The Hindenburg in Flames: How a Photograph Marked the End of the Airship

The Hindenburg in Flames: How a Photograph Marked the End of the Airship — page 7
By 4 15 p m the Hindenburg was nearing Lakehurst Naval Air Station In 1921 the Navy had made the base the headquarters for all its inflatable aircraft Lakehurst was also the landing site for all zeppelins arriving from Germany The airships approached a large metal tower in the airfield called a landing or mooring mast The nose of the airships attached to the mast The Hindenburg however was still several hours away from docking at the mast As it approached Lakehurst the weather turned bad with thunderstorms in the area At 5 42 p m the commander at Lakehurst Charles Rosendahl sent a message to the airship CONDITIONS STILL UNSETTLED RECOMMEND DELAY LANDING UNTIL FURTHER WORD FROM STATION ADVISE YOUR DECISION Rosendahl had captained surface ships before volunteering to serve in the Navy’s airship program in 1923 He commanded two of the Navy’s dirigibles and had flown several times on the Hindenburg From the Hindenburg Captain Max Pruss radioed back this response WE WILL WAIT TILL YOU REPORT THAT LANDING CONDITIONS ARE BETTER Like Rosendahl Pruss had years of experience on dirigibles He had taken command of the Hindenburg late in 1936 While he waited for the weather to clear Pruss had the helmsman steer the airship away from Lakehurst and toward the New Jersey shore At Lakehurst Naval Station a group of people was also hoping the weather would improve so the Hindenburg could land Relatives of some of the passengers eagerly waited to see their loved ones and newspaper photographers wanted to get pictures A Chicago radio station had sent a reporter and his engineer and several news companies had movie cameras there to record the landing Also waiting were more than 200 workers sailors and