The Hindenburg disaster

The German-designed and built passenger airship Hindenburg (LZ-129) flies over Manhattan, April 1, 1936.

Ground crew swings into action to help land the Hindenburg dirigible May 9, 1936, a year before a disaster.

Moments before it caught fire, the Hindenburg circles the airfield at Lakehurst, N.J., following a cross-ocean flight, May 6, 1937. The lighter-than-air craft had made more than 30 successful cross-ocean trips previously.

Following its first cross-ocean flight of the year, the hydrogen-filled Hindenburg burst into flames, killing 35 of the 97 passengers and crew members aboard, as well as one person on the ground, May 6, 1937. The disaster effectively ended this type of commercial air travel.

The Hindenburg explodes into flames at Lakehurst, N.J., on May 6, 1937.

The Hindenburg burns on the ground on May 6, 1937.

A crowd gathers around the still smoldering skeleton of the Hindenberg in Lakehurst, N.J.

Members of the Board of Inquiry for the Department of Commerce stand in front of the ruins of the Hindenburg at Lakehurst, N.J., as a probe into the dirigible's explosion opens May 10, 1937.