‘OH,THEHUMANITY’

Inside the Hindenburg

The Hindenburg was the pride of Germany’s zeppelin fleet. Fast, smooth and state-of-the-art modern, the Hindenburg was the largest object that had ever flown. It could carry between 50 and 70 passengers across the Atlantic and, in fact, made 10 round trips to the U.S. and seven to Brazil in its first year of service. The life of the Hindenburg came to a quick, sad and spectacular end in Lakehurst, New Jersey, however, on May 6, 1937 — 85 years ago.

The Hindenburg was gorgeous, fast, efficient and nothing short of amazing. But it had a rather large Achilles’ heel: The 16 huge bags of gas that kept it aloft carried hydrogen, rather than the nonflammable helium its designers had wished for. At the time, helium was rare and expensive — and available only from the United States. In 1927, the U.S. had banned export of helium, meaning Germany was forced to rely on the much more hazardous hydrogen.

After 17 successful round trips across the Atlantic during its first year of operation, the Hindenburg opened its 1937 season in March with a trip to Brazil and back.

The voyage took a few hours longer than expected, thanks to strong headwinds over the Atlantic. Then, the Hindenburg arrived at Lakehurst only to find a line of thunderstorms lingering over the area.

Sixteen enormous gas cells filled with hydrogen gave the ship its lift. The cells were made of cotton coated with flexible plastic and held in place with metal wires and rope netting.

The Hindenburg’s final flight

Its second trip was to the U.S.: A Naval Air Station in Lakehurst, N.J. The Hindenburg departed from Frankfurt on the evening of May 3. Only half the Hindenburg’s usual load of passengers were aboard for this strip: 36, instead of 70. In addition, the ship carried 61 crew members, including 21 trainees.

The ship was, however, fully booked for its return flight — passengers hoped to enjoy a luxurious zeppelin flight over the Atlantic to Germany and then make a

Hindenburg Capt. Max Pruss put his windfall of time to good use, making a long, lazy pass over and around New York City to show off his airship. Gothamites crowded the streets to catch a glimpse of the enormous zeppelin passing overhead.

A walkway ran through the middle of each cell so the crew could inspect them for leaks during flight. short hop to London the next week to attend the coronation of King George VI and Queen Elizabeth.

Still, the Hindenburg was big news in the

U.S. Radio stations and newsreel firms sent crews to cover the arrival of the world’s largest zeppelin in Lakehurst on May 6.

Conspiracy theorists suggested that the disaster was caused by a bomb — probably planted by a crew member. No evidence of this has ever been found. The most likely cause: A discharge of static electricity.

The United Nations said Wednesday the number of people without enough to eat on a daily basis reached all-time high last year and is poised to hit “appalling” new levels as the Ukraine war affects global food production.

Almost 193 million people in 53 countries suffered acute food insecurity in 2021 due to what the U.N. said was a “toxic triple combination” of conflict, weather extremes and the economic effects of the coronavirus pandemic.

The U.N. said the total number of people without adequate food every day increased by 40 million last year, confirming a “wor- risome trend” of annual increases over several years.

The figures appeared in the Global Report on Food Crisis, which is produced jointly by the U.N. Food and Agriculture Organization, the World Food Program and the European Union.

Countries experiencing protracted conflicts, including Afghanistan, Congo, Ethi- opia, Nigeria, South Sudan, Syria and Yemen, had the most food-insecure popula- tions, according to the report.

The report forecasts that Somalia will face one of the world’s worst food crises in 2022 due to prolonged drought, increasing food prices and persistent vio- lence. The various factors could lead 6 million Soma- lis into acute food crisis, the U.N. said.

“Today, if more is not done to support rural communities, the scale of the devastation in terms of hunger and lost livelihoods will be appalling,” the U.N. said. “Urgent humanitarian action is needed on a massive scale to prevent that from happening.”

The war in Ukraine poses further risks for Somalia and many other African countries that reply on Ukraine and Russia for wheat, fertilizer and other food supplies.

WFP’S chief economist Arif Husain said the U.N. food agency projects that an addi- tional 47 million people will become food insecure “in crisis or worse situation” because of the war in Ukraine as a result of higher food and fuel prices and inflation.

Even before the war, people were dealing with the consequences of the COVID-19 pandemic and reduced incomes, and food prices were at a 10-year high and fuel prices were at a seven-year high, he told reporters at U.N. head- quarters in New York at a virtual press conference launching the report.

“This crisis is potentially more fuel on a fire, which was already lit and burning up,” Husain said.

The United Nations previously said the war was help- ing to send prices for com- modities such as grains and vegetable oils to record highs, threatening millions with hunger and malnourishment.

“When we look at the consequences of what’s happening as a result of the war in Ukraine, there is real cause for concern of how this will amplify the acute food needs that exist in these food crisis countries,” said Rein Paulsen, director of the Food and Agriculture Organization’s office of emergencies and resilience.

He told the virtual U.N. briefing that the percentage of the population analyzed in the report who are in acute food insecurity has gone up from just over 11% in 2016 to just over 22% in 2021.

At the same time, Paulsen said, funding to help them has dropped. In 2021, $8.1 billion was available for emergency work, a 25% drop from 2017, he said.

T he re p ort called for greater investment in agriculture and appealed for $1.5 billion to help farmers in at-risk regions with the upcoming planting season to help stabilize and increase local food production.

WFP’S Husain said his message to rich nations in the G-7 and G-20 is that food insecurity and hunger around the world are “exploding” and “if we don’t address these issues we end up paying frankly thousand times more just a few years down the road.” He said the world has seen this happen with the Syrian war and outpouring to Europe, with Afghanistan, and with Central Americans and Haitians trying to enter the U.S.

As the Hindenburg made its final approach into Lakehurst, it dropped water ballast and slowly approached handlers on the ground who would grab mooring lines and lower it into position where passengers could disembark. But just then, a fire broke out along the rear of the zeppelin. The entire ship quickly became engulfed in hydrogen-fueled flames. The rear of the craft fell to the ground as burning gas was pushed out of the Hindenburg’s nose.

In less than a minute, the bow of the zeppelin smashed into the ground. Passengers and crew leaped from windows and crawled out of the flaming wreckage. Of the 97 who were aboard, 35 — 13 passengers and 22 crew — were killed, plus one on the ground.