◆ SpookStack

WEE ARE a8 i ar) eh Lae ae es | 2 ~ -_ had previously worked at the Navel Air Station and were familiar with the handling of airships. The plan was thet the Hindenburg, when it arrived, would be moored at the mast unless it was rec- essary to take the ship into the hangar for repairse The ship carried a total of 97 persons, 61 in the crew and 36 passengers, The ship had a head or retarding wind and it wes evident they would not arrive at 6a. m. May 6, 1937. Leter during the dey they set their tize of arrival at 6 p. me, which would have been 12 hours late. Arrengenents were made with the landing crew accordinglye the ship actually arrived in the vicinity of the air field previous to this timee ihe weather was unsettied and the various conditions of weather which he related indicated it was inadvisable to attempt a landing when the ship first appeared. There had been heavy showers and thunders The depression was variable in the vicinity. At 3:40 to 4:45 p. m. there were showers and thunder. Between 5 and 6 p. m. the ship came over the airport and proceedea to the South and Eastward. Due to the fact the ship was late in arriving and the desire to depart on her regular schedule that night, it was desired to accomplish the landing at the earliest possible moment. They also wished, if possible, to service the ship during the daylight hours. At 5:45 p. me the station sent a message to the Hindenburg that conditions were unsettled and recommended that they not land until further word was had from the station and requested the ship to ad- vise tham whet they intended to do, At 5:53 p. m., Eastern Stanaard Time, they received a message from the Hindenburg saying, "We will wait until you report that landing conditions are better. (Signed) Prusse" At 6:12 p. me, Eastern Standard Time, the station sent a message to the ship that conditions were now considered suitable for landing and that the ground crew was ready, There was thunder over the station at that time. The ceiling was about 3,000 feet with visibility of about 5 miles. The ship, in the meantime, had dis- appeared out of sight due to the direction in which it had proceeded, having a ceiling of about 500 or G00 feet. At 6:15 p. m a message was sent to the ship recommending thatthey land and thet conditions were rapidly improving. Soon thereafter, the ship appeared on a Northerly course and passed over the station practically direotly over the mooring mast. At one end of the staton it turned to the er ae mina le atian orn YW left and circled the station and came in from the Westward, It turned to the right for the approach to the landing met in a general Southerly direction. The weather conditions, atfthe actual time of the attempted landing, indicated a ceiling of 2,000 to 3,000 feet, with some clouds and very light rain. The wind was from the Southeast and about one knot. The wind velocity, at the