The Hindenburg disaster was an airship accident that occurred on May 6, 1937, in Manchester Township, New Jersey, U.S. The LZ 129 Hindenburg was a German commercial passenger-carrying rigid airship, the lead ship of the Hindenburg class, the longest class of flying machine and the largest airship by envelope volume. It was designed and built by the Zeppelin Company and operated by the German Zeppelin Airline Company. It was named after Field Marshal Paul von Hindenburg, who was president of Germany from 1925 until his death in 1934. Filled with hydrogen, it caught fire and was destroyed during its attempt to dock with its mooring mast at Naval Air Station Lakehurst. The accident caused 35 fatalities among the 97 people on board, and an additional fatality on the ground.

Manchester Township is a township in Ocean County, in the U.S. state of New Jersey. The township is noted for containing the Lakehurst Naval Air Station, the site of the infamous Hindenburg disaster of May 6, 1937. As of the 2020 United States census, the township's population was 45,115, the highest recorded in any decennial count and an increase of 2,045 (+4.7%) from the 2010 census count of 43,070, which in turn reflected an increase of 4,142 (+10.6%) from the 38,928 counted in the 2000 census.