Photo courtesy of Morristown Municipal Airport (KMMU), New Jersey
By Greg Hatala/The Star-Ledger
on June 03, 2013 at 7:45 AM, updated June 03, 2013 at 7:50 AM
MORRISTOWN — In this picture taken on Oct. 7, 1936, the Hindenburg, the 803-foot-long passenger airship and the largest aircraft ever to fly, passes over Columbia Meadows, Morristown.
According to information provided by Morristown Municipal Airport, a curiously prescient series of events had begun in Morris County concerning the Hindenburg at the time. The Graf Zeppelin company, operators of the Hindenburg, had begun searching for a zeppelin base further inland than Lakehurst Naval Air Station, which served as the arrival point for zeppelins completing the transatlantic crossing.
The reason? To avoid the high amount of static electricity and frequent electrical storms along the coast.
Morristown, with work progressing on the airport funded by the Works Progress Administration, was one of three sites proposed in 1934 by Robb Wilson, the State Commissioner of Aviation. On Oct. 2, 1936, Hugo Eckener, who headed the zeppelin company, toured the Morristown Airport site with the overflight pictured above occurring five days later.
However, the Town of Morristown received notification early in 1937 that funding for the airport project had been rescinded. The Hindenburg disaster on May 6, 1937, in Lakehurst — in which static electricity and an electrical storm apparently played a major part — ended all further discussions of a zeppelin base in Morristown.
Story and Photo: http://www.nj.com
No comments:
Post a Comment