slow turning engines, which I knew was nor an airplane.
Is there any way of confirming this?
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Dan (Airships.net) Reply:
March 29th, 2009 at 9:15 am
Unfortunately, for most flights, I only have information regarding departure and arrival fields, flight times, etc., but I don’t have navigation logs showing routes of flight, so I am not able to help you, but thank you for posting your comment!
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THANK YOU DAN!!!
This is exactly what I was looking for
Phil
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