Editing LZ 129 Hindenburg (section)

===1936 transatlantic season===
[[File:LZ 129 Hindenburg with RD-4 over Lakehurst May 1936.jpg|thumb|LZ 129 arrival at NAS Lakehurst, May 9, 1936. {{USS| Los Angeles |ZR-3}} is moored upper right.]]
[[File:Hindenburg Kitchen 1936.jpg|thumb|Hindenburg galley in 1936]]

''Hindenburg'' made 17 round trips across the [[Atlantic Ocean|Atlantic]] in 1936—its first and only full year of service—with ten trips to the United States and seven to [[Brazil]]. The flights were considered demonstrative rather than routine in schedule. The first passenger trip across the [[North Atlantic]] left [[Frankfurt]] on 6 May with 56 crew and 50 passengers, arriving in [[Lakehurst, New Jersey]] on 9 May. As the elevation at [[Frankfurt Airport|Rhein-Main]]'s airfield lies at {{cvt|111|m}} above [[sea level]], the airship could lift {{convert|6|t|lb}} more at takeoff there than she could from Friedrichshafen, which was situated at {{cvt|417|m}}.<ref>Lehmann 1937, p. 343.</ref> Each of the ten westward trips that season took 53 to 78 hours and eastward took 43 to 61 hours. The last eastward trip of the year left Lakehurst on October 10; the first North Atlantic trip of 1937 ended in the [[Hindenburg disaster|''Hindenburg'' disaster]].

In May and June 1936, ''Hindenburg'' made surprise visits to England. In May it was on a flight from America to Germany when it flew low over the [[West Yorkshire]] town of [[Keighley]]. A parcel was then thrown overboard and landed in the High Street. Two boys, Alfred Butler and Jack Gerrard, retrieved it and found the contents to be a bouquet of [[carnation]]s, a small silver cross and a letter on official note paper dated May 22, 1936. The letter read: "To the finder of this letter, please deposit these flowers and cross on the grave of my dear brother, Lt. Franz Schulte, 1 Garde Regt, zu Fuss, [[Prisoner of war|POW]] in [[Skipton]] cemetery in Keighley near [[Leeds]]. Many thanks for your kindness. [[Paul Schulte|John P. Schulte]], the first flying priest".<ref>{{Citation |title=The Day Before Yesterday: Being a Journal of the Year 1936 |author=George Bagshawe Harrison |publisher=Cobden-Sanderson |date=1938 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=wqTSAAAAMAAJ|page=121 }}</ref><ref>{{citation |url=http://www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk/search/results?basicsearch=%22flowers%20from%20airship%22&exactsearch=true|title=Flowers from Airship: "First Flying Priest's" Request |journal=The Citizen |place=Gloucester|date=May 23, 1936 |page= 4 |volume=61 |issue=20}}</ref> Historian Oliver Denton speculates that the June visit may have had a more sinister purpose: to observe the industrial heartlands of [[Northern England]].<ref>{{Citation |author=Oliver Denton |title=The Rose and the Swastika: The Story of the Hindenburg's Visits to Yorkshire in May and June 1936 |date=2003 |publisher=Hudson History |place=Settle, West Yorkshire |isbn=1903783224}}</ref>

In July 1936, ''Hindenburg'' completed a record Atlantic round trip between Frankfurt and Lakehurst in 98 hours and 28 minutes of flight time (52:49 westbound, 45:39 eastbound).<ref>[http://www.airships.net/hindenburg/flight-schedule/ "Hindenburg Flight Schedule"] Airships.net</ref> Many prominent people were passengers on the ''Hindenburg'', including [[Boxing|boxer]] [[Max Schmeling]] making his triumphant return to Germany in June 1936 after his world heavyweight title knockout of [[Joe Louis]] at [[Yankee Stadium]].<ref>[http://www.airships.net/hindenburg/flight-schedule/max-schmeling/ "Max Schmeling on the Hindenburg"] Airships.net</ref><ref>[http://centpacrr.com/Schmeling_Hindenburg.pdf "SCHMELING HOME, HAILED BY REICH Planes Soar Over Hindenburg to Greet Boxer Who Was Ignored on Departure"] ''The New York Times'', June 27, 1936</ref><ref>Berg, Emmett. [http://www.neh.gov/humanities/2004/julyaugust/feature/fight-the-century "Fight of the Century."] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140310235945/http://www.neh.gov/humanities/2004/julyaugust/feature/fight-the-century |date=March 10, 2014 }} ''Humanities'', Vol. 25, No. 4, July/August 2004. Retrieved: January 7, 2008.</ref> In the 1936 season, the airship flew {{convert|191583|mi}} and carried 2,798 passengers and 160 tons of freight and mail, encouraging the ''[[Luftschiffbau Zeppelin]]'' Company to plan the expansion of its airship fleet and transatlantic service.{{Citation needed|date = May 2016}}

The airship was said to be so stable a pen or pencil could be balanced on end atop a table without falling. Launches were so smooth that passengers often missed them, believing the airship was still docked to the [[mooring mast]]. A one-way fare between Germany and the United States was US$400 ({{Inflation|US|400|1936|fmt=eq}}); ''Hindenburg'' passengers were affluent, usually entertainers, noted sportsmen, political figures, and leaders of industry.<ref>Grossman, Dan. [http://www.airships.net/hindenburg/flight-schedule/maiden-voyage "Hindenburg's Maiden Voyage Passenger List"] Airships.net. Retrieved: May 9, 2010.</ref><ref>Toland 1972, p. 9.</ref> ''Hindenburg'' was used again for propaganda when it flew over the [[Olympic Stadium (Berlin)|Olympic Stadium]] in Berlin on August 1 during the opening ceremonies of the [[1936 Summer Olympics|1936 Summer Olympic Games]]. Shortly before the arrival of [[Adolf Hitler]] to declare the Games open, the airship crossed low over the packed stadium while trailing the [[Olympic flag]] on a long weighted line suspended from its [[gondola]].<ref>Birchall 1936</ref> On September 14, the ship flew over the annual [[Nuremberg Rally]].

On October 8, 1936, ''Hindenburg'' made a 10.5 hour flight (the "Millionaires Flight") over [[New England]] carrying 72 wealthy and influential passengers including financier and future U.S. Ambassador to the United Kingdom [[Winthrop W. Aldrich]], his 28-year-old nephew [[Nelson Rockefeller]], who became the Governor of New York and, later, [[Vice President of the United States]], various German and American government officials and military officers, as well as key figures in the aviation industry, including [[Juan Trippe]], founder and Chief Executive of [[Pan American World Airways|Pan American Airways]], and [[World War I]] flying ace Captain [[Eddie Rickenbacker]], president of [[Eastern Airlines]]. The ship arrived at [[Boston]] by noon and returned to Lakehurst at 5:22{{nbs}}pm before making its final transatlantic flight of the season back to Frankfurt.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.airships.net/hindenburg/flight-schedule/millionaire-flight/|title=Hindenburg "Millionaires Flight"|last=Grossman|first=Dan|website=Airships.net|access-date=June 12, 2017}}</ref>

During 1936, ''Hindenburg'' had a [[Blüthner]] aluminium [[grand piano]] placed on board in the music salon, though the instrument was removed after the first year to save weight.<ref>[http://www.bluthnerpiano.com/history.html "A History of the Blüthner Piano Company"] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070206212332/http://www.bluthnerpiano.com/history.html |date=February 6, 2007 }} bluthnerpiano.com. Retrieved: January 7, 2008.</ref> Over the winter of 1936–37, several alterations were made to the airship's structures. The greater lift capacity allowed nine passenger cabins to be added, eight with two beds and one with four, increasing passenger capacity to 70.<ref name="ReferenceA">{{Cite web|url=http://www.airships.net/hindenburg/interiors/|title=The Hindenburg's Interior: Passenger Decks}}</ref> These windowed cabins were along the starboard side aft of the previously installed accommodations, and it was anticipated for the LZ 130 to also have these cabins.<ref name="Duggan">{{cite book|last1=Bauer|first1=Manfred|last2=Duggan|first2=John|title=LZ 130 "Graf Zeppelin" and the End of Commercial Airship Travel|date=1996|location=Friedrichshafen|isbn=9783895494017}}</ref> Additionally, the Olympic rings painted on the hull were removed for the 1937 season.

''Hindenburg'' also had an experimental aircraft hook-on [[trapeze]] similar to the one on the U.S. Navy Goodyear–Zeppelin built airships [[USS Akron (ZRS-4)|''Akron'']] and [[USS Macon (ZRS-5)|''Macon'']]. This was intended to allow customs officials to be flown out to ''Hindenburg'' to process passengers before landing and to retrieve mail from the ship for early delivery. Experimental hook-ons and takeoffs, piloted by [[Ernst Udet]], were attempted on March 11 and April 27, 1937, but were not very successful, owing to turbulence around the hook-up trapeze. The loss of the ship ended all prospects of further testing.<ref>Dick and Robinson 1985, pp. 142–145.</ref>