Final answer:
Captain Max Pruss was in command of the Hindenburg, a hydrogen-filled airship that disastrously combusted in New Jersey in 1937, resulting in 36 deaths.
Step-by-step explanation:
The unfortunate Captain Max Pruss was in command of the Hindenburg over New Jersey on May 6, 1937. The Hindenburg was a hydrogen-filled airship that experienced a catastrophic accident while attempting to land. The hydrogen inside the airship reacted with oxygen in a combustive chemical reaction, leading to a massive fireball that destroyed the airship and resulted in the loss of 36 lives. This event remains one of the most iconic airship disasters in history, often overshadowing other historic technological tragedies such as the sinking of the RMS Lusitania by a German submarine in 1915 and the fate of the supersonic passenger airplane Concorde.