Posts : 5122 Join date : 2011-12-30 Location : Pyrénées-Orientales, France
Subject: Zeppelin attacks on Britain in WW1 Tue 15 Mar 2022, 13:37
MarkUK on another thread, said
MarkUK wrote:
"Five airships were shot down over British soil in WW I, the crew of one, the L33, survived but the other four were all (bar three lucky individuals) killed, all of them are buried in a special plot at the Cannock Chase Cemetery. One of the three survivors of the L48 died in the POW camp on Cannock Chase in 1918 and is buried in the Commonwealth Cemetery nearby. So there are more than 80 Zeppelin crewmen buried there.
I had no idea that so many Zeppelin crews were shot down and then buried in Britain during WW1. So whatever other Zeppelin attacks - successful or otherwise - were there?
MarkUK Praetor
Posts : 142 Join date : 2022-03-13 Location : Staffordshire
Subject: Re: Zeppelin attacks on Britain in WW1 Tue 15 Mar 2022, 21:47
Mainland GB was attacked exactly 100 times between 1914 and 1918; 51 times by aeroplanes and 49 by airships. The airships ranged further, as far south as Portsmouth, as far north as the Scottish Highlands and as far west as Shrewsbury. The aeroplane attacks were restricted to the south east of England. Aeroplane raids killed about 860, Zeppelin raids about 560. Five Zeppelins were shot down over England, several more were shot down over the sea and others of course over mainland Europe. Each Zeppelin carried a crew of 18-22 or so depending on size.
Green George Censura
Posts : 805 Join date : 2018-10-19 Location : Kingdom of Mercia
Subject: Re: Zeppelin attacks on Britain in WW1 Tue 15 Mar 2022, 22:50
Except, of course, that one "zeppelin" wasn't - it was a Schütte-Lanz (SL11). Nasty (i.e. nice) quiz question. "Who was the first British pilot to shoot down a Zeppelin? Commonest (still rare) answer Leefe Robinson SL11 - wrong. Not a Zeppelin. Alternative answer Warneford wrong he climbed above LZ37 and bombed it. (L prefix - Navy, LZ - Army)
Triceratops Censura
Posts : 4377 Join date : 2012-01-05
Subject: Re: Zeppelin attacks on Britain in WW1 Wed 16 Mar 2022, 14:35
The first Zeppelin* attack on the British Isles took place on the 19th January 1915, when two Zeppelins attacked Norfolk:
*The first verifiable air raid on the British Isles was carried out by a Friedrichshafen FF29 floatplane of the German Navy which dropped two bombs into the sea off Dover Pier on 21st December 1914. On Christmas Eve, a second FF29 dropped one bomb into a Dover garden and a second near Dover Castle. There were no casualties.
FF29 along with submarine U-12
MarkUK Praetor
Posts : 142 Join date : 2022-03-13 Location : Staffordshire
Subject: Re: Zeppelin attacks on Britain in WW1 Wed 16 Mar 2022, 19:25
Green George wrote:
Except, of course, that one "zeppelin" wasn't - it was a Schütte-Lanz (SL11). Nasty (i.e. nice) quiz question. "Who was the first British pilot to shoot down a Zeppelin? Commonest (still rare) answer Leefe Robinson SL11 - wrong. Not a Zeppelin. Alternative answer Warneford wrong he climbed above LZ37 and bombed it. (L prefix - Navy, LZ - Army)
Oh yes, the vexed question of who was the first Brit to bring down a zeppelin. Using "zeppelin" to describe any rigid airship of that design it was Lt W L Robinson who first shot one out of the sky, as mentioned above, on 3 September 1916. The first to down an actual Zeppelin was Lt F Sowrey on 24 September 1916, he destroyed the L32. Sub-Lt R A J Warneford (again above) bombed the LZ37 in the air on 7 June 1915. But the first Brit to destroy a zeppelin was Flt Lt R L G Marix who bombed the Düsseldorf shed on 8 October 1914 destroying the Army Zeppelin Z IX housed inside.