Hindenburg disaster

The Hindenburg was the culmination of research into the rigid airship that had first been perfected by Count Ferdinand Graf von Zeppelin of Germany around 1900. Zeppelin founded his own company that built several successful airships through World War I. Because many of these zeppelins were used to conduct bombing raids on England and France during the War, the post-war peace treaties imposed by the Allies severely restricted future construction of these craft. The airship began to make a comeback during the mid-1920s, however, thanks to the leadership of Dr. Hugo Eckener who took over the Zeppelin company following Count Zeppelin's death. The company reached its peak during the early 1930s when the airship Graf Zeppelin demonstrated regular transatlantic passenger service was safe and practical. The Graf Zeppelin completed several record-setting flights including a circumnavigation of Earth in 1929, a flight over the Arctic in 1931, and appearances at numerous major world events. These successes lured a growing number of passengers and mail services to use the new airship line for transportation between Europe and the Americas.