Row over Hindenburg Research report on Adani: What is the firm named after

The company’s website says, “We view the Hindenburg as the epitome of a totally man-made, totally avoidable disaster. Almost 100 people were loaded onto a balloon filled with the most flammable element in the universe. This was despite dozens of earlier hydrogen-based aircraft meeting with similar fates. Nonetheless, the operators of the Hindenburg forged ahead, adopting the oft-cited Wall Street maxim of this time is different … We look for similar man-made disasters floating around in the market and aim to shed light on them before they lure in more unsuspecting victims.”

A story of exploration and air travel

Human fascination with touching the sky long predates our species’ technological capability to do so. From the Ramayana’s Pushpak Vimana to the Ancient Greek myth of Daedelus who built wings to fly away from King Minos’s captivity, the idea of flying appears to hold cross cultural appeal. Yet, just like Daedelus’s son Icarus fell to his death after flying too close to the sun, humans have also been long aware of the risks of flight. Regardless, these risks never stopped human dreams to take to the skies.

Thus, when human beings started developing capabilities to achieve some sort of flight, despite grave dangers associated with still primitive technology, they persisted on. While many will credit the Wright Brothers as the pioneers of human aviation, the first instances of human flight occurred more than a century before them.

In 1783, the Montgolfier brothers achieved the first “aerostatic flight” at Versailles using what can be described as a hot-air balloon. As the inventors figured out and achieved the vertical thrust required to lift off, they began the age of aviation. In many ways, much before aeroplanes took to the skies, the 19th century saw aviation develop in the form of increasingly sophisticated hot air balloons.

Airships promise to change how humans travel

This would culminate in the development of airships: operating with the same basic principle as hot air balloons but with far greater endurance and manoeuvrability. Also known as dirigible balloons, they work using a “lifting gas” that is lighter than the surrounding air – pump in enough of the appropriate gas in a huge balloon-like chamber, you will be able to rise with additional weight tethered.

Early dirigibles used hydrogen due to its extremely high lifting capacity and ready availability. However, this was a problem, as hydrogen gas was also highly inflammable. Any untoward accident could very quickly turn a dirigible into a flaming wreck.

Over time, dirigibles became larger and larger, until they began to be called airships – all set to revolutionise how humans travel. With aeroplanes still in their infancy in the early 1900s, airships were far more developed and ready for commercial use.

The Zeppelin Company

In 1908, Count Ferdinand von Zeppelin founded the Zeppelin Company which became pioneers in designing rigid airships (airships having rigid frames). These massive icons and flag-bearers of German engineering excellence began to be used for both civilian and military purposes.

In 1909, the company started the world’s first commercial aviation company. By July 1914, it had transported 34,028 passengers on 1,588 commercial flights; the fleet had flown 172,535 kilometres in 3,176 hours. As Europe entered the Great War, Zeppelins began to be used by the German military for reconnaissance and bombing.

As the war ended, the Zeppelin Company spread beyond German shores – the United States being its most enthusiastic destination. In 1929, the Company proposed its biggest, most daring project yet – an nearly 800 feet long behemoth that could carry 140,000 cubic metres of hydrogen and 10 Maybach engines for propulsion. This massive airship undertook its maiden flight in 1936, nearly seven years after it was first conceived and over four years after construction began, and was named after German war hero from the Great War and President of the Weimar Republic, Field Marshal Paul von Hindenburg.

The flying Titanic

The Hindenburg made 17 round-trips across the Atlantic in 1936, 10 to the United States and seven to Brazil. The airship became a popular choice for wealthy individuals to travel long distances in a quick time and a lot of comfort. It was said to be so stable and smooth that often, passengers would not even realise when it took off.

Apart from being a technological marvel, the Hindenburg also boasted of all the creature comforts that one could hope for. From gourmet dining to an aluminium concert piano that was placed in the ship’s “music salon,” the Hindenburg was the epitome of luxury. However, much like the Titanic a couple of decades ago, the Hindenburg would soon see its downfall.

Unlike the Titanic, the Hindenburg disaster would be photographed for the world to see – ending the age of airships soon after it began.

The Hindenburg Disaster

On May 3, 1937, the Hindenburg left Frankfurt for the US East Coast. After an uneventful journey, it arrived in Naval Station Lakehurst, New Jersey, the United States. However, while trying to land, disaster struck. Investigators would later blame the disaster on an “electrostatic discharge” – a spark – that would engulf the whole aircraft in flames in a mere 32 seconds and send it crashing down to the ground in a ball of fire.

What caused the spark is still debated, with theories ranging from static electricity, and engine failure to sabotage. What is not debated, though, is what caused a tiny spark to devolve into a fireball in a matter of seconds – hydrogen gas.
For airships, it was their Icarus moment. While Hindenburg killed 35, the fifth most deadly airship disaster at the time (and till date), images of it falling out of the sky in flames found their way to the front pages of newspapers across the world. This, along with fast-improving aeroplane technology, would soon make airships obsolete.

Today, Hindenburg’s name continues to be evoked as the epitome of “human-made disasters,” not because of its scale but because of the sheer predictability of such an incident.