Luftwaffe Photo Grouping - Possible Hindenburg Airship Connection?

[Tim K.]

I was able to find this list:

Lakehurst, N. J. - Following is a list of survivors of the
Hindenburg disaster as announced by the Zeppelin company:

PASSENGERS

Adelt, Leonard, Berlin.
Adelt, Gertrude, Berlin.
Clemens, Karl Otto, Bonn.
Doehner, Mrs. Mathielde, Mexico City.
Doehner, Walter, Mexico City.
Doehner, Werner, Mexico City.
Ernest, Elsa, Hamburg.
Ernst, Otto, Hamburg.
Grant, George, Gondon.
Hirschfeld, George W., Bremen.
Von Hiedenstamm, Rolf, Stockholm.
Hinkelbein, Claus, Schwaelich Hall.
Kleemann, Maria, Hamburg.
Knoecher, Erich, Zuelenroda.
Lauchtenberg, William.
Mangone, Philip Mather, and Margaret G.
Morris, Nelson.
Osbun, Clifford.
O'Laughlin, Herbert James.
Spach, Joseph.
Stockle, Emil, Frankfort.
Witt, Hans Hugo, Barth.
Vinholt, Haines, Copenhagen.

MEMBERS OF CREW

Balla.
Bauer, Heinrich.
Bauer, Kurt.
Bentell.
Boetius.
Bernhard.
Deed.
Deutchie.
Doerflein.
Dowe.
Fischer.
Franz.
Freund.
Grossinger.
Henneberg.
Herzog.
Klein.
Kollmer.
Kubis.
Lau.
Lehmann, Capt. Ernst.
Librecht.
Lenx.
Maier, Xavier.
Nielsen.
Nunnenmacher.
Pruss, Capt. Max
Ritter.
Ruediger, Dr.
Sammt.
Sauter.
Schaeuble.
Schweikard.
Schaedler.
Schoenher.
Speck.
Staab.
Stoeffier.
Whitemann.
abel.
Zegler.
Zettel.


http://members.tripod.com/~Data_Mate/history/Hndbrg.txt

[Jim B.]

I was brought to this thread by the current discussion about the Zeppelin visor. Nice pictures BTW. Picture #6 is looking aft at the Graf Zeppelin (LZ-127) from the starboard-forward engine gondola of Hindenburg (LZ-129). Very nice shot, I wouldn't mind having a larger scan of that.

Picture #7 is of Hindenburg (LZ-129).

Not that it matters for the photos above, but Captain Lehman did not survive the Lakehurst accident (the list above shows him as a survivor). He survived the actual crash but died of burns the next day. A U.S. officer on the scene (who said that Lehman's back was burnt to the bone) reported that the Captain sat quietly on a table and declined aid until other injured had been treated.

Great photos, are there more of them in the album?
Jim

[JACK SELWYNE]

Zeppelin Cap Badge

This Zeppelin Cap Badge Was Made By Otto Gahr In 800 Silver With Light Blue Emamel World As Logo In 3 Part Fitting
Jack

[Patrick Russell]

Mystery Zeppelin crewman

Hi Tim,

Actually, I have a little (sadly, very little) information for you on this Zeppelin crewman. But perhaps what info I do have will help.

My name's Patrick Russell, and I've been a student of Zeppelin history for over 30 years, and have been researching the passengers and crew from the Hindenburg's last flight for about the past 10-15 years. (And in fact, I've been gradually putting my passenger and crew research up on a website for the past few months: http://facesofthehindenburg.blogspot.com/ )

Florian Wuest contacted me a couple years ago asking about this same gentleman, and I've kept an eye peeled for any additional info on him since then. Unfortunately, I still don't know this crewman's name.

However, I do know that he was indeed a Hindenburg crewman, though he wasn't aboard for the final flight. I came across a photo last year taken at Lakehurst in 1936 where he's posing, along with a group of workers from Veedol Oil, next to the lift they used to hoist oil barrels into the Hindenburg's keel.



He's the one at far left.

So, it looks like he was definitely an engine mechanic (he's wearing a mechanic's coverall in the photo) on the Hindenburg, at least for part of the 1936 season. This, then, would explain the photo you posted that was taken from inside one of the Hindenburg's engine gondolas.

In looking through John Duggan's "LZ-129 - The Complete Story", I checked out the crew list he included as as "Appendix C." Unfortunately, it doesn't show who flew on which flights, and I have a feeling that it might not be an absolutely complete list.

However, under the list of men who flew on the Hindenburg as engine mechanics, there are four with whom I am not familiar: Alfons Schaefer, Hermann Rothfuss, Wilhelm Doebler, and A. Wenzler. I would say chances are fair that the fellow in your photos is one of these men.

I've seen a few group photos of various Zeppelin crewmembers in which this same gentleman appears, so even though he wasn't part of the crew for the Hindenburg's final voyage, he certainly appears to have been an established member of the Zeppelin family.

I'd sure like to figure out exactly who he is as well!

[Patrick Russell]

However, under the list of men who flew on the Hindenburg as engine mechanics, there are four with whom I am not familiar: Alfons Schaefer, Hermann Rothfuss, Wilhelm Doebler, and A. Wenzler. I would say chances are fair that the fellow in your photos is one of these men.

Actually, I just looked at my files a little more closely, and A. Wenzler is almost certainly Adolf Wenzler, an engine mechanic who had been flying with the Graf Zeppelin since at least 1929. The fellow in your photos is definitely not him.

So, assuming Duggan didn't miss anyone in his list of mechanics who flew at one time or another on the Hindenburg, we're down to three possibilities. Schaefer, Rothfuss, or Doebler.

If I find anything on any of them, I'll be sure and post up to let you know.

[Patrick Russell]

Not that it matters for the photos above, but Captain Lehman did not survive the Lakehurst accident (the list above shows him as a survivor). He survived the actual crash but died of burns the next day. A U.S. officer on the scene (who said that Lehman's back was burnt to the bone) reported that the Captain sat quietly on a table and declined aid until other injured had been treated.

Indeed, Lehmann's back was covered in third-degree burns from his neck down to the base of his spine, and immediately after the fire he sat on a table in the Lakehurst base's dispensary dabbing at his burns with a big hunk of gauze soaked in picric acid while the other injured survivors were treated.

He was later taken to Paul Kimball Hospital in nearby Lakewood where he lasted until the next day. He was lucid enough to have a few visitors, and he wasn't burned as badly as others like Captain Pruss were, but for whatever reason he just didn't make it.

There are actually a few others on that survivor list who also didn't make it. Alfred Bernhardt was a helmsman who had been up in the extreme bow of the ship lowering landing ropes at the time of the fire and he (along with two others who had also been lowering ropes along with him) was somehow taken from the wreckage alive. He died in hospital overnight that same night, but I think it was some time the following day before he was identified by the hospital, hence the confusion there on the May 7th survivors' list.

Willy Speck, the ship's radio chief, had a double fracture at the base of his neck in addition to burns, and actually took Lehmann's place in a transfer of several of the command crew to the burn center at Presbyterian Hospital in New York City on May 7th (the day after the fire) after Lehmann passed away that day. He died early on the morning of May 8th.

Also, a passenger named Erich Knoecher initially survived the crash and was taken to Fitkin Memorial Hospital in Asbury Park, but died the morning of May 8th (as I understand it, minutes after Willy Speck died up in New York.)

Then there was Otto Ernst, an elderly passenger who was at Paul Kimball Hospital for nine days after the crash, undergoing transfusions and so forth, and finally passed away on May 15th.

So yeah, that survivor list is definitely not final (though for the most part it is.)

(Again, as Jim points out, it's not really relevant to the discussion topic, but since we're on the subject and all...)