Description:

Large and striking relic of the 1937 Hindenburg disaster, collected by the chief boatswain in charge of the mooring lines at Lakehurst—who was also a survivor of the Shenandoah

(HINDENBURG DISASTER) A section of struts, constructed of aluminum alloy, 9" x 3" x 4", recovered from the wreck of the Zeppelin airship Hindenburg after it crashed in Lakehurst, New Jersey on May 6, 1937. Expected wear consistent with exposure to fire.

This girder section is strikingly light being made of Duralumin, an age-hardenable aluminum alloy developed by Alfred Wilm. Its primary use was for airship frames and all of the great airships of the 1920s and 1930s used this material.

The strut section was recovered by Frederick J. " Bull" Tobin (1892-1978), one of the chief boatswains managing the mooring lines at Lakehurst, New Jersey when the Hindenburg caught fire and crashed to the ground in flames. Tobin became famous for ordering the fleeing ground crew back to their posts in order to assist the survivors. Twelve years earlier , Tobin survive the crash of the airship U.S.S. Shenandoah in southeastern Ohio. He had been asleep near the tail of the airship at the time, and managed to escape just as the rear section crashed to Earth (John Toland, The Great Dirigibles: Their Triumphs and Disasters, 1957, p. 140-141, 328).

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