1937 Hindenburg Last Flight - Rare Artifact From This Fateful Voyage

A twist of fate spared this cover from the fiery demise of the Hindenburg. Originally scheduled to be carried aboard the German airship’s May Day flight to Berlin on May 1, 1937, this trip was abruptly canceled due to poor weather. With the Hindenburg’s next departure scheduled for May 3rd to the United States, officials chose to include these aboard the final flight and proceed with the traditional airship mail drop of these May Day Deutschland covers over Cologne (Köln).

The mailbags were dropped to the ground, collected by the Cologne post office, and postmarked shortly before midnight. These Deutschland Flight covers are among the very few items that were part of the final Hindenburg voyage but did not go down in flames over Lakehurst, New Jersey, on May 6. Each cover bears the striking red cachet explaining the cancellation of the May Day flight, along with the official May Day flight postmark, the original Frankfurt dispatch, and the rare Cologne receiving cancels.

An incredible relic from a tragic chapter in aviation history and a remarkable survivor of a disaster that might have claimed it.  Covers and franking will vary but all will have official flight cancellations.