. "O Titanic Aéreo"

O desastre de Hindenburg passou-se a 6 de Maio de 1937, aquando o dirígivel ou zeppelin alemão LZ 129 Hindenburg se incendiou e foi destruido durante uma tentativa de descer até à base de Lakehurst de Nova Jersey. O Zeppelin foi um tipo de dirígivel inventado pelo conde Ferdinand Von Zeppelin na Alemanha. Das 97 pessoas a bordo, 35 morreram. O desastre foi alvo de uma incrível cobertura dos media, a reportagem mais famosa e que ficou para a história foi a de um jornalista chamado Herbert Morrison. A causa deste catastrófico desastre permanece desconhecida, embora uma série de hipóteses se apontem para tentar explicar a ignição original, que provocou o incêndio. O acidente arrasou a credibilidade de segurança que o público tinha nesta máquina voadora a nível mundial, este incidente acabou com a era dos dirigíveis. Pode-se sem qualquer tipo de hesitação comparar os dirígiveis a um barco aéreo, pois são lentos mas económicos e capazes de transportar grandes cargas e passageiros, daí o título deste post.

Deixamo-vos com o vídeo e reportagem do famoso acidente, e com as palavras chocantes e dramáticas de Herbert Morrison.

It's practically standing still now. They've dropped ropes out of the nose of the ship; and (uh) they've been taken ahold of down on the field by a number of men. It's starting to rain again; it's... the rain had (uh) slacked up a little bit. The back motors of the ship are just holding it (uh) just enough to keep it from...It's burst into flames! Get this, Charlie; get this, Charlie! It's fire... and it's crashing! It's crashing terrible! Oh, my! Get out of the way, please! It's burning and bursting into flames and the... and it's falling on the mooring mast. And all the folks agree that this is terrible; this is the one of the worst catastrophes in the world. [indecipherable] its flames... Crashing, oh! Four- or five-hundred feet into the sky and it... it's a terrific crash, ladies and gentlemen. It's smoke, and it's in flames now; and the frame is crashing to the ground, not quite to the mooring mast. Oh, the humanity! And all the passengers screaming around here. I told you; it—I can't even talk to people, their friends are out there! Ah! It's... it... it's a... ah! I... I can't talk, ladies and gentlemen. Honest: it's just laying there, mass of smoking wreckage. Ah! And everybody can hardly breathe and talk and the screaming. Lady, I... I... I'm sorry. Honest: I... I can hardly breathe. I... I'm going to step inside, where I cannot see it. Charlie, that's terrible. Ah, ah... I can't. Listen, folks; I... I'm gonna have to stop for a minute because [indecipherable] I've lost my voice. This is the worst thing I've ever witnessed.

– Herbert Morrison, describing the events, as transcribed for broadcast by WLS radio