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On May 6, 1937, the Hindenburg airship caught fire as it was trying to dock at Naval Station Lakehurst in Manchester Township, New Jersey. Thirty-six of the 97 people onboard were killed, in addition to one crewman on the ground. The disaster is often called the most devastating loss of life during the zeppelin era, but the Hindenburg wasn’t the worst airship accident. In fact, it wasn’t even the first one.
The U.S.S. Akron, a helium-filled rigid airship that belonged to the Navy, was trouble from the start. Just a few months after its official maiden voyage on November 2, 1931, the Akron broke away from handlers as a group of Congressmen were getting ready to board the ship for a demonstration.
The Hindenburg
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Zeppelin
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