Last survivor of Hindenburg disaster: 'The air was on fire'
The wind and thunderstorms had delayed the Hindenburg's arrival in New Jersey from Germany on May 6, 1937. The father of 8-year-old Werner Doehner headed to his cabin after using his movie camera to shoot some scenes of Lakehurst Naval Air Station from the airship's dining room.
"We didn't see him again," recalled Doehner, now 88 and the only person left of the 62 passengers and crew who survived the fire that killed his father, sister and 34 other souls 80 years ago Saturday.
Doehner and his parents, older brother and sister were returning from a vacation in Germany and planned to travel on the 804-foot-long Hindenburg to Lakehurst, then fly to Newark and board a train in nearby New York City to take them home to Mexico City, where Doehner's father was a pharmaceutical executive...
As the Hindenburg arrived at its destination, flames began to flicker on top of the ship.
Hydrogen, exposed to air, fueled an inferno. The front section of the Hindenburg pitched up and the back section pitched down.
"Suddenly the air was on fire," Doehner said.
"We were close to a window, and my mother took my brother and threw him out. She grabbed me and fell back and then threw me out," he said.
"She tried to get my sister, but she was too heavy, and my mother decided to get out by the time the zeppelin was nearly on the ground."
His mother had broken her hip.
"I remember lying on the ground, and my brother told me to get up and to get out of there." Their mother joined them and asked a steward to get her daughter, whom he carried out of the burning wreckage.
A bus took the survivors to an infirmary, where, Doehner said, a nurse gave him a needle to burst his blisters.
From there, the family was taken to Point Pleasant Hospital. Doehner had burns to his face, both hands and down his right leg from the knee. His mother had burns to her face, both legs and both hands. His brother had several burns on his face and right hand.
His sister died early in the morning...
The U.S. Commerce Department determined the accident was caused by a leak of the hydrogen that kept the airship aloft. It mixed with air, causing a fire. "The theory that a brush discharge ignited such mixture appears most probable," the department's report said.
Eight decades later, Doehner is the only one left to remember what it was like on the Hindenburg that night. A ceremony commemorating the disaster will take place at the crash site Saturday night.
"Only two others who ever flew on the airship are alive," said Carl Jablonski, president of the Navy Lakehurst Historical Society. "But they weren't on the last flight."
Interest in the disaster remains strong as ever, Jablonski said.
"The internet and social media has exposed and attracted the interest of a younger generation," he said.
The Hindenburg, Doehner said, is "something you don't forget."
