"Hindenburg" Disaster Film

1937

Smithsonian's National Postal Museum

Smithsonian's National Postal Museum
Washington, DC, United States

Herb Morrison, WLS Chicago radio reporter, and engineer Charlie Nehlsen captured the "Hindenburg" disaster on lacquer disc.

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  • Title: "Hindenburg" Disaster Film
  • Date Created: 1937
  • Subject Keywords: Hindenburg
  • Transcript:
    Herb Morrison, WLS Chicago radio reporter: It’s starting to rain again; it’s… the rain had slacked up a little bit. The back motors of the ship are just holding it 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. … 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, a mass of smoking wreckage, and everybody can hardly breathe and talk… I’m sorry. Honest, I can hardly breathe. I’m going to step inside where I cannot see it. Charlie, that’s terrible. I… Listen folks, I’m going to have to stop for a minute, because I’ve lost my voice… This is the worst thing I’ve ever witnessed.
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  • External Link: "Hindenburg" Crash Mail, Fire & Ice: "Hindenburg" and "Titanic", Frank Ward, Ground Crew Member, "Hindenburg," May 6, 1937
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