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Six Zeppelins were to take part, but two were kept in their shed by high winds and another two were forced to return by engine failure. L 42 bombed Ramsgate, hitting a munitions store. The month-old L 48, the first U class Zeppelin, was forced to drop to 13,000 feet (4,000 m) where it was caught by four aircraft and destroyed, crashing near ...
The Zeppelin raids were complemented by the Gotha G bombers from 1917, which were the first heavier than air bombers to be used for strategic bombing, and by a small force of five Zeppelin-Staaken R.VI "giant" four engined bombers from late September 1917 through to mid-May 1918. Twenty-four Gotha twin-engined bombers were shot down on the ...
The SockelFlak started life as defensive armament for Zeppelin airships against fighter attack. However, once defenders discovered that airships filled with hydrogen were vulnerable to machine guns firing tracer ammunition Zeppelin losses mounted and the Germans switched to less vulnerable bomber aircraft. This meant that the SockelFlak needed ...
The completed LZ 59. The LZ 59 (L 20) was a World War I German Navy Airship and was the first Q-Class zeppelin [4] with a then record length of 178.5 metres (585 ft 8 in). It was allocated the tactical numbering L 20 and carried out a total of 19 flights, including 2 raids on England and 10 reconnaissance missions.
Perhaps the most famous fighter plane during World War 1 was the Fokker as it was the first to include a synchronized machine gun. [ 23 ] [ 24 ] [ 25 ] Towards the end of the conflict, aircraft carriers were used for the first time, with HMS Furious launching Sopwith Camels in a raid to destroy the Zeppelin hangars at Tønder in 1918.
The targets of these raids were industrial and port facilities and government buildings, but few of the bombs hit military targets, most falling on private property and killing civilians. Although the German strategic bombing campaign against Britain was the most extensive of the war, it was largely ineffective, in terms of actual damage done.
The raids were generally referred to in Britain as Zeppelin raids but Schütte-Lanz airships were also used. Weather and night flying made airship navigation and accurate bombing difficult. Bombs were often dropped miles off target (a raid on London hit Hull ) and hitting military installations was a matter of luck.
Zeppelin LZ 104 (construction number, designated L 59 by the German Imperial Navy) and nicknamed Das Afrika-Schiff ("The Africa Ship"), was a World War I German dirigible. It is famous for having attempted a long-distance resupply mission to the beleaguered garrison of Germany's East Africa colony .