In one of the most stunning moments in broadcast history, an astonished Herbert Morrison utters his now famous phrase, “Oh, the humanity!” as he watched the fireball erupt through the German airship LZ 129 Hindenburg in 1937. The explosion claimed 35 lives on board the ship as it burned and spiraled to the ground.
Some 30 years later, filmmaker Robert Wise (The West Side Story, The Day The Earth Stood Still) recreated the disaster on screen with 1974’s The Hindenburg, a story that seeks to reveal the true cause of the destruction of the airship, a detail that was never actually uncovered.
Though the action takes only minutes to unfold, the sight of the grand fireball crashing to earth is spectacular anyway you slice it. Watch the destruction here:
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tWci-qkKl5E]