May 6

What happened on May 6 in aviation and space history.

• May 6, 1937

  Hindenburg disaster

  Accident — On 6 May 1937 the German commercial rigid airship LZ 129 Hindenburg caught fire and was destroyed while attempting to dock at Naval Air Station Lakehurst in Manchester Township, New Jersey. Filled with hydrogen, it was the lead ship of its class and the largest airship ever built by envelope volume. The accident killed 35 of the 97 people on board plus one person on the ground, and effectively ended the era of commercial passenger airship travel.