Lakehurst, New Jersey: Crash Site of the Hindenburg

Where the Nazi zeppelin Hindenburg crashed in 1937, ending a generation's dreams of luxury airships. Museum of artifacts in the huge hangar.

The Lakehurst Naval Air Facility Airship Hindenburg Tour is run by the Navy Lakehurst Historical Society. See where the Hindenburg burned and crashed. Tour Hangar One, where the Hindenburg was kept when waiting for her return trips to Germany. Visit the museums inside Hangar One, and also the Cathedral Chapel of the Air, with stained glass windows and a shrine to New Jersey Veterans. Tours last 3 to 3.5 hours.

While the crash site is a bit anti-climactic, the American airship museum and the hangar are fascinating. You need to apply ahead of time online since they need to do background checks since it's on an active base.

Tried calling to set up a tour. Called three times over three weeks - no return call. Finally called on Saturday afternoon. The person on the other end [the tour guide?] said, "I work heating and air conditioning, busy season, don't get home until after 9:00." Poor communication on their end. Call them months in advance if you want to see this. Unfortunately it didn't work out for us.

I worked at WCOA in Pensacola, Florida and the story is that an engineer at the station was "taping" the network news which ended right before the Hindenburg Crash in Lakehurst, NJ. Stations stopped their wire recorders and rewound the "tape" to play it "live" but WCOA delayed their coverage until a local program ended several minutes later. The engineer played the news at the end of the local program. Stations that carried the news live didn't record the coverage of the Hindenburg Crash but only WCOA kept the tape going long enough to hear the whole story and from what I have heard, every time you hear the fellow saying..."Oh the humanity..." it was recorded on WCOA in Pensacola, which at that time was in The Hotel San Carlos on Garden at Palafox in the city of Five Flags.