This lot is closed for bidding. Bidding ended on 4/18/2024
[HINDENBURG ZEPPELIN]. First Day Cover with Inkstamps Commemorating Hindenburg’s First Transatlantic Flight to Lakehurst Naval Station. [New York: May 9, 1939]. Large manilla envelope (approximately 228 x 305 mm) with 6 ¾ large stamps commemorating the Third International Philatelic Exhibition of 1936. With the following two inkstamps: “Frankfurt (Main) Mit Luftschiff Hindenburg Befordert / 14.5.36. 10” and “Lakehurst Trans-Atlantic First Flight 1936 Frankfurt-am-Main”. With the following manuscript note on the envelope: “Via First Flight-Airship Hindenburg From Lakehurst N. J. David Reiss 315 - 7av N. Y. C. N. Y. / U. S. A.” With several New York mail cancels (dated May 9, 1936). Some rubbing, toning. Hindenburg had made several successful transatlantic flights during its first season (1936), including at the Naval Air Station at Lakehurst, N. J. It was the first transatlantic flight of its second season where disaster struck: on May 6, 1937, Hindenburg attempted to moor at Lakehurst where the zeppelin’s hydrogen supplies combusted, killing 36 people. This disaster all but destroyed zeppelin passenger travel for decades.