A list of all flights of the airship Hindenburg, with dates, departures, and arrivals.
(click to enlarge)
For details on particular flights, visit:
Hindenburg's Maiden Voyage Passenger List
Hindenburg’s first flight to the United States was filled with journalists, prominent notables, frequent zeppelin travelers, and members of the Nazi elite. (For more information...
Hindenburg "Millionaires Flight"
The “Millionaires Flight” of the Hindenburg was a 10-1/2 hour cruise over New England on October 9, 1936, for 72 wealthy and influential passengers. The guests were invited...
A Flight on the Hindenburg: One Passenger's Account
Clarence and Dorothy Hall were passengers on Hindenburg’s flight from Frankfurt to Lakehurst on August 5-8, 1936. Clarence Hall described the flight in his diary,...
Max Schmeling on the Hindenburg
German boxer Max Schmeling returned to Germany in triumph on the June 23, 1936 voyage of the Hindenburg, after his victory over American boxer Joe...
- 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
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- March 4: Friedrichshafen-Friedrichshafen (3hr6min) [Test flight]
- March 5: Friedrichshafen-Friedrichshafen (8hr) [Test flight]
- 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-Friedrichshafen (7hr32min)
- May 6-May 9: Friedrichshafen-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 29: 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)
Hindenburg’s Flights to North America (click to enlarge)
1937 Flight Schedule
57. March 11-March 11: Frankfurt-Frankfurt (6hr17min)
58. March 11- March 11: Frankfurt-Frankfurt (1hr14min)
59. March 16-March 20: Frankfurt-Rio de Janeiro (88hr48min)
60. March 23-March 26: Rio de Janeiro-Frankfurt (97hr8min)
61. April 27-April 27: Frankfurt-Frankfurt (6hr59min) [Udet flight/Rhineland]
62. April 27-April 27: Frankfurt-Frankfurt (2hr23min) [Udet hook-on trial flight]
63. May 3-May 6: Frankfurt-Lakehurst (77hr8min) [Hindenburg crash at Lakehurst]
I saw the Hindenburg on its last voyage. I was born in February, 1929, and lived in Attleboro, MA. I lived close to my school, and had lunch at home in our kitchen. I must have been in the second grade. The time must have been around 12:30 PM. My mother was making lunch for me when I heard what sounded like a group of airplanes flying by. I ran out the door and looked up to see a huge silver thing passing slowly directly overhead, very low, probably lower than its length. I remember clearly seeing the swastikas on the tail. I later heard that it was the Hindenburg and that it had crashed that evening. I wonder how many people there are now who actually saw it like that.
I am trying to verify if Igor Sikorsky was on the passenger manifest for the flight scheduled for the day after the crash. (May 7, 1937)
I don’t have any reference that indicates Igor Sikorsky was supposed to be on that flight. What makes you think he planned to cross the Atlantic on that flight? I would love to make further inquiries if there is a reason to think he had a ticket.
https://m.facebook.com/groups/138318816317667?view=permalink&id=906432186172989 ………. https://m.facebook.com/groups/683317225164883?view=permalink&id=932032553626681 two links Hindenburg over where I live in Leeds 1936 june/july. questions asked in the house of commons about the airship spying on local arsenals..and her sister ship over Leeds in 1931.
Here is a link of the Hindenburg over where I live in Leeds England 1936..going over Leeds United’s football ground.. https://m.facebook.com/groups/138318816317667?view=permalink&id=906432186172989
My father was raised in Longmeadow,Mass just next to Springfield. and he told us several times that in the early 30’s he saw the Hindenburg fly past Springfield and slowld do an orbit around Arsenal hill, home of the Springfield Armory.
My father says he saw the Hindenburg fly over Boston (either to or from Lakehurst) when he was a child – remembers it like it was yesterday. Was this a common occurrence? Thanks! Chris
Sorry for the late reply, but thanks Dan, very helpful. Cheers
As a seven year old, in July or August of 1936,I sat on a sand dune in Mantoloking, NJ and marveled as the Hindenburg glided southbound, close-in over the surf, at very low altitude. I don’t remember the swastika on the tail, but the Olympic interlocking circles on her side were distinctive. Which arrival was I watching – July 8 or 13 or August 8 or 19? I wish I knew.
I have a picture of the Hindenburg taken by my great great grandmother over St. Martins New Brunswick Canada. Wondering if you knew the date of its path of when this might have happened. I have seen pictures of it over Saint John, New Brunswick in June 24th of 36 and May of 37. Just trying to find the right year. Thanks
Hi Buck,
Well, I can tell you right off the bat that the photo wouldn’t be from May of 1937. On that last flight they flew down the southern/southeastern coast of Nova Scotia, in the middle of the night.
I checked my files, though, and found bits and pieces (some more complete than others) of information about the specific flight paths the Hindenburg took during her 10 round-trip flights to North America in 1936. I was able to positively identify two separate occasions when the ship flew over St. John, New Brunswick (and, by extension, over St. Martins.)
According to the in-flight position reports that I have, the Hindenburg was definitely over the St. John area on August 10, 1936, flying east from Lakehurst to Frankfurt on the return leg of her 6th North American flight. Unfortunately, she reported her position over St. John at about 3:45 AM local time. I assume your great, great grandmother didn’t take her picture in the wee hours of the morning. I think we can rule this date out.
Since the batch of flight data I have is spotty in terms of specific position reports, I also looked through the written reports filed by US Navy officers who flew aboard the Hindenburg throughout 1936 as observers. Here I found specific confirmation of the June 24th date that you mention. According to a report filed by Lt. W.E. Zimmerman, USN, the Hindenburg was over St. John, NB at about noon local time on June 24, 1936.
I suspect that this was probably when your great, great grandmother took her photo, as I’ve found no concrete evidence of other dates when the Hindenburg flew over the St. John area.
It is possible that the Hindenburg may have flown over St. John one or two other times (as I said, some of the flight data I have is incomplete) but from what data I do have available to me, it appears that most of the time the Hindenburg tended to fly along the southern coast of Nova Scotia, as it did on the final voyage.
So I think we probably have it narrowed down pretty well at this point.
Hope this helps!
Patrick
On May 6 1937 I was 9 years old and attending school at Trinity grade school in New Rochelle NY. During recess we all looked up to see this huge silver airship slowly glide by with passengers waving at us kids, it was so low that I thought I could touch it. I’m not sure but I believe it was in the morning. I remember seeing a strange looking insignia on one side of the tail, which I learned much later was the swastika. I heard later on the radio that it crashed.
Hi Al,
That must have been an amazing sight to see, especially at age 9! I first got interested in zeppelins when I was 9, and I still remember how even old black-and-white photos of them affected me. To see an amazing machine like that floating right there, less than 1000 feet overhead… I certainly envy you! (Though, to have an experience like that and then to hear on the radio later on that evening that it had crashed must have really shaken you up a bit.)
And yes, the Hindenburg did fly past New Rochelle on its final flight. Having traced the flight path via position reports radioed by the ship along the way, I can tell you that you saw it at just about 3:00 in the afternoon, Eastern Daylight Time. They flew down Long Island Sound and radioed their position at 2:40 as Norwalk, CT, and their speed as 63 mph. So they were flying along the northern coast of LI Sound. Their next reported position was over New York City at 3:10 PM EDT. That would have put the Hindenburg over New Rochelle at 3:00 or maybe a couple minutes past.
First: Thanks for such an amazing website; I’m looking forward to reading your book, too. Here’s an off-the-wall question: the Hindenburg’s agency must have been booking flights for 1937, including and beyond the return flight from Lakehurst that never happened. Where can I dig up info on such a schedule? Maybe promotional material? I assume the plan would be comparable to the 1936 roster of flights, since the Zeppelins had been doing such good business. Cheers –
Hope this helps!
I can recall seeing the Hindenburg flying over Belleville, Ontario and can recall the exact spot I was standing. I did not remember the year but 1937 would be the year as I believed I was around 10 t the time.
My Dad worked for Tidewater Oil Company and assisted in oil changes at Lakehurst, NJ. As I recall, he said that each of the engines required a drum of oil. I have a couple photos of him in his Veedol jumpsuit during the oil changes. I also have a photo taken in 1936 from the Hindenberg by a Walter Bohn Holzer, of an iceberg in the North Atlantic. During the crash, my Dad assisted firemen in their futile efforts to put out the inferno.
My father was born in Schleswig Holstein, 1928, and swears he saw the Hindenburg “when it flew over Neumunster”. I’m finding this difficult to substantiate, especially since seeing the list of its flights above, none of which seem to go anywhere near Neumunster! Does anyone know if it’s possible that it was a different airship he saw? He doesn’t know what year – I had assumed around 1936ish when he was about 8 years old, but if I find out what airships possibly flew over Neumunster and when that should narrow it down! Any feedback would be appreciated – thanks in advance.
It was great to come across this site. I did not know that the Hindenburg made that many flights to the USA.
I was a 9 year-old playing in the backyard of my Lancaster, UK home when I saw a small dark “cloud” gradually getting larger as it moved towards me.
It would appear that this airship also passed close to Pembroke, Ontario, Canada where I now reside.
Was watching Watching Charlie Chan goes to the Olympics from 1936.
Woman looking at vehicle in the air says, “boy would I like a ride on that”
Pointing to and referring to the zeppelin Hindenberg. A small bit of footage in the movie.
On the 18th May 1936 the Salt Lake Tribune reported that the Hindenburg Airship was over Folkstone, Kent, UK at 11 AM. Amazing!!! I saw it while in the playground of Hawkinge Village School, Kent during the morning break – my father, then, serving at Royal Air Force Hawkinge !!! I recentlyspoke to my brother Ron who was also with me in the playground and who is now living in Perth, Australia, and he verifies that he also remembers seeing it. I have now reached the grand old age of 88 years and still recall the marvellous sight of this wonderful,huge ship of the air majestically flying, almost noiseless, through the skies. 28.8.2015
It appears that the passengers list of the flight from Lakehurst-Frankfurt June 24-June 26 exists, as the front page is shown here. I have reason to believe that my late father-in-law Mr. Karl Victor Hagen (also known as KV Hagen) was on this flight; on his way to Berlin to celebrate his grandfather Carl Hagen’s 80th birthday on the 28th of June 1936.
I wonder whether such a complete passenger list exists, which would confirm that he was on that flight.
Yes, a Mr. K. V. Hagen is on the passenger list for that flight. One of his fellow passengers was boxer Max Schmeling.
I have a photo of the Hindenburg flying over the Union New Haven Trust Company by New Haven Green, taken by my father who worked in the same block at the Southern New England Telephone Company. No idea of the date. I recall seeing another of Dad’s photos showing the Hindenburg over the iconic Trust Company cupola, but can’t seem to find it.
Thank you Bill. I lived in Milford only 10 miles from New Haven and have been wondering for years if I did indeed see the Hindenburg or if I was just confused. I saw a crude flight path printed somewhere about 5 years ago which made it appear that it had indeed flown over me. Thanks to you I am now sure I did, for if it passed over New Haven it surely passed over Milford. I was 6 years old.
I have a question, was the hydrogen leak first seen inside the airship or outside? If inside, where was it first spotted? If outside, how could they tell it was a hydrogen leak? Thanks for a good article
It wasn’t “seen,” it was observed through the change in trim.
I have a photo of a Zeppelin in the area of Kobe,Japan. Could this be the Hindenburg, and if so could you approximate date this?
Will-Tom
LZ-129 never visited Japan.
Found old photo album of my fathers and as I was looking at the pictures found a photo of a blimp crossing over head. These photo’s were taken in 1937. Could that have been the Hindenburg. This photo was taken in Western Maine.
Hi Rebecca,
I don’t believe the Hindenburg ever flew over Western Maine. Generally she would fly along the coast, and she definitely followed a coastal flight path on her last flight (her only US visit of 1937.)
So without seeing the photo, my best guess is that it’s probably an airship other than the Hindenburg.
I have a photo from my mother’s collection that she wrote on the back ‘The Hindenburg/Palmer, Massachusetts.’ I have not seen that photo for a long time and I will search it out. I am sure I still have it. She did record a date, 193?
I meant to say I can not remember the exact date, but it was 1937 or 1939. I will look diligently for this.
Hi Sarah,
I suspect that was probably taken during the “Millionaire’s Flight,” a trip from Lakehurst NJ up to Boston and back taken in October 1936 by many top U.S. aviation businessmen. The flight went up through New England over Hartford, then Springfield, Worcester, and on to Boston, so very likely would have been seen from Palmer. More info here- http://www.airships.net/hindenburg/flight-schedule/millionaire-flight
Did the Hindenberg ever fly over the Washington, DC, area?
I am fairly certain LZ-129 never went that far south on any of its North American flights.
I did see a film clip from 1936 clearly showing the Hindenburg flying low over Washington D.C.I guess to show the ship off.
There is also a wonderful diary account elsewhere on this website, authored by passengers Clarence & Dorothy Hall, headed ‘A flight on the Hindenburg’, which directly references their flying over Annapolis, Washington, north to Baltimore and thence on to Lakehurst during early August, 1936.
Actually, the Hindenburg did fly over Washington DC once. It was on August 8, 1936. The ship had arrived mid-late morning, but arrangements at Lakehurst were such that they could only land at 6 AM or 6 PM (due to calmer weather conditions at dawn and dusk, but also probably due in part to the fact that they were using local civilians to augment the US Navy landing crew, and they had to be at their regular jobs during the day.)
So, with a good bit of time to kill, the Hindenburg’s commander took the passengers on a sightseeing cruise down the New Jersey coast, and over Washington DC. I believe that newsreels do exist of the Hindenburg flying near the Washington Monument that afternoon.
At the age of four I was playing in the parking lot of a movie theater located to the rear of my house. The low rumbling made me look up to see a large cylindrical,silver object flying so low that I could see the people, some hanging out over the side. On its tail was a large red ball with a black cross inside of it and some ropes hanging from the cab. The day was clear and sunny in Natick, Massachusetts,a town located about 20 miles west of Boston. In later years I could only presume that after leaving Natick it proceeded towards Providence, RI and later on to Lakehurst. A memory never to be forgotten.
I just just looking over this great list you’ve compiled and thought you’d like to know about a small typo: Flight #31 lists the dates as “July 25-July 19”, so unless it was equipped with a time-travel device, I would assume it was meant to be July 29 😉
Thanks again for this wonderfully informative site!
Thank you for the correction!
My Mother, Francois Godbout wrote and told me that she saw the Hindenburg fly overhead as a little girl near Quebec City. Her farther took her and her sister to the top of a hill to see it. They got dressed up for the occasion.
Michael Duffy
My mother’s uncle Dr Rudolph Benkendorff was the first head of the German Meteorological Service and was attached to the Luftwaffe during WWII. She often told me that he had flown on the Hindenburg and flew a return trip to the USA. I’ve seen onboard footage in the past and I think I spotted him on one piece of film but I can’t confirm it.
I remember when I was young in glace bay cape Breton nova scotia,i was playing up by the coal mine in Caledonia.and I saw this huge air ship flying over the Caledonia district .and it was no higher than 1500 hundred feet high.i could not have been no older than 6or7 yrs old I am 84 yrs old now .just wondered if it could have the Hindenberg.i guess I,ll never know.but I,ts something I ,ll never forget.
I too am 84 years old and was living in my home town, Amherst Nova Scotia, which is adjacent to the Tantramar Marshes between Nova Scotia & New Brunswick. One of the most vivid memories of my early childhood was that of playing on the street on an open hillside facing the marshes & on hearing a very loud humming sound, looking up & seeing this huge cigar-shaped silver object in the sky. The day was sunny & the sun’s reflection on the airship resulted in a spectacular display for a 6-7 year old. I distinctly recall the configuration of the tail display composed of a broad red horizontal banner with a large white circle with a cross-like object inside it (how the hell was I to know it was a swastica at that age). The memory is as vivid in my mind today as it was back then!! YES WE DID SEE THE HINDENBURG !!
I saw the Hindenburg flying over Dijon, France, certainly a unique event. I do not remember the date, but I find on the WIKIPEDIA article that when returning from South America in early april 36, the Hindenburg was permitted to fly over the Rhône Valley; Dijon is located some distance to the North.
Could anybody find the exact date?
Perhaps this may help: http://www.airships.net/hindenburg/flight-schedule
And PLEASE, do not rely on Wikipedia. It’s great for entertainment, but not so good for research. 🙂
As a small child my mother clearly remembered seeing the Hindenburg at Barrow-in-Furness, UK in 1936. She said she was terrified by the size of the thing, and ran to get away from the shadow cast by it. Further research suggests that the date would have been 22 May 1936 and that the Hindenburg was involved in covert photo reconnaissance and intelligence gathering at the strategically important naval dockyards and engineering facilities in preparation for war in 1939. This was the same trip that a newly constructed Yorkshire reservoir was photographed and a floral wreath dropped near Keighley, Yorkshire to commemorate a German WW1 pilot that had died.
Hi Dan
I,ve finally got round to checking out a childhood memory it looks possible that the airship I saw was the LZ129 1936
It stopped diagonally over Dresser Street in Hunslet Leeds West Yorkshire England it was a bright sunny day but when it arrived and put the whole place in shadow it
caused panic and consternation amongst some people but it’s a memory I’ll never forget Alan (21/09/1932) congrats on web site its fab
I too remember seeing the zeppelin fly over Leeds – I know it was pre war, as a child playing in a poor district of Leeds – Bumantofts – the darkness of the sky which occurred and this shiny grey mass with a swastika on the back fin is a memory I long remember bur could not remember the date.
I will be 90 years old later this year. Now living in Adelaide South Australia.
As a child (5-6-7 old) I recall my Grandmother Rosa Cuoco urging me to step out
on the upstair (uncovered) outside porch and pointed to the sky! It was early 1936, clear sun shinny day. Never had I seend so large an airship so close in
my life time! Buffalo, New York in the late winter early spring. Was I dreaming
or did event really happen! Our home was only a few city blocks from the Buiffalo
City Hall. I was born 2/1/28 in the house on 66 Tracy Street. The location is now
a grassy knoll!
My 90 year old aunt just told me she saw the Hindenburg fly over her home in southwest GA (USA) in the 1930s. Could that be possible? If not, what airship would she have seen?
The Hindenburg never flew that far south, but it could have been a US Navy ship (perhaps USS Macon).
Since everyone has switched over to the sieger cat instead of the Michel eventhought it was put out ayr or so later than the Sieger. I can find the numbers okay not speaking german but how can I get the letter suffixes likea,b,c,Ba, and so forth as just one of the ones I have from the Olympic games with stamps 428 c is on 40 euro but the 428D is worth over 440 euros.I have checked everywhere online and can’t even find a zeppelin dealer that will help me and there are only a few even when I offer to pay. Please help me as I am sure there are plenty others with same problems as I look at auctions with wrong numbers on covers that even I know are wrong so the cat value will be higher but not truer. thx,richard
I was recently given a box containing rolls of 35mm negatives. On one of the rolls of negatives are approximately 20 images of the Hindenburg inside and outside of its hanger during what appears to be one of the initial flights in 1936. I believe this to be the case because some of the images show the presence of high ranking officers and officials at the event, and this year is written on the box. I made some scans and took the collection to one of this year’s Antiques Roadshow venues. Ironically I did not even get a proper appraisal. Despite their rarity and obvious historical value, I was informed the negatives have little value because they are not photos. Also, I was asked to leave the event because of the extreme flamability of the cellulose nitrate composition of the film. That’s the extent of my experience with Hindenburg historica…
Dave, I am interested in airships and would love to know more about your 35mm negatives. Would you let me know if I can see the negs – or even help you print them?
I saw the Hindenburg over my gradparents yard oo the Jersey Side, Placentia, NEWfoundland. I was six it was summer 1936. I do not know the date. She was stationary after crossing Mt. Pleasnt and the water then over the spruce treesand the narrow dirt road she lowered herself over the yard to a standstill.I could see one man who looked down. I could see swastikas red ones. Sister in school had told us about the twisted cross being used by early Christians and had shown us pictures. I think they were charting the coast they were there for a time and prceded in the direction of Argentia the WW2 base. I see Memorial University in 2012 was asking me formation another party said I was dead.
My mother remembers the airship passing over Idle in 1936 traveling eastbound, can anyone narrow down the date when this route was flown?
I have two negatives of the Hindenburg, dated 1936, docked at Lakehurst N.J. and on its side are the Olympic rings. Can someone tell me the timeframe this could be.
It depends on what you mean by “docked.” Is the ship in the hangar (which happened only twice in 1936) or on the mast?
hi dan. can you find out which flight frances hubbbard springs was a passenger on in 1936? thanks for your help.
david
On another post I mentioned that I had seen the Hindenburg fly over our
house on Lexington Avenue, in Fair Haven section of New Haven, CT. I know
from the dates and times that it had to be the Airship Hindenburg and I was
7 years and 1 month old. As it passed over head, my father took photos of it
with his Brownie Camera. I do not know if I have a copy of that among my photos, but if I find one or obtain it from other family members, I would gladly
share it with you. Dad was never without a film load in his Brownie Box Camera
and I was always near at hand. I had always thought that the photo was of the
Hindenburg, but now, knowing that the Lakehurst episode was the only trip
by that airship in 1937, I am certain that the photo was taken on May 6, 1937
as it passed over our house….MGySgt…..USMC
Either 1936 or 1937, I saw the Hindenburg fly over the south Bronx, Crotona Park North to be exact, and heading west southwest toward New Jersey and on to Lakehurst, NJ. It was early afternoon.
I have an old neighbour here in Eastbourne, Sussex. Bill is 98 and remembers cycling to Wannock tea gardens with his brother in 1936. As they sat there eating their Strawberry Tea, the Hindenburg flew over the Downs and he clearly saw the huge swastika on the tail. He says they could see people taking photographs.
Someone in the row near the windows saw an object in the sky drifting by. This was at the Rice Elementary School in Boston in 1937 and our 5th grade teacher was Miss Lynch. Some one asked permission if she would let us all get up and go to the windows and watch the Zeppelin float by and thankfully she did. The blimp was on its way to Lakehurst, N.J. and little did we know then that we were watching a bit of history drifting over our school.
My Mother remembered the Hindenburg flying over Rathlin Island. She was only 10 years old child at the time. Sadly she is now dead. But recently I talked to a local historian and he confirmed that it indeed fly over the North Antrim coast of Ireland. And that he had talked to a few locals who remembered it. On the mainland the first thing they noticed was the shadow that it cast. The sky went dark, and then the airship. It must have been quite a thing to see.
Hi All, my mother was born on the first of July 1928. She remembers an airship flying over her home farm in “the castle” Ballintoy (close to Rathlin in the earlier post) on the North Irish coast. It’s one of her earliest memories & she can’t be sure what age she was. We were talking about it just now & it was interesting to see this web site.
My father remembers as a kid growing up in New Jersey, he was with his parents in a car, going south to the Jersey Shore on Route 9 (then the only major road south along the coast of NJ). He remembers it was the early evening, and ambulances were rushing by heading in the direction of Lakehurst. They didn’t know about the accident until they arrived at their destination. He also has a photograph somewhere of the USS Los Angeles flying over Paterson, NJ in the early 30’s.
My father was in one of those ambulances. He was an Army medical doctor. He told me that he saw the airship flying around the day it crashed. Shortly after he entered a movie theater an usher told him to report to the air station. ( In those pre-pager days medical officers had to leave contact information when they were off-base.) By the time he arrived the injured had all been removed. After ascertaining his services were not needed my father climbed back on the ambulance in which he had written to the scene. The driver showed him items apparently looted from the dead or broken baggage and told him that others had done the same. My father told me he told the driver words to the effect that he didn’t want to hear or know anything about it.
I don’t know what year it was, but I do know that I saw a Zepplin . My sister was confined to a wheelchair (one of the old-time high backed ones), I wasn’t able to see over the top of the the wheelchair but I was pushing her down the road at a prettry good clip and she was hanging on for dear life.
This was in Springhill, Nova Scotia and we were on North Street, almost to the intersection of Momument Hill and North Street. I was ready to turn back when I looked up and saw something in the sky coming right at me….or so I thought. Just then it turned toward the town and I could see the entire ship. It followed Momument Hill up to the town itself.
Since getting my computer, I have tried to find out the where, when, why and how of that sighting….but with no luck. All I know for sure is that I saw it…and I know it must have been in the 30’s.
My mother, who will turn 85 this year, lived at River Bourgeois, Richmond Co. Cape Breton, and remembers seeing the Hindenburg pass by. She doesn’t remember the date, but it had to be 36/37.
My brother, Roscoe, Sr., is 84 yrs old. He and I are collaborating on writing a children’s book. He contends that he saw the Hindenberg when he was around 6 or seven, in the spring of the year. He and his parents lived in Richmond, Virginia. It was about 9 am. when he heard the droning, ran out side and saw this unbeliveable immense thing (later in life he discovered what it was) moving very slowly northward. He watched it for an est. 5 minutes. Could the Hindenburg have ever flown over Richmond?
The Hindenburg flew in America in 1936 and then only once in 1937. She didn’t fly too far from Lakehurst NJ except for the “Millionaire’s Flight” in 1936. Your brother who was 6 at the time in 1934, probably saw the USS Macon or the USS Los Angeles, two of the remaining US Navy airships still in service then.
Is there a similar map showing the route (roughly) of the flights of the Hindenburg to and from Rio? I have a friend who says she saw the airship as a ten year old girl flying up the Indian River Lagoon on the east coast of Florida in 1936. She watched the last space shuttle departing Kennedy Space Center for its permanent display site in Los Angeles this morning and was struck by what a lot to experience in a lifetime. I’ll check local newspapers for the dates of the Rio flights to see if there are any reports, but the coverage of real news was spotty back then.
Harold Dick’s book has maps showing the Rio flight route.
The LZ129 (as did the Graf) flew from Germany on her first South America flight going NE to the English Channel, then turning south along the Belgian coastline, past the Normandy coastline, then down to the NE tip of Portugal, and along the Iberian Penisula’s Atlantic coastline, departing SSE out to the Atlantic at Lisbon. She crossed the Canary Islands, then the Cape Verde Islands touching South America north of Bahai, Brazil. She flew along the coast to land at Rio.
The return leg was similar, except the LZ129 flew into the Med at Gibraltar and hugged the eastern coastline of Spain and crossed over southern France into Germany.
These routes were the commonly flown paths of both the Hindenburg and the Graf Zeppelin during their regular passenger service to Rio from Germany.
l remember the airship (Hindenburg?) hovering over Keighley,Yorkshire and it dropped a wreath to be laid at Morton cemetary for the German military who were buried there, those who had been wounded and nursed in the, what ,l belive was later the isolation ,Fever hospital. l was at the Picture House cinema that night when the lights went up, at the interval and the Manager came on with the two Boy Scouts who had taken the wreath on to that cemetary. The grave is a large one with the statue of a German soldier over it, it can be seen from the bus which goes to Bradford.
l learned later that the airship was taking photographs of the area, Steaton which became a munition factory and Yeadon airfield. In fact l believe l have some of the maps from that date and l will try looking them up
Norman Whiteoak. 85 years (1/8/27)
I too saw the Hindenburg in Shipley. I was 17 months old!
As a grown-uip I related to my mother a “dream” I had had as a child, in which she and our au pair ran upstairs to a back window looking down towards the Aire Valley, and I saw a “tramcar” go by in the sky. It was the excitement of the adults which grabbed my attention. My mother told me it was in fact a Zeppelin. As a small child, and not knowing what to look for, I completely missed the large balloon above the gondola!
I was 6 when I saw the Hindenburg over the yard of my grandparents house . She was stationary. The ship had come over the MT. Pleasant and proceeded over the Northeast Arm and proceeded over to the Jersey Side, Placentia. It passed over the spuce trees on the other side of the road accross from the house.The ship then lowered itself and stood still. It stayed there for a period of time. Then it went in the direction of Argentia that became a U. S. base in W.W. 11.
stan saw the HINDENBURG flying over Ferryland, Newfoundland we believe the same date as you. There is a lot of research going on now at Memorial University
Frances Barnable
Hello Frances and Lorraine. I am part of the group at Memorial University that is collecting information on eye-witness reports of the Hindenburg over Newfoundland. We have a lot of information from St. John’s, and we are now starting to get some from other areas of the province. Can you tell me what date you saw the airship fly over? Do you remember seeing any markings on the airship (the swastikas, olympic rings or D-LZ129)?
I have a postcard that flew on the Hindenberg. It has the postal stamp of the Hindenberg. I received it from my Aunt Frieda who lived in Weissbaden Germany.
My father now 86 remembers working in the fields in West Cork and looking up to see the Hindenburg fly over lived on a farm between Schull and ballydehob on the far south west coast looking out to the Fastnet rock. It was summer and he said that the Hindenburg was low enough that you read it’s name on the side. hHe cannot recall the date though. Is this possible? And if so which voyage would this have been?
thank you
Hi,
My father (now 84) also remembers seeing the Hindenberg in and around Skibereen and believes it was 1937.
Niall
I was extremely pleased to learn that flight 23 was depicted as Max Schmeling return. This information inspired me to go thru my large collection of mail that was carried on these flights. Sure enough I found a Hindenburg picture post card flown on this flight and autographed by Max Schmeling.
I find no mention of São Paulo, Brazil in these Hindenburg schedules, yet, as a child of about four, I was very much impressed a huge airship flying directly over our house in that city, that could only have been the Hindenburg. An unscheduled side trip maybe?
Thank you so much for a wonderful series of articles!
My mother-in-law remembers getting a tour of the Hindenburg while in São Paulo Brazil. Her older brother was able to provide access.
my dad told me a few times that he saw the hindenberg when he was 10 or 11, fly over thorne south yorkshire i would think it was sometime in 1936 he said it was massive and there was a large shadow cast by it and looking at the flights map route 4 westbound would suggest that to be correct
My earliest memory is being taken into a garden in Chichester Sussex to see an airship passing over, it would have been 1936
could it have been the Hindenburg
Ken Green
Chichester
Wow I just discovered this website! I remember reading about a demo or VIP type of flight the Hindenberg made by making a short loop through upstate New York on one of it’s visits to the US? I think this was sometime in the late 30’s. Do you have any information about this? I was just a kid then but I remember seeing a dirigible in the vacinity of Corning, NY.
You may be thinking about this:
http://www.airships.net/hindenburg/flight-schedule/millionaire-flight
Thank you for a link that fills in the details. Then it was indeed the Hindenburg that I saw. The date 1936 fits perfectly and there is no evidence that another airship, if any other were still flying by then, would have been in that part of the country. I remember well the phone ringing and my aunt shouting, “Look out the window” and there it was in the east, flying slowly to the north. A sight that has been imbeded in my memory ever since.
Dan,
I have a friend who swears, as a very young boy, saw the Hindenberg fly over Chillicothe, Missouri in 1936. I am skeptical unless it was on the 22 hr/45 min test flight #4. Could he be correct?
Doubtful, unless Chillicothe, Missouri is close to Germany. The first flight to America was the 12th of the Hindenburgs first year and that was only from Germany to Lakehurst and back. Perhaps it was the USS Los Angeles, and I am not sure the Navy was flying her in 1936.
I vividly remember my mother holding me at our open window in Stepney London to see a large Airship flying very low over our roof tops it may have been the R101 which passed over London on in October 1930, as I had only just turned one year old then I find it hard to think I could remember this at that age so can you tell me if another Airship would have flew low over London after the R101 I could not have been more than two or three years old so the date would have to be between 1930 and 1932
Richard,
I have just spoken to a 94yr old lady who lived in Stepney in the 1930’s, she to recalled the Airship flying over the local church as she look out from her house. She also recalled the R101. I was amazed by this recollection and thought I would search the net to find out more and then I came across your feed. Fantastic.
Regards
James
My father grew up in New Jersey, about 50 miles from Lakehurst, and saw the Hindenburg more than once as it approached (or left). It was low enough that he could discern the swastika, which offended him. It was probably on June 24,1936–just after his 12th birthday–that he fired his brand new BB gun at the Hindenburg as it flew overhead. Obviously, it did not reach the airship, and if it had likely would not have done any damage–but he was making a statement.
Gostaria de saber onde consigo a lista dos tripulantes do vôos entre Brasil e Alemanhâ
obrigado
I have a question to ask regarding an old hand tinted framed photograph of a zepplin I found recently. The zepplin’s picture was taken over top of the parliment buildings on University avenue in Toronto. The lettering R-100 is clearly visable on the front third of the airship.On the back of the frame thereis writing that says this. R-100 german zepplin,crossed ocean and visited Toronto in late 1920’s, probably 1927. It later burned near New York that same trip. On the bottom right hand side of the pictureis the name Baxter Toronto. Probably the photographers name. I would appreciate any information I could get. Thanking you in advance John
The R-100 was one of two British passenger airships. After it made a roundtrip publicity flight to Toronto, after the R101 crashed in France, it was flattened by a steamroller and sold for scrap.
http://torontothenandnow.blogspot.ca/2011/08/25-his-majestys-airship-r100-over.html
Dan: I have a remote memory of seeing a large airship with a swastika on its tail fin when I was a child in Roselle NJ circa 1938,9 or 40.When were the last flights of such ships from Germany suspended? Bern
1937. (The Hindenburg’s last flight.)
Recently I was told by an old friend at the island of Saba (in the Caribbean near St. Maarten and Puerto Rico) that in the late 1930’s an “airship” passed over this remote island and caused quite a panic amongst the isolated population. Reportedly, it had “the large NAZI sign on its side”. If this is correct, it must have been the Hindenburg, but did this airship ever make a trip across the Caribbean? In the published Hindenburg flight schedule I can’t find info on this. I am tempted to think that what actually passed over Saba island was a US Navy blimp and that the “nazi sign” story was inspired by later pictures and stories about the Hindenburg disaster. If so is there a source of info on the use of blimps in US Navy fleet exercises in the Caribbean Sea that would fit the described situation? Thanks for your help. For info: I am not an airship buff, but rather I am writing a history of aviation in the Dutch Antilles islands, of which Saba is one.
Thanks, Jerry Casius, Ysselmuiden, Holland.
Thanks!This helped a HEAP load on this stupid projecti have to do!!!!(:
As a small child, I can remember a huge airship traversing the sky from north to south heading into Chicago. It was viewed from the back yard of my home in Zion about 50 miles north of the city. It also had a swastica painted on the tail. I checked this memory out with some other old timers that confirm this memory. If it wasn’t the Hindenberg then what airship could this have been. I’m tinking 1938 or 39.
LZ-127 flew over Chicago in 1933. See:
http://www.airships.net/lz127-graf-zeppelin/history#chicago
Good Day;
I recently came across a postcard carried on the first cross country flight of the Hindenburg. (Friedrichshafen-Löwental (6hr23min) [Test flight, Mail flight]).
Translation reads… “To Celebrate the first roundtrips of the new airship LZ129.. The best wishes from…†(followed by the writers initials). The address on the front of the card may still be valid, so I have prepared a letter to mail asking for more information.
Images are available on my Blog at http://www.livingskyaerobatics.com/blogindex.html
Daryl
I remember my Dad, 25 years dead now, telling me that his mother, my granny (long dead before I was born) saw the great German airship the Hindenburg passing over. Now she lived in the village of Clough, Co Down in Northern Ireland, north of the Mourne Mountains (as Don McLean sings “Where the mountains of Mourne Flow Down to the Seaâ€). I have often thought of looking to see if this was possible as Ireland was on the way and it flew I beleive at about 3000 feet.
Now all these years later with the help of your excellent Hindenburg flight path I was able check this. To my delight and wonder I can see that on one of the return flights from the US, the flight path does indeed pass over Ireland and Co Down (3). I could see that locally rather than fly over the Mourne mountains (Slieve Donard is 2,786 feet) it would fly north of them and thus over Clough and indeed she could in fact have seen it. It must have been an amazing sight in those pre-electricity candle light days of rural Ireland.
Can you tell me was this flight path (3), regular or a one off caused by bad weather or something? Thanks for that a precious memory validated and reinforced. Brian
I was on holiday near Newgale in Pembrokeshire in 1937 /8 We saw theis airship pass over us about 1000 ft or less.people in the gondola were waving to us.She appeared to go over St Davids Head and we assumed she was on her way to Ireland.Would love confirmation of this trip. I would mention that she passed over Milford Haven and Pembroke Dock which were both bombed heavily in the subsequent war.
When my mother was a child, she remembers an airship flying over Stack Rocks in South Pembrokeshire, heading North. This was sometime in the late thirties. It was a weekend, probably a Sunday.
Hope this is useful.
Hallo,
ich betreibe Familienforschung. Ein Karl Metzger ist 1936 von Frankfurt nach Rio de Janeiro gefahren. Rückfahrt war 3. bis 7. Dec. 1936.
Mich interessiert ein Erlebnisbericht eines Mitreisenden auf dieser Route. Auch wie Ablauf an Bord war.
Er war in Rio als Ingenieur bei einem Unternehmensneubau evtl. Kartonagenfabrik.
Danke schon jetzt für Hinweise.
All the best
Gerd
On May 6, 1937, I was living on Fountain Street in South Braintree, MA. I was a little over 3 years old at that time. I was playing across the street from my house near the Whitcombs. At our house we had a few Honey Locust trees which are noted for their thorns and flat seed pods. Their leaves were lacy-like and you could see anything behind it. As I was looking back to our yard, I saw through the trees a huge dirigible (or Zeppelin) flying fairly low from east to west. Several years later during WWII, I had seen blimps that were from the Weymouth Naval Air Station. The aircraft I saw in 1937 was very much larger than the blimps. To this day nearly 74 years later, I can still see in my mind that ship slowly moving west through the Honey Locust tree. Many years later I read an article about the disaster. It said that after arriving in the Boston area, they decided to move south at a low altitude so the people in that area could see the marvelous airship.
Ray
I was almost 3 years old and living on Elton St. in Dorchester in1937
I can still remember standing at the front window looking up over Savin Hill.
Suddenly this huge air ship with a huge swastika on the tail appeared heading south. This would have put it over Squantum NAS. No one ever believed that I saw the Hindenburg but seeing a sight like that at 3 years old is something you never forget.
A photo from the BPL shows it over So Boston heading for Dorchester Bay and Squantum. The anniversary yesterday brought this memory back
Tom Callahan
Dan,
Hats off for putting up such valuable information consolidating on one page! I am interested in finding out the flight duration of the Hidenburg when she was traversing from New York to Frankfurt in 1936, but upon research, cannot find her putting port on any other U.S. soil apart from Lakehurst. Under the 1936 flight schedule on your web site, its stated that on May 12-May 14: Lakehurst-Frankfurt (49hr13min). Now Lakehurst is under the state of New Jersey, not New York. I am beginning to suspect the question in view per se, but before I raise this issue on discrepancy for discussion with my lecturer, I would like to know from you(a Hidenburg expert), if the ship ever put port in New York, perhaps not as a revenue flight.
Your images on flight paths across the Atlantic is great. All flights to Europe from the U.S. took off from Lakehurst. All flights to the U.S. from Europe landed in Lakehurst, save for one. What is the destination as per flight path #4 on the West bound flight path chart?
Many thanks,
Idris
Naval Air Station Lakehurst was the only American base ever used by LZ-129 (and the only air station anywhere near New York with the facilities to accommodate a large rigid airship like Hindenburg).
It was common at the time to refer to vessels arriving in “New York” when they actually arrived in nearby New Jersey. For example, airline flights to “New York” actually landed at Newark Airport in New Jersey, and many German ocean liners bound for “New York” actually docked across the river in Hoboken, New Jersey.
Roy, there is a way to tell if the detour over Niagara Falls actually happened. In the archives of the library there are pictures and a story on the fly-over. I believe you are correct.
I am very glad to have come across this site. Very useful information and I must admit to be a complete Zeppelin nut! Loved this post! Keep up the good work.
Wow, just clicked on the hindenburg link. I didn’t really know a lot about the Hindenburg disaster but reading about it, it sounds so awful. I like that you’ve got a lot of history information here, my son is at school and history is his favourite subject so when he has to do a project I’m sure he’ll be able to get a lot from this site.
Schmeling – Hindenburg Flights:
In the Flight Schedule it states that Max Schmeling returned to Germany on the Hindenburg on 24 June 1936 after winning the fight with Joe Louis.
But the Passenger’s Diary Entry by passenger Clearence Hall states Schmeling was a passenger going to Lakehurst before the fight. Also this Diary is listed (Passenger description) for the August 5 – August 8 Frankfurt-Lakehurst. This is two months after the fight.
Something is wrong. 1) When did Schmeling come to the states, was it on the Hindenburg and the date? 2) If the Diary is correct what is the date of the Hindenburg flight that Mr Hall was on with Schmeling?
Thanks, Ron
Max Schmeling returned to Germany in June, 1936, via LZ-129 after defeating Joe Louis.
A few months later Schmeling traveled on LZ-129 again, this time from Germany to America on August 5-8, 1936, in anticipation of a fight with James J. Braddock which was scheduled for September 30, 1936, but which never took place.
I have an unusual photo of the Hindenburg over Boston. This is a long-range view with the Custom House Tower and the old United Shoe Building in the foreground. This photo was made into a hand-colored postcard with the inaccurate caption “General View of Boston by Aeroplane.”
As far as I can tell this photo was taken at the arrival of the first 1937 flight, but I would like to confirm it. I would be happy to send you a scan and share it with your readers.
I would like to apologize for my earlier comments regarding the LZ128. I mistakenly said that was it but upon closer examination it is the LZ129. I have been able to determine that one of the autographs on the photo is that of the pilot, but I dont recognize any of the other names. If someone cares to write to me I will send a copy of the photo and perhaps we can identify them. Regards, Chuck Love.
As to the other autographs on the photo…one is definitely “Rudolph Lau***”
The autograph that looks like “Rudolph Lau***” is probably Rudolf Sauter, the Hindenburg’s Chief Engineer.
I just found an exemplar of Max Pruss signature on a post card and it is indeed his autograph on the picture, along with five others but I dont recognize them enough to try to find out who they are. The airship is marked “O-LZ129” maybe the O is a “D”, it has swastikas on the tail fins and the olympic ring on the side of the ship forward of the LZ129. If anyone is interested I could forward a c opy of the photograph and they may be able to identify the other signatures…Chuck Love
[email protected] my email. please forward to me. i would love to check it out and thank you.
david
[email protected] my email. please forward to me. i would love to check it out and thank you. hope to hear a response from you.
david
I have a large (eleven by sixteen) photograph of the LZ129 in flight and it has several original autographs on it. Not being familiar with those people I dont know who they are but one appears to be that of Max Pruss (there are five others). I would to see an examplar of Max Pruss’ signature if someone could send it to me. Thanks..Chuck Love
I currently live in Wiesbaden Germany in an old apartment. My next door neighbor, who has lived in the building for many years, has a file of old photographs taken of and from the building. Two of the pictures are of labeled “Hindenburg, 1937” and are taken from my balcony. Looks like the Hindenburg to me, headed south over Wiesbaden, Germany. I don’t believe there is an exact date on the photos, but there are leaves on the trees, which mean now earlier than late April. Don’t know if you are interested in a copy….I could Digitize and send then on to you.
Just thought this might be of interest. Let me know
I would be interested in seeing the photos of Hindenburg over Wiesbaden.
Christine Salhany
I forgot to mention, the numbers on the side of the airship are “OLZ128” The first could possibly be a “D”, but I don’t know for sure. Someone who is familiar with the craft would possbly recognize the signatures on the photo. I assumed it was those of passengers but it may be crew. Regards, Chuck Love
Hi Dan, What a GREAT site this is! I’m a former CFI in single & twin engine airplanes & have been a Zeppelin nut since age 8. My mother grew up on the east side of Lake George in NY State, & before she passed away I was reading her mother’s diaries to her. An entry from 7/2/1936 says “Von Hindenburg Graf Zeppelin passed over in the night.” (She wasn’t much of an airship expert!) Anyway that fits with your transAtlantic flight map.
Once again I appreciate your no-BS site! George Wilson
Hi,
My 95 year old mother was telling me recently that she was working as a secretary in the local Town Hall in the summer of 1936 and recalls being called to the window in order to see the Hindenburg flying over the small market town of Settle, North Yorkshire.
At the time I wondered if her memory could be correct but can see from your information that she was spot on! How amazing. Thankyou for a fascinating website.
Last night my Dad told me of when he was growing up in the Bronx as an 8yr old, he saw the Hindenburg fly very close and had a very clear view of it. He describes knowing that it was a zeppelin but knew nothing of the Hindenburg. He recalls the next day people were talking about the Hindenburg disaster. We tried to find the exact flight path over the New york area but your diagram is not detailed. Do you know any info on this? If not, I’ll suggest that it flew over the Bronx and maybe down the Hudson because it looks like it flew down from Canada and the north.
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
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?
Hindenburg did not fly over London in 1937, but if it could have been earlier, you might have seen a zeppelin.
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
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?
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.
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?
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.
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.
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.
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
Please can you help me . i remember being at my grannies in a village called GLUSBURN between keighley and skipton ,west yorkshire and seeing a zep come over would this be th above flight and also can you give me some idea of the date . I am now coming up to 80 but remeber it quite well.thank you for your help in this matter.
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.
Hi Richard, I work for the Yorkshire Film Archive and have just viewed a 9.5mm film of the Hindenburg passing over Silsden made by Wylbert Kemp. I guess this would have been the same occasion that your father filmed. Do you still have the original films? Or, if not a copy of the DVD?
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
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.
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.
🙂
what was the actual departure time at Frankfort on May 3rd
LZ-129 departed Frankfurt at 19:16 (7:16 PM) on May 3, 1937.
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
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.
Hindenburg made several flights in the Frankfurt area in early 1937, and Frankenthal is only about 100km from Frankfurt, so it is certainly possible.
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?
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.)
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.
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!
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.
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.
Jon I love the website and it helped with my research project.
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.
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?
@ 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.
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??
@ 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!
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
@ 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.)
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?
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!
FYI, my Dad was raised in Kendal, Ontario (east of Toronto) and he told me that as a child he too saw “the Hindenburg” fly over their area one night. He didn’t know the date, but he remembered his Dad waking all the kids up and rushing them outside to see the historical sight. They had never seen such a thing and it was truly a marvel to him.
THANK YOU DAN!!!
This is exactly what I was looking for
Phil