Report of the Airship ''Hindenburg'' Accident Investigation

On the evening of May 6, 1937, the German airship Hindenburg descended toward Lakehurst Naval Air Station in New Jersey in light rain. Thirty-six seconds later, it was a Column of fire. This volume is the complete official investigation report conducted by the United States Department of Commerce into the disaster that ended the age of passenger airships forever. Drawing on testimony from survivors, analysis of wreckage, and examination of the ship's fuel and construction, the original investigators pursued the question that has haunted aviation history: what sparked the ignition? The report presents the technical findings, witness observations, and conclusions reached in the weeks following the catastrophe, before myth and memory took hold. For historians, aviation enthusiasts, and anyone drawn to the puzzles of technological disaster, this document offers the authoritative account produced while the ash was still warm. It remains essential reading not for easy answers, but for the rigorous attempt to find them.