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MississippiJoel t1_jcqnpdo wrote

Why was the Hindenburg coming to New Jersey such a special event?

I'm not talking about the accident. I'm wondering why there were four people filming and at least one radio jockey covering the event in live time? Surely everyone had seen lighter than air craft by then, right?

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TheGreatOneSea t1_jcqt3p9 wrote

The Hindenburg's company was planning to use the footage for advertising.

As you can probably guess, it didn't quite work out for them...

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MississippiJoel t1_jcquqzw wrote

Well, that would explain the aerial chase footage. But what about the amature video? Was it just people that got their first cameras and were looking for any excuse to test it out?

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shantipole t1_jcrbjlw wrote

The ship itself was absolutely massive, and made for good footage.

In addition, the cost of passage was very high. Only the very wealthy could afford it, so there was a celebrity-watching aspect to it.

Finally, there were rumors that she was being used by the Nazis for spying and she was certainly being used for propaganda--any day now the US might have stopped allowing her to land at what was a Navy base, ending these flights maybe forever.

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