Hindenburg Exhibit Starts This Weekend

Lakehurst Community Center hosting Hindenburg and Lighter Than Air Exhibit

Hindenburg Worst Airship Disaster? Not Quite

USS Akron accident could have been even worse, according to AP

History buffs recently gathered near Lakehurst to commemorate a major airship disaster, but it's not the one people are familiar with, according to the Associated Press.. But just four years before the Hindenburg, a U.S. Navy airship seemingly jinxed from the start and later celebrated in song crashed, claiming more than twice as many lives, according to the AP. The USS Akron, a 785-foot dirigible, was in its third year of flight when a violent storm sent it plunging tail-first into the Atlantic Ocean shortly after midnight on April 4, 1933, according to the AP. Read more here.

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UPDATE: Hindenburg Cause Solved

Lakehurst tragedy blamed on static electricity

The mystery of the Hindenburg disaster in Lakehurst has been solved 76 years after the in-flight exposition occurred, according to news reports. The cause of the May 6, 1937, incident that killed 35 of the 100 passengers and crew members on board was static electricity, says a team of experts who have been looking into the real trigger, according to news reports. They say that after the ship flew into a thunderstorm a build up of hydrogen led to the explosion, according to news reports. A May 2012 Star-Ledger story said that static electricity was one of the leading theories to explain the explosion: "Three-quarters of a century later, an exact cause for the disaster still isn’t known, though theories abound. Everything from the common …

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Remembering Hindenburg Survivors 75 Years After Disaster

Werner Franz and Werner Doehner are the last two living survivors.

MANCHESTER, NJ -- Though separated by thousands of miles, history has connected Werner Franz and Werner Doehner. Both men, now in their eighties, are the last living survivors of the Hindenburg, the airship that crashed at New Jersey's Lakehurst Naval Air Station 75 years ago on May 6, 1937. At the time, Franz was a 14-year-old cabin boy serving the wealthy passengers as the great airship, the pride of Germany, made its first Atlantic crossing of the 1937 season. Doehner was eight years old and was travelling with his parents, Hermann and Matilde, and his siblings, 10-year-old Walter and 16-year-old Irene. The Doehner boys were the youngest of the 36 passengers on board during that flight. Today, Doehner lives a quiet life as a retiree in …

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Five Things

Weekend Planner: Hindenburg Commemoration, Artist Reception and Health Fair

Events in and around Lakehurst and Manchester this weekend

Looking for ideas on how to spend your weekend? Check out these local events and feel free to post your own in our events calendar. 1. To commemorate the 75th anniversary of the disaster, an exhibit of Hindenburg artifacts will be on display Sunday at the Lakehurst Community Center, 207 Center Street, from 1 to 4 p.m. Authors William F. Althoff and Eric San Juan will be available to sign books. The Lakehurst Historical Society Museum across the street will also be open to visitors. 2. A reception welcoming the works of Rosalie Zakutansky, a local artist, will be held from 2 to 4 p.m. Saturday at Manchester's branch of the Ocean County Library. The still lifes, florals and landscapes will be on display during the entire month of May. 3. …

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Hindenburg History: Former Police Chief Recalls Airship Disaster

Retired chief of police and lifelong Toms River resident, had unique vantage point to history

There are those moments. Moments that seem frozen in time. Moments that are hard to forget. When the towers fell. Assasinations and riots. Pearl Harbor. Before them all, there was May 6, 1937. That was the day the great airship, the Hindenburg, was to return to the United States from Germany for its first Atlantic crossing of the 1937 season. Thirteen-year-old Richard Clement saw it fly over his house repeatedly that day. Now in his eighties, Clement said the sight of the dirigible will always be with him. “It was quite a sight. The biggest thing you ever saw,” he said. Clement, the retired chief of police and lifelong Toms River resident, had a unique interest in the Hindenburg. His family owned a dairy farm in Ridgeway that “provided all…

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