A sobering simulation shows what happened during one of the most terrible accidents of all time – News

On May 6, 1937, a giant airship with 97 people on board was about to land in the USA when it suddenly burst into flames and crashed to the ground.

As the landing was filmed, the terrifying images of the burning airship skeleton gained worldwide recognition and became one of the iconic images of the 20th century.

This airship was the Hindenburg and when it crashed, the sudden and catastrophic spread of flames killed 35 people on board and one on the ground.

The fire spread to the airship within seconds, and now we have a simulation of how the people on board would have reacted. Watch here:

YouTuber Zack D. Films said the Hindenburg’s fire prevented some passengers from escaping and prompted others to try to jump from the stationary ship in the air.

The Hindenburg, named after a German general who later became president and did little to help Hitler’s rise to power, soon became the subject of many conspiracy theories, including claims of sabotage and a bomb on board.

However, investigations by both the United States and Germany concluded that atmospheric conditions were responsible for the crash.

The Americans suggested that the hydrogen that inflated the Hindenburg balloon was probably ignited by an electrical phenomenon called “brush discharge”, while the Germans believed that the spark may have been caused by a build-up of static electricity.

There are many other theories about what caused the Hindenburg disaster, but what is clear is that the hydrogen in the balloon ignited and engulfed the ship within seconds.

Various newsreels place the time between the first signs of ignition and the Hindenburg’s disaster at just over 30 seconds.

Most of the people on the port side of the airship managed to survive, but the chances of getting out on the starboard side were less likely because the Hindenburg listed slightly to that side after the crash.

Incredibly, more people survived the Hindenburg disaster than died. (Bettmann/Getty Images)

While the Hindenburg will likely be the most famous airship disaster of all time, it is not the deadliest or most destructive.

In the 20th century, many nations experimented with airship travel, but over time each of them turned away from this mode of transport.

The British-built R101 was the largest airship in the world before it was replaced by the Hindenburg and crashed on its maiden overseas voyage in 1930, killing 48 of the 54 people on board.

The French dirigible Dixmude exploded in midair in 1923, killing all 52 people on board, while the American dirigible USS Akron was destroyed in a storm in 1933, killing 73 of the 76 people on board.

Airships got their second wind during World War II, where they proved quite effective in protecting naval convoys from submarines.