Hindenburg 1937: The Day the Sky Burned Over Lakehurst, NJ

On May 6, 1937, the largest airship ever built came down in flames over a Navy field in Ocean County, New Jersey, and the story most people know from grainy newsreel footage is only part of what happened that evening. This is the minute-by-minute account of the Hindenburg disaster at Lakehurst, told through the eyewitnesses who were actually standing on that field: the local civilians who worked the landing lines for a dollar a day, the officers on the mooring mast, the crew inside the ship, and the one Ocean County man who showed up to grab a rope and never went home. From the thunderstorms that delayed the landing to the thirty-four seconds it took the ship to burn, to the tourist rush and fake souvenirs that followed, this is the full ground-level story of the day the sky burned over Lakehurst. Chapters 0:00 Intro 0:43 Lakehurst Naval Air Station 2:52 The Hindenburg's Final Flight 5:44 The Fire Begins 8:36 Eyewitness Accounts 10:45 Aftermath and Investigation 15:46 Legacy of the Disaster If you grew up near Lakehurst, or you've just seen the footage a hundred times without knowing the full story, give this one a watch. Let me know in the comments what piece of New Jersey history you grew up hearing about that nobody ever fully explained.