LZ 129 '' Hindenburg '' ( ; Registration : D-LZ 129 ) was a large German commercial passenger-carrying rigid airship , the lead ship of the '' Hindenburg '' class , the longest class of flying machine and the largest airship by envelope volume . It was designed and built by the Zeppelin Company ( '' Luftschiffbau Zeppelin GmbH '' ) on the shores of Lake Constance in Friedrichshafen and was operated by the German Zeppelin Airline Company ( '' Deutsche Zeppelin-Reederei '' ) . The airship flew from March 1936 until it was destroyed by fire 14 months later on May 6 , 1937 while attempting to land at Lakehurst Naval Air Station in Manchester Township , New Jersey , at the end of the first North American transatlantic journey of its second season of service with the loss of 36 lives . This was the last of the great airship disasters ; it was preceded by the crashes of the British R38 in 1921 ( 44 dead ) , the US airship '' Roma '' in 1922 ( 34 dead ) , the French '' Dixmude '' in 1923 ( 52 dead ) , the British R101 in 1930 ( 48 dead ) , and the USS '' Akron '' in 1933 ( 73 dead )
destroyed by fire
Hindenburg disaster
LZ 129 Hindenburg