Newly Analyzed Footage Helps Solve Hindenburg Mystery
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- Опубліковано 16 тра 2021
- A new piece of the Hindenburg puzzle has surfaced.
The precise trigger for the conflagration that brought down the Hindenburg has eluded experts for over 80 years, with theories about the airship’s fire ranging from deliberate sabotage to a spark generated by the stormy conditions in which it landed.
Watch "Hindenburg: The New Evidence," streaming now on PBS: www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/video/h...
Despite two official investigations into the accident, one American and one German, the origin of the fire has largely remained a mystery. But newly analyzed amateur footage of the crash shows the airship’s final seconds from a fresh angle-allowing historians for the first time to see the airship from nose to tail just after the fire breaks out.
PRODUCTION CREDITS:
Directed by Kirk Wolfinger
Digital producer: Lorena Lyon
© WGBH Educational Foundation 2021 - Наука та технологія
Kudos to the guy who filmed this tragedy with such a steady hand. Nowadays, everyone has a camera on their phone and it seems like no one can record something like this without panicking and pointing it at the ground.
I totally agree with you.
@davidcarp8084. David, I hope this gets to you. I asked about being a Christian in view of the disillusionment following the fair, and then Pearl Harbor on Dec. 7, 1941. Since this world didn’t have anything promising to happen, I thought maybe some people would turn to religion and the hope of a better tomorrow in heaven. Someone once told me, if you’re a Christian, you have a 50% chance of getting there. If you’re not, that reduces to no chance. So I was wondering if you had made the changeover. But back to the fair. I asked Siri to show me photos of Elektro the robot, and she did plus his dog Sparko! Elektro was able to smoke, and when he saw a lady he would say, “Hi, toots!” Crazy. I had the opportunity to go to the Seattle World’s Fair in ‘62. The Space Needle and connecting Monorail were new. In one large pavilion couples were dancing, just regular dancing, no Lindy Hop or swing! 😮🤗😁. They also had big fountains with the water spraying at different heights through colored lights. It was good, but I think ‘39 would have been better! Lucky you! That’s all for now.
Or waving the phone back and forth.
That's because it was most likely a large camera on a tripod.
I was flipping through the channels when this came on. My Mom asked me what this was about and I said it was some new information on the Hindenburg disaster. She then said something that caught me off guard, "Oh, I remember that." I was like, "Shut the freak up, you don't remember that!" She said, "I remember seeing that in the movie theater." Then I did the math... Born in the summer of 1925, the Hindenburg disaster happened in 1937, she was 12 years old when that happened!! She then told me that she was at the movie theater with her sister and something like Movietone News came on and it showed the footage that most of us have seen already but it was "real" news back in 1937!!
Select .25 for the playback speed and watch from 5:55 forward through that footage of the Hindenburg burning. The tail fins are already completely engulfed when the camera pans up initially, and it appears that some hydrogen cells just slightly further up near the tail are beginning to burn. The camera pans down for just a fraction of a second and by the time it pans back up, the whole back half of the Hindenburg is aflame, literally 2 seconds later. By 6:03, that tail end of the ship strikes the ground as the rest of the ship follows within seconds thereafter. Absolutely remarkable footage.
also note that the jets of flame spew out of the gas vents on the top of the ship. The fire spread through the axial catwalk and fed off more oxygenated areas - the gas valves just above the corridor every 2 cells apart would be where the hydrogen mixes with oxygen first, while the gas cells in the front are mostly still intact as they contain hydrogen. It's likely ignition started outside the gas cell first but the fire fed off of gas cell 4, creating a "mantle effect".
Thanks for the narration i guess??
@@juanantoniocruz2937 Thanks for the commentary, I guess??
Most are unaware that the stern caught fire and was burning for several seconds before the gas cell exploded. In still photos taken at the earliest moments of the fire it can be seen that fire had already consumed the skin of the tailfins and much of the underbelly in the stern before the fireball.
Witnesses described a small burst of flame at the top just in front of the top fin that looked like an old-fashioned photographer's flash that then spread rapidly along the skin and engulfed the stern. THEN the fireball came and the ship began to fall. Most photos and film were not initiated until this was well in progress because it happened unexpectedly. Everybody had taken a break while the mundane chore of connecting the lines and winching her down was going on, so they did not have cameras ready.
My head hurts trying to read this
About 7 years ago I talked to a 95-yr. old about the crash. He said he was in hs and that they had been discussing the future and viability of dirigible flight. After the disaster they no longer discussed it. An 85-yr. old I talked to described it like the grade school student he was - big flames, lots of people running around! Werner Gustav Doehner was a 7-yr. old thrown out of the gondola by his mother. She didn’t make it, he did. He died a couple of years ago at 90. Exciting times back then. Amelia Earhart flew out of Oakland May 20. She probably flew over the sparkling new Golden Gate Bridge not seeing any cars on it. It opened later that week, May 27, ‘37. Music on radio probably included ‘Putting on the Ritz’ and an earlier version of ‘Marie’.😮😮
-Come on & get wit the programming, 85 year old people See all kinds of things. My 88 year old grand daddy told me he seen a ufo & he waved at the alien and the alien gave him the bird.Sorry but i have a hard time with that story.
I thought his mother did survive, it was his sister and father who died.
@@j.paulm.1575 Thank you for your response. They talk about all the temporary coffins in the warehouse, and that hers was among them. Whatever happened, it was a traumatic situation.
I love how delighted the expert was at every piece they brought. It must be so rare to get the camera AND everything that came with the camera alongside a historic film!
What's more interesting to me is that the archivist is able to verify the provenance of the film. This is essential to verifying that the footage is, indeed, actual footage of the Hindenburg going down.
I'm interested in the archival portion because my wife is an assistant archivist at the US Air Force Historical Research Agency at Maxwell AFB, Alabama.
They've got to have those extra pieces because many people would try to fake stuff. So interesting though.
When I was stationed at NAS Lakehurst back in the spring of 1963, some of the wreckage of the Hindenburg were still on the side of the field . There was a big pile of it.
I am surprised that made it through the world war. We were scrapping every piece of unused metal in sight for the war effort. It's one of the reasons why so few cars that were junked before the war survive today. Most were hauled off and melted down.
Doesnt speak very respecfully of the lives lost or of the professionalism to get to every possible contributing factor of the disaster that wreckage of the Hindenburg was still sitting on the side of the field 36 years afterwards now does it?
When you see how fast the whole thing burned up, it's astounding that 2/3 of the people onboard survived. You would think there would be none, yet so many lived. One member of the ground crew was killed when the airship fell on him.
Alan Hagaman was a civilian conteactor working for the U.S. Navy as a groundsman. They were paid $5 per day to capture and release the giant airship by ropes. That was a lot of money during the Great Depression. Because the groundsmen thought the Hindenburg would land hours earlier, they ended up waiting around all day for the airship's arrival. Hagaman's wife made him a ham sandwich for lunch as he hurried to Lakehurst Naval Air Station that morning. Little did she know that would be the last time that she saw him alive.
Every time I see footage of the Hidenburg that same thought come to mind. How come 2/3, 62 passengers survived!
@@Dr_Do-Little Hydrogen burns at a much lower temperature than say for example jet fuel or wood.
@@ab-er4dh I've heard that it wasn't the hydrogen that burned up but the cheap paint they painted on the skin of the ship.
It doesn't seem possible that they could have escaped that quick
It blows my mind no one wanted this footage, this is incredible!!
The disaster was an inside job, a cover-up.
Airships were very common, for a very long time.
The Billionaire Class wanted their history erased, and people to buy cars instead.
A series of unfortunate events... ☠️💀💔
@@danimart3374 You sound like someone who would vote for Trump.
just a thought, but back in those days, film was rare enough that anyone could charge pretty much whatever they wanted. He could of been too expensive and then just forgot about
@@ToJoAudio or it was a coverup/corruption to hide the start of the fire
I watched this footage for the first time just days ago and I thought I'd see them all.
Kinda hard to believe it took decades for this remarkable footage to surface. Blows my mind.
there's no particular reason to think it wasn't seen before or that anything said in this is true, for that matter
@@jgunther3398 Yes, it may have been seen before. Though this would likely be the first time that the footage has been viewed by a large audience (ie the internet / TV.)
blows my mind how fast it just went from one piece to scrap metal…
Has the film been corrected for frame rate? If it is shot at 24 fps and then played back at 30 fps, the playback will be sped up considerably. For example, marching soldiers in old WW2 films step along at a good clip, almost so fast as to look unreal.
Fun fact: Helium was discovered in the U.S. back in 1903 in a little town in Kansas, named Dexter, about 60 miles southeast of Wichita. I live about 75 miles away but have driven through there several times on the way to a nearby lake. Nothing to see, but it's interesting to think about it and that the town had thought it was a typical natural gas field and when it wasn't flammable, they basically just abandoned the well. It wasn't until many years later that they realized how valuable the gas was, but by then, Texas had also discovered the gas and had harnessed it and became the largest producer in the world at the time. There are now several countries that produce it from natural gas fields but the process is expensive to refine it because the helium percentages are low. But, in Texas, Oklahoma and Kansas, the concentrations are the highest in the world and costs much less to refine it. The U.S. remains the highest producer of Helium, about 75% of the world consumption and most of it comes from Texas, Oklahoma and Kansas.
A helium supply was discovered there, but the actual element was discovered in a spectral analysis of the sun. It was unknown on Earth, so hypothesized to be unique to the sun and named after the Greek word for the sun (“helios”). It was discovered on Earth seeping from uranium ore, a byproduct of some types of radioactive decay.
The Nova episode covers a lot of ground. The new film shows the fire breaking out; testimony by crew in secondary steering station had established that fire had broken out just above them, in the rear fin assembly. Still no detailed view of tail but better then all the other pictures and film. Landing lines and cable had dropped earlier and grounded the airframe right away. Having been flying for days and passing thru thunder storms, Hindenburgh's outer cover had a considerable static charge on it - many places on cover that didn't ground right away to frame underneath. Not surprising that a fire occurred at furthest point from where grounding lines were. Just incredibly bad luck that going dead slow allowed hydrogen gas to remain in parts of the hull.
Yes but I think it would have been better if they discussed how the leak might have happened, and how the film seems to show hydrogen spewing out of the gas vents well before the cells and fabric in those areas are fully consumed.
No hydrogen airships ever exploded such way. It nothing to with the static electricity etc. Its clearly a bomb inside.
@@anunheardtruth3071 Dr. Hugo Eckener, the chairman of the Zeppelin Company, speculated that it was pilot error which caused the crash. The captain of the ship was hastily wanting to land as soon as possible because they were already very late and also due to weather conditions. In order for the Hindenburg to line up with the mooring mast, she had made two tight turns. It is theorized that these turns overstressed the airframe and snapped a bracing wire, which whiplashed back into a gas cell and tore it open. There are records that can backup this claim as bracing wires have snapped before on the Hindenburg. Unfortunately, she was unlucky this time.
This blows my mind. I've known about the Hindenburg for years and never knew about this footage. It's honestly better than the other footage of the event, and more terrifying too, you see the whole ship rather than just the front at one angle.
This piece of film is without a doubt a historical artifact!
The commentary coming from the path news real film released at the time says it all. The reporter reported that the ship was dropping more ballist then he had seen in previous flights. The film shows the ship appears to be tail low while dropping ballist atleast 3 times from the rear. There was a leak in one or possibly both rear cells next to the rear most top vent which is where the fire started and immediately blew off the fin covering because the fins were full of a oygen/ hyfrogen mix by this time. There was a leak, a huge one that developed while they were waiting for the weather to clear and the frame may have been over stessed. Notice the difference in the character of the fire from rear to front. The rear explodes, indicative of a hydrogen, air mix and hence a leak. While the front just burns as the hrdrogen leaks out. Remember the Hydrogen only becomes flamable when mixed with oxygen.
Thanks. I was kinda expecting the video to explain something like this.
"If you don't mind, I'd like to call a buddy of mine to take a look at this. She's an expert on vintage cameras and film." -- Rick Harrison
You never know WHAT is gonna come through that door
Was thinking the exact same thing!!!
@@DanG626 Best I can do is a ham sandwich and 5 bucks
Is this THE Rick Harrison from pawn stars if it greaaat because we all know you have experts in every fields possible....can't wait to hear the results...
Dr.Brigitte Villeneuve
Quebec, Canada 🇨🇦
@@dr.brigittevilleneuve2809 oh ey der bud greets from America
I guess I missed the part where it “helps solve the mystery” ! So, where in this video did it say what caused the fire?
PBS has an entire show that explains more.
What "mystery" (specifically) Re: the Hindenburg did this help solve?
I've seen the whole episode. The "mystery" was some lingering questions about what caused the explosion. The new footage shows a pronounced dip at the stern of the Hindenberg prior to ignition--the most conclusive evidence to date that the ship was leaking hydrogen from an aft gas cell, which was then ignited by static electricity. Basically, the new angle showed more of the back of the Hindenberg as it approached, something the newsreel cameras weren't set up to capture, and that allowed historians to rule out a couple of other hypotheses.
@@onbearfeet Interesting (and thank you).
Filled with hydrogen, painted with thermite... what could go wrong???
I love Mythbusters too - let's get married!
It wasn't painted with thermite.
Not only are cars, planes, and ships today filled with flammable fuel, even electric cars have been known to explode and catch on fire.
In other words, congratulations: you said nothing. Add to the fact that you are wrong about the thermite, you added a lie. Congratulations: you're a liar who said nothing.
@@brettcostley4675 It was painted with aluminium and iron doping, which made it technically 'thermite'.
The static charge on the ship caused an arcing the moment the landing ropes touched the ground, then add to that the hydrogen.
@@governmentgaslighting5232 not the same ratios as real thermite. In order to set the fabric ablaze, the arc must be parallel to the outer skin (which is unlikely) and even so the energy is insufficient to ignite it. Addison Bain was able to ignite a small piece of recovered Hindenburg fabric with a Jacob's Ladder but he used a continuous electric current set parallel. A perpendicular spark could burn a hole in the fabric before self-extinguishing (as this documentary showed in its experiment) but to keep burning it needs to be near another source of flame.
I think the thing that sets this apart from other crashes, disasters and such is the speed in which it happened. Everything’s ok, then in an instant it’s over.
So... what is the "Hindenburg Mystery," and how did this footage help "solve" it? Even PBS does clickbait now?
How is the mystery solved with this footage?
Wait a minute! This footage can NOT be the original because those 3 title cards had to be created then added. Since no mention was made of those being added by a splice, then the title cards + the accident footage were second generation copies.
IF there was a splice, why didn't the show mention it?
Terry Thomas
Director of Photography
Atlanta, Georgia USA
I don't think the combination of camera/film size and year had a reversal film available. That means there's a negative somewhere that was processed into this, and that's the point where the section cards were projected.
@@mfree80286 Back in those early days, there were no negative films available for the amateur 8mm format. Only reversal film stocks. Though I admit I'm puzzled by the title cards too. I might have to look at the footage again but I wonder if there's a possibility that the camera operator made those title cards himself at home and filmed them (prior to filming the Hindenburg air ship.)
@@anzaeria *_OR_* , maybe, since the cameraman knew what he was going to see, as mentioned in this video, he made the title cards *_before_* he left home and filmed the title cards at the site - perhaps placing them on the ground and bending over to get closer. Perhaps the nephew, who is in the video, remembers and answers the question in the full documentary.
@@Jack_Russell_Brown Yea well that's pretty much what I already said - that he likely made the title cards at home. Though interestingly, one of the cards says: "Disaster." Obviously, there's no way that he could have predicted that the air ship was going to burst into flames. There is no mention of this but I wonder if the film was edited. He may have filmed the "Disaster" card (and possibly other title cards) after he got back home from that tragic event. And then did some cutting and splicing so that the "Disaster" text appears near the beginning of the film.
@@anzaeria I understand what you are saying. In this particular video, I see:
- a copyright title card;
- a location title card (Lakehurst NJ):
- a photographer credits card;
and, after some shots, a card that reads:
Lines are lowered to the crew
After that, I *_hear_* "disaster" spoken by the apparently female narrator, but I don't *_see_* another title card of any type. Perhaps there is another video with such a title card, but I don't see one in this video.
The title cards I do see all look like they were typed on a typewriter with a fabric ribbon as would be common in 1937.
If the photographer/uncle was familiar with the mooring procedure, he may have made the title cards beforehand and filmed them onsite. Certainly, if there is a title card that says "Disaster" there would, of necessity, have been editing and splicing. Such a title card may be eluding my attention or may not be shown in this video.
There is an aspect of the film that would indicate that it was edited and spliced. The fact that there are copyright and photography credit title cards on a film _said to be_ the product of an uncle/nephew outing could indicate that the film was edited for sale _after_ the incident. I believe that, at that time, at least one copy of material to be copyrighted had to be sent to the Library of Congress to complete the copyright process. There was also a inquiry. The documents from the inquiry were preserved in a National Archives facility in Maryland. Potentially, if this video does not show the "Disaster" title card, the title card appears in other videos or in the Library of Congress copy or, if submitted, the inquiry copy.
Certainly, a "Disaster" title card would conclusively indicate editing and splicing in spite of the expert saying that the film is the original shot in *_a_* camera.
The airship has the same charge allover as the atmosphere around it which is different than earth. When the mooring line falls to ground the whole airship suddenly is at ground and the sky is hot. BOOM. Instantly. The ship vents H2 normally when landing. The vents are along the top ridge going back to the tail. The "accident" was purely a hurry and land on time against captain's wishes for this reason.
When you look at this footage it amazes me that anyone survived. The ship was three times the length of a football field. With only 97 people on it. And only 32 actual passengers. And it took less than thirty seconds for it to be 100% in flames and on the ground. How did anyone have time to jump or get out from under it.
To see the bow and the aft sections in flames, at the same time, is incredible. Don’t see that with the newsreel..
It is still amazing after all these years.
I find it hard to believe anyone lived with a ball of fire falling right on top of them.
The film starts After the explosion 💥 and proves nothing about the cause
Wow this is unreal. I didn't see this newer footage. I knew it was quick but man that was REAL quick.
Had that disaster not happen, I wonder how important 'airship' travel would have become around the world. However, I think that passenger airplanes would still have taken over at some point. But we might have had a decent amount of time in our history where traveling on an airship would have been the way to do it for maybe 15 to 20 years.
The Hindenburg not exploding in July 1937 may have just meant a later explosion with more casualties...part of the reason Hindenburg was using hydrogen for it's lifting bags was American control of helium production at the time, so I could see a disaster happening while a non-US airship was over a city and the wreckage causing additional deaths.
A disaster was inevitable, given the way the machine was designed. It might be possible with modern technology to make a safe hydrogen filled airship, but it definitely wasn't possible back then...
Likely not much longer. Maybe it's sister airship, the
Graf Zeppelin II would have entered passenger service along with the Hindenburg, but if the rest of history would have played out even remotely similar, then Swastika carrying Zeppelins likely wouldn't have been welcome on A. US soil and B. US military base like Lakehurst for much longer anyway.
@@LordSandwichII it saves more fuel so "they",the people in power, wanted to get rid of it...just like how they killed all inventors of hydrogen fueled cars
A sister ship, the Graf Zeppelin II, would have joined the Hindenburg in air travel service in 1938..but zeppelins didn't figure into the Nazi party's plans of world dominance & likely would have ceased to exist by the time they invaded Poland in 1939.. which is exactly what happened when the original Graf & Graf II were grounded, dismantled and the huge airship hangers demolished.
I saw that film and what was left out in the documentary is: At the exact moment when the mooring line struck the earth, the rear of the ship exploded. My engineering background tells me this was a classic case of ESD.
quite possible, yes.
WHAT IS: "ESD"-??
i cant remember where but there is a documentary on youtube that explains exactly what happened. It is very plausible and makes sense. For those who want to know.
The recording of Herbert Morrison's broadcasting features the initial moment of the 4 minute gap between when the Hindenburg dropped the ropes out of the nose of the ship to the point to when he starts yelling in an excitable voice it burst into flames
Gods, how I loath US documentaries how they turn a 5-10 minutes segment by fluffing it up with about 45 minutes of drama and suspense and to build the aura around the 'experts'. All to sell it to people with super short attention spans.
I agree. It doesn't need cliff hangers. However, I wouldn't want them to skip the slow process of testing hypotheses that ultimately are disproved. That's crucial to a show like NOVA.
American here, we all hate it, no idea why they make it for us.
I've spoken to a number of researchers interviewed for this and they are quite knowledgeable individuals but they have also stated that they have no editorial control over this show.
One also complained about the section where a German historian mentioned the US refused to sell helium to them. The truth is Germany never made a formal request for helium and the US had banned export to any country. They made a formal request after the Hindenburg disaster for the LZ 130, but was turned denied due to the refusal of the Secretary of the Interior Harold Ickes.
Yes because people with short attention spans want something longer, not shorter. Do you even think about what you write before hitting submit, Einstein?
Your comment indicates that YOU have a very short attention span and are likely prey to the pandemic of Immediate Gratification Syndrome that seems to be raging across this country. A show like NOVA is not about pandering to those seeking to watch the worst part of disasters, but to inform and educate. Clearly not for you.
I've had a somewhat similar 8mm, spring type Kodak 'brownie' camera, since the 1950's
& know that it only shoots about 30 seconds at a time! Seeing this 'new' footage & how
fast that the "Hindenburg" became engulfed in flames, I can't believe that so many people
were able to escape!/ I wonder if any "new" 8mm films exists of the Kennedy assassination?
This is like the footage of the first plane hitting the World Trade Center (shot by a firefighter crew doing training). Imagine if that footage was just kept for 75 years before someone made it public.
I think I've only ever seen two angles of the first plane hit Tower One. While I haven't invested much time in looking for more angles, there definitely are video tapes laying dormant of this, and many other, notable incidents in history. The amount of times I've read US submarine logs during WWII and they state explicitly that they took photos of certain ships sinking through the periscopes, and these photos are never made public, is painfully often.
@SS E_Weston I'm sure there are so many videos of historical things that have yet to be made public. In some cases, it may just be because a person recorded something, then went home and it sat in their storage and was forgotten.
Either that, or the gov. took it and is keeping it.
I imagine there's another video of the JFK assassination floating around somewhere.
I know NASA has tons of video in their vaults. I was amazed when I saw the Apollo 11 documentary, that featured never before seen footage.
Absolutely mind blowing. I’m speechless. Never knew of another video
For anyone curious; the Cine-Kodak "K", with case, that sold for $125 in 1937 is like spending $2,600 on a camera in 2023, according to the online Inflation Calculator.
The most I ever spent on a camcorder was $2,000 in the early 1990s, and I kicked myself for years afterward for spending too much. But, my $2,000 purchase would be over $4,000 today.
I kept wondering why all the footage of the Hindenburg shows it until the ropes were dropped and then suddenly jumps to it being on fire. Conserving film and startup time for the cameras explain it.
Yes. Winching her down was a tedious and mundane step they did not feel needed full coverage. The fire came by total surprise and nobody was ready to shoot. It took a few seconds to grab cameras and focus.
@@Dallas_K bs
@@tatechasers2393 boiled shrimp
If the camera men had been working together they might have thought to make sure that at least one camera was on the ship at all times. When I was in choir we used to stagger breaths so that we didn't all stop singing at the same time. The cameramen could have used that technique to make sure every part was covered. I realize they didn't know a disaster was about to happen of course.
@@mothershelper1981 Very true but film is expensive and nothing's newsworthy until something happened.
How does this footage, and its discussion ""help[s] solve Hindenburg Mystery"? Or is that a click-bait title? Its previously unseen, which is remarkable, but what light does it shed on the *cause* of the fire (which is, of course, the "Mystery")?
Wow, that Kodak advert was ironic.
😊🙏 Thank You So Much Uncle Bob for filming this precious film of the burning of the legendary airship Hinderburg for future generations to investigate the cause of the unfortunate fire! 🕯🌏🕊
It is amazing how the rear explodes but even with the whole thing blazing the front burned much slower.
The front bags didn’t rupture right away. Also, the heat didn’t reach them until the front tilted up.
I love how the experts can tell so much about the film and the camera by inspecting the film. Crazy
Very interesting. I was at Lakehurst during my AIT for radar school in 1968. I saw the HUGE hangers and where the accident took place.
But imagine if this didn't happen. We could have had a future where these amazing things floated around regularly.
they are coming back :)
They did this for a reason. They wanted to get rid of advanced technologies when they did the reset in the late 19th and early 20th century.
I don’t think so. They’re amazing looking things but they are a little impractical. I’m not sure there’d be a market for them.
The only reason i can think of for them passing up this footage back then is they already had all the HD (for the time) news footage from several angles and nobody thought a windup 8mm shot by a novice would have better angles? This is also one of the reasons news channels started recording every second of everything even if they knew it would never see the light of day because you never know when something might happen, and if something newsworthy happens with a news team on site and they don't capture it well that's just embarrassing. (in reference to the fact that all the news reels stop recording just before it bursts into flames because airship landings had become "boring and routine at that point")
The news stations could only start recording 'every second of everything' when video tape became common place in the industry. Before then, they were shooting on film with generally short recording durations so they had to be careful about conserving film. Otherwise they would run out. Typically, the professional 16mm camera would have 400 feet of 16mm film loaded in a magazine that would last for 10 minutes. That was the norm. Though there were a small number of such cameras that could accept 1200 feet of 16mm film which would last for half an hour.
Awesome footage! I should be released to the public. I’ve never seen that angle, and it shows a completely different perspective
So first, a Kodak camera takes pictures of the titanic now a Kodak took a video of the Hindenburg. That’s one way to market a Camera I guess.
Interesting that he had title cards in the film. The credit and copyright obviously could have been at the end, but was the lowering the ropes one taken on site, spliced in, or added at the end.
One thing that is truly remarkable about this is that this is from the same angle that a series of nine photos was taken.
So it's truly incredible to see those images in motion.
Arthur Cofod was a customs broker who was waiting for a package of photos to arrive. He took more than 9 photos but the unpublished ones don't really show more (except a blurry first image taken about the same time Harold Schenck started filming). A few years ago his full series was sold on eBay as they were in possession of Deutsche Zeppelin-Reederei liason Willy von Meister and discussed during the investigation.
There was a rumour of another amateur film taken behind the fence showing the fire starting, being sold on eBay around 2006. After contacting the seller one fellow airship enthusiast was convinced it was legitimate, but could not afford to purchase the film and its current whearabouts are unknown. Nothing has ever surfaced to substantiate its authenticity.
Lol. The three guys are just casually stood there with their hands in their pockets.
It looks weird but really what do you do in that situation? You can't save the ship and it would be safe to assume everyone onboard was already very dead or would be in a few moments.
@@brandonlink6568 no, but I don't think I'd be stood there all nonchalant like I'm enjoying the show
@@FEWGEE1 I don't think they are enjoying the horrible disaster. Its something between "I'm way too shocked to literally do anything but watch" and their inability to do anything that would improve the situation.
@@FEWGEE1 One photographer commented how when he saw the fire he just kept taking pictures while saying "oh my god" like a mantra. It was only hours later he broke down at the scale of what had happened.
I'm amazed by how lucky the couple people, who survived, where. The fire spreads all around the cabin but doesn't touch it yet and lets the thing sink slowly to the ground, where people had roughly 10-15 seconds to climb out and ran away from it before the fire reached the cabin and the burning metal structure collapsed onto it.
There wouldve been so many ways how the cabin could've burned in the air or how everything could've crashed onto it immediately after impact on the ground. It feels like even though the ship was dying, with it last strengh it was doing its best to give people a chance of escaping :
Captain Max Pruss ordered ballast not to be dropped from the stern in order to allow it fall quickly and give the people in the rear a fighting chance to get out. Then, when the stern did crash into the ground, he ordered the remaining ballast in the bow section to be dropped. That decision kept the nose in the air for precious seconds and allowed passengers in the forward quarters and the two lounges to jump from the windows (into wet sand). The fire burned through the ropes holding the landing stairs in retracted position and the stairs fell by gravity. Some passengers went down the stairs just as they had boarded the ship in Germany. The 1974 Robert Wise film "The Hindenburg" depicts the details of the fire generally accurately although the film premise of sabotage is put forward. But as far as the details confirmed by this footage, it is faithful to history.
The amazing thing is that almost two-thirds of those onboard survived: 62 out of 97 got out of that alive.
Wow! I hope there's a follow-up video analyzing the footage in minute detail!
I've walked past that hangar,it was there in 1979 1980 I was in basic training ft Dix NJ. Wacguire afb is on northin edge of Lakehurst Nas. The burn mark was still there also.
It was high in the air when the landing lines came down. I expect there was a spark on ground contact, there is voltage potential higher up. Where there is a spark there is a rush of current.
I’m curious as to how these titles were in the film? Titles are a post production add in, not added by the amateur camera person shooting the footage.
Wow I've been looking everywhere for this
Weird how no footage shows the moment it blows. We've got everything before and after the initial explosion.
It's not that weird. A couple minutes of film was a precious resource then so cameras were off most of the time.
The fact that there's no footage from earlier suggests the fire started extremely rapidly and this is supported by some eyewitness testimonies. All the photographers reacted similarly as a result. Harold Schenck's film starts just slightly earlier than the first known photographs of the fire (Murray Becker, Harry McGonigal and Arthur Cofod).
There is rumour of footage sold on eBay a few years ago "filmed behind a fence" showing the start of the fire, but while one fellow airship collector seemed convinced of it after contacting the seller, they could not afford to purchase it and no further details have surfaced.
There is but no one knows where it is now or who has it
Amazing! Needs to be 4K restored.
From this view it looks like dumping the water from the ballast tanks forward and back of the control car slowed the front end crash quite a bit.
My question is who's denying that the film is real or even what cameras shot it. It isn't like today where you can doctor pictures
Absolutely incredible.......so sad but amazing.....
I spotted it was standard 8 not super 8 film. Period correct. I believe Standard 8 was 16mm film split down the middle to double the length.
Im surprised, I have never seen the Hindenburg crash in full frame😨😨
You would think PBS would be honest in their title? The title suggests this footage helps solve the mystery, but did anyone hear any suggestions or conclusions?? The only conclusion stated was that an expert thought it may have been authentic.
$125 for the camera and case - that was a lotta lot of money in 1936.
I just wish they would have shared more of the discoveries with us.
None of this surprises me in the least - cameras have been around right before the Civil War broke out so eventually someone manufactured home movie cameras most likely Kodak and people bought them and used them. And years ago I watched a film of this disaster and people are falling out and walking out on fire and it horrified me.
Still a terrible moment to witness, no matter the years that have gone by, its just a terrible tragic moment in all history. We wanted to fly, as did Icarus.
The day before the disaster, Hugo Eckener the old man of the Zeppelin Company visited Austrian sculptor Gustinus Ambrosi
, who was very eager to show him his latest sculpture, which was of Icarus.
You know, one other thing this new footage does? It eliminates the claim that Nasa guy had that the picture of the airship still level with the tail engulfed shouldn't exist if it's the hydrogen that's igniting first. It is falling almost instantly here.
This is from that Secrets of the Dead on his theory if you want to understand what I'm talking about.
Sadly PBS shot themselves in the foot by releasing another Secrets of the Dead documentary with very dubious claims made by author Michael McCarthy. In a nutshell he theorizes that there was a failure with the gas cell chafing due to gross negligence of the Zeppelin Company. He also claims that Ernst Lehmann was aware of these problems and tried to warn other officials (a far cry from other accounts of him taking risks and compromising safety on various occasions). The documentary was interesting but did not lend much new into a definitive cause of the disaster. In his book The Hidden Hindenburg he also implies that Hugo Eckener was a closet Nazi because of his affiliations with Hermann Goring and the Zeppelin Company's wartime efforts. I do agree Eckener was not a "anti-Nazi" as often implied but it's obvious he had compromises to make during the war.
Some great rare footage in that documentary of the ship in 1936 though.
Wow, not a single thing showing how this solves the mystery. I guess that "precise trigger for the conflagration" continues to be a mystery.
RIP
To the 36 passengers and crew who were killed in the Hindenburg disaster
Its the ladies knowledge of old films that amazes me
Im a film restorer /archivist for more than 30 years now. The knowledge showing here is the minimun a professional must know.
@@troyjohnsonjr. Fair enough, but to a layman it's all new knowledge
@@troyjohnsonjr. Do you know the book she had to help identify the camera? Or if it's on the internet anywhere? I've just built my own film scanner and I'd love to be able to know exactly what cameras are being used.
Can you please put this up in full
it's a very nice film, well framed and informative.
I never saw this view before!!!
RIP to all lost,🙏🏼😔
5:43 This man is the spitting image of Ned Flanders!
Talk about eerie...
Excellent. Thank you for the share.
Incredible
I heard some New Jersey Pineys were shooting at it as it went overhead. Wouldn't surprise me at all knowing them folks.....
It's so amazing to find treasures like this that nobody cared about for decades and now more evidence is available to determine the cause of the disaster.
Good piece of documentary evidence. I'm glad this guy kept it and had it checked out with the experts. The only annoying thing is, every question he poses to the camera lab lady, she begins her response with 'So....' It's almost as annoying as teenagers using 'like' every four words.
Yes, that is "so" annoying...
So, well and
100% AGREED!!!
Wow.
i grew up near this place. visited twice. totally creep vibe there.
actual video starts at 5:56
I have yet to see the exact point of ignition.
3:52 now that's really creepy
how does this help to solve it?
I love a good mystery
Amazing footage. Never heard of this. I just watched a movie about the Hindenburg and my 10 year old daughter was peppering me with questions so, of course, youtube and search for the original footage. Oh, the humanity, indeed. What a surprise. Was this shot from the other side of the Hindenburg? Probably not since the tail is on the right side of the frame. But where are all those people on the ground running away from the raining fire?
By the way, for those in the know, those three figures watching calmly, too calmly IMHO, the ongoing disaster . . . "men in black"? Eerie.
Great, I opened my email from LIVESCIENCE two hours after the PBS show NOVA airs but there's a link at the end of the article.
www.pbs.org/video/hindenburg-the-new-evidence-3hjhu3/
@@chrisschmidt5128 You're marvelous - Thank You!!! 🤗
NOVA meets Antiques Roadshow
Well done!
a coloured version of this film would be nuts.
i mean its possible these days.
ua-cam.com/video/mQ5XxqLc1uw/v-deo.html
There already is. The UA-cam video is called, "Hindenburg Disaster - 4 Different Rare Angles // HD Colorization." It looks incredible. It almost feels as if you are there.
@@TPOrchestra check out mine if you have the chance! :D
but what was solved with it?
The cause of the initial ''spark'' is still unknown ... What made ''self combust''? Only speculations.