National Geographic: Hindenburg Page #3

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It was immense.

It was enormous.

And it was somewhat overwhelming,

especially for a child.

And one would get caught up

in the general euphoria.

Life on board was just like

daily life at home.

Breakfast would be served very nicely,

just like in a big hotel.

The meals were very good, and you would

look forward to what was on the menu.

The Hindenburg's chefs turned out

gourmet meals served on fine china,

and accompanied by

French and German wines.

Alfred Grozinger recalls the time he

spent working in the airship's kitchen.

When I got onto the Hindenburg

I was 19 years old and, as a cook,

I made all the voyages

from the first to the last.

We did our utmost

to make everybody happy.

Whether it was the crew or the

passengers, we did what we could,

and I would contend that

none of the passengers had anything

to complain about.

They were very satisfied with

the food.

They were only worried that

they'd gained too much weight

during their trip.

After dinner, passengers could enjoy

drinks in the lounge

and musical entertainment

around its specially-designed piano

constructed of aluminum

to save weight.

Next door to the lounge was

the reading and writing room,

where passengers could enjoy

a quiet hour with a book.

There was a typewriter

for the inevitable reporters

and private desks where travelers could

write to their loved ones back home.

Mail could even be posted from

the Hindenburg,

which maintained

a working post office in flight.

The Hindenburg rivaled the best

ocean liners in comfort and amenities.

Most of the passenger rooms were

doubles- efficient, but comfortable.

And if you were willing

to pay a premium,

you could enjoy the luxury of

a private stateroom.

But luxury didn't come cheap.

A ticket on the Hindenburg

cost $400 each way-

more than $4,000 in today's currency.

Amazingly,

despite the proximity of millions of

cubic feet of flammable hydrogen,

the Hindenburg also featured a smoking

room-isolated by an airlock

and equipped with

a single electric lighter.

But for most passengers,

it was the observation windows

on the promenade deck

that provided the greatest attraction.

Coasting along at 80 miles an hour,

less than 800 feet up,

the views were incredible.

There was always something new

to look at.

You could see fishes

or an ocean liner.

That was a major event.

Edith Dieckmann was married to

a Zeppelin Company physicist.

She and her husband joined

Hugo Eckener

on the Hindenburg's first

transatlantic crossing

and she recalls an unusual encounter

with a passing ship.

The captain of the ocean liner

made contact with Dr. Eckener,

and asked him if he would

deviate from the route

in order to fly over the ship, and

Dr. Captain Eckener, of course, agreed.

He even lowered a bottle of champagne

down to the ship,

and the first one broke, but

the second time he tried it, it worked.

For the crew, the thrill of flying

on the Hindenburg was matched

by the excitement of visiting ports

of call like New York.

I was just fascinated

by the skyscrapers.

The European cities,

compared to New York,

were really just provincial cities.

This was something

completely different.

Eugen Bentele was a mechanic

on the Hindenburg.

He and his fellow crew members were

treated like heroes wherever they went.

Bentele remembers one occasion

when he hitched a ride to New York City

and ran into a little trouble.

Just before we got to Holland Tunnels,

my driver must have made a wrong turn.

There was this whistling

sound-uh-oh, the police.

And we pulled over, and the policeman

was all ready to write us out a ticket.

Then the driver said to him,

"I have a man from the Hindenburg,"

and he waved us off.

And I would imagine that

perhaps only the astronauts,

who flew around the world

in 90 minutes,

could have had a stronger impression.

It was a wonderful way of traveling.

And I have to say, it was

the most beautiful way of traveling

that I ever experienced in my life.

Besides being beautiful, the Hindenburg

was promoted as being perfectly safe.

I am convinced that under all weather

conditions, even the most unfavorable,

we will be able to make the flight in

all regularity and safety. Thank you.

By the spring of 1937,

as Hitler continued his military

buildup and aggressive foreign policy,

many Europeans were becoming

increasingly nervous

about the possibility of war.

That may explain why ticket sales

for the Hindenburg were down

from the year before.

There had also been a series of

bomb threats in recent days.

Nevertheless, on May 3,

the inaugural flight of the Hindenburg's

second season proceeded on schedule.

Hugo Eckener wasn't on board,

but his heir apparent,

Ernst Lehmann, was.

It promised to be a routine flight.

The airship took off with 97 people

aboard, including 36 passengers.

One of them was Burtis Dolan,

a perfume company executive,

returning home to his wife Mildred,

after a four-month buying trip.

Anxious about his flying on the

Hindenburg, she had urged him to sail.

So he wrote to her,

apologizing for ignoring her wishes.

Not that I fear in any respect

the safety of the journey.

There is less risk than

ordinary flying.

Of course, Precious,

none of us know the lord's will,

and if anything should happen to me en

route, it will be too late to regret.

The crossing was uneventful,

except for unusually strong headwinds.

By the afternoon of May 6th,

the airship was 12 hours late.

One of those who remembers

its approach is Alice Taylor.

I had taken my mother to Asbury Park,

that was a seaside resort,

to shop for a birthday present.

It was almost time for the store to close,

it was nearly 6:
00, and Mother and I stopped.

When we looked out the window,

to our surprise,

we saw coming directly toward us

through the clouds, the Hindenburg.

That sight I'll never, never forget.

I remember saying to my mother,

"Oh, I would love to give you a ride

on her for your birthday present."

She laughed and said, "Oh, but those on

that ship are the rich and the famous.

But that's a beautiful thought.

I'll dream about it."

The Hindenburg had been scheduled to

land at Lakehurst, New Jersey at 4:00.

But her landing would be

delayed further.

It was a completely ordinary trip.

Just like always,

sometimes there was bad weather,

sometimes good weather.

But when we arrived

at the airfield,

the entire area was filled

with thunderstorms.

We were going to have to fly around

in circles for about two hours,

I think, before we would be

allowed to land.

Verna Thomas lived just a few miles

from the Naval Air Station at Lakehurst.

All day long, this was all you heard

on the radio-

about the Hindenburg

being still delayed.

Around evening, when the word had

come through that the ship

was gonna come into Lakehurst,

my husband, he says,

"Let's go up and get into

the station and see it for good."

On the ground, crowds had gathered

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