Last Survivor of Hindenburg Disaster Dies in 2019-- Part 2: 'Suddenly the Air Was on Fire'

As the 80th anniversary of it approached in 2017, Werner Doehner told Associated Press that he and his parents, older brother and sister were returning from a vacation to Germany on the 804-foot-long zeppelin to Lakehurst Naval Air Station in New Jersey.  

His father headed up to his cabin after using his movie camera to shoot some scenes of the station from the airship's dining room.  That was the last time Doehner saw him.

As the Hindenburg arrived, flames began to flicker on the top of the ship.  Hydrogen, exposed to the air, fueled the inferno.

"Suddenly the air was on fire," Doehner recalled.

Doehner said his mother threw him and his brother out of the ship before she left, too.

They suffered burns.  He would remain in a hospital for three months before going to a hospital in New York in August for skin grafts.

Doehner was born in Darmstadt, Germany and grew up in Mexico City.  In 1984, he moved to the United States to work for General Electric as an electrical engineer.  He also worked in Ecuador and Mexico.

Quite an International Man and Quite a History.

Last Survivor of Hindenburg Disaster Dies in 2019-- Part 1

From the November 17, 2019 Chicago Tribune by Kathy McCormack, AP.

The last remaining survivor of te Hindenburg disaster, Werner Gustav Doehner has died at age 90.  He died on November 8 in Laconia, New Hampshire.

Doehner was the only person left of the 62 passengers who survived the May 6, 1937, fire that killed his father, sister and 34 others.  He was just 8 years old at the time.

"He did not talk about it," his son Bernie Doehner said.  "It was definitely a repressed memory.  He lost his sister, he lost his dad."

Bernie said his father took him to visit the naval station years later, but not the Hindenburg Memorial itself.

Mystery of Hindenburg Air Catastrophe Solved

From the March 4, 2013, Lookout by Claudine Zap.

Researchers now are sure that static electricity that caused the airship to crash.

Seventy-six years ago, the German dirigible Hindenburg, the future of trans-Atlantic flight, docked at Lakehurst, New Jersey, on May 6, 1937.

The fire and crash killed 35 of the 100 passengers and crew.

It was also believe that possibly a bomb or exploding paint caused it.  Models have shown that these didn't cause it.

The airship had become charges with static electricity as a result of and electric storm.  A broken wire or sticking gas valve leaked hydrogen into the ventilation shaft.  When the ground crew members ran out to take the landing ropes, the ship became "earthed".  Fire appeared in the tail of the airship, igniting the leaking hydrogen.

Now You Know.  --Cooter

75th Anniversary of Hindenburg Crash

This anniversary went almost unnoticed for me, but there was an articke in the May 6th Chicago Tribune Chicago Flashback page "Chicago radio man's Hunderburg broadcast endures" by Stephan Benzkofer.

A wire service photographer was taking pictures that day, May 6, 1937, when the world's largest airship, the Hindenburg exploded as it tried to moor in Lakehurst, New Jersey.  Thirty-five people were killed immediately and one died later.

This gave us that famous photo.  But just as famous was Chicago's WLS radio man Herb Morrison's very human account.  He was able to persuade his bosses to let him go to test out some new radio equipment.  His account became one of the most famous of all time:  "It's burst into flames. ...Get out of the way, please; oh my, this is terrible.  ...It is burning.  ...This is one of the worst  catastrophes in the world... oh, the humanity!"

His voice is high-pitched on the recording, even though he was noted for his deep voice.  The recording was made at the wrong speed which accounts for it.

I can never get the "WKRP in Cincinnati" episode out of my head when they were tossing love turkeys out of a helicopter and Les Nessman, winner of the Silver Sow Award was doing a live broadcast from the shopping center's parking lot.

"As God as My Witness, I Thought Turkeys Could Fly."  --Cooter