The Hindenberg over Halifax in July, 1936. Nova Scotia Archives - ContributedIt was likely a typical day in early May in Cape Breton when Maj. MacNeil of Grand Narrows looked skyward and saw a monstrous behemoth floating above the Grand Narrows bridge. MacNeil was in charge of A Company in the local militia. He had access to weapons and munitions and being a veteran of the Great War, he knew how to use them.
The giant, grey, tube-shaped floating blimp in the sky worried MacNeil because it bore tail fins bearing Nazi Germany swastika symbols. The airship or zeppelin was as long as the Titanic. One can imagine what MacNeil, someone who fought the Germans in Europe, thought when he saw the Hindenberg sail into view.
Airships like the Hindenberg had been in use for many years at this point in Europe, the United States, South America and the occasional venture over Atlantic Canada on the way to New York. Some of the floating tubes had had explosions in the past due to using hydrogen as the floatation element. MacRae knew how they operated.
Cooler heads prevailed and MacNeil laid down his weapon. The Hindenberg sailed to New Jersey, yet crashed and caught fire the next day while attempting to dock with the mooring mast at Naval Air Station Lakehurst, in Manchester Township. Of the 97 people aboard, 35 died.
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