L 33 (c/n LZ 76)
Generally known as a super-Zeppelin.
196.5 m long - maximum diameter 23.9 m
Liftgas capacity: 55,000 m3
Gas cells: 19
Useful lift: 29,746 kg
Motors: 6 x 240 h.p. (Maybach?)
Max. speed: 96.1 km/h - 59.7 mph
Built at Friedrichshafen; First flown 30 Aug 1916.
Destroyed 24 Sep 1916.
Originally based at Nordholz then moved to Ahlhorn.
8 flights/1,688 km
Commander: Kapitänleutnant Alois Böcker.
Quite a bit can be found online about L 33... For starters, a good online overview of the 1916 Zeppelin offensive:
http://www.richthofen.com/dark_autumn/
"The third raiding period during 1916 zep offensive began when 12 navy airships headed for England late in the afternoon of September 23. The navy crews had been dismayed by the destruction of SL-11 three weeks previously, but that had been a wooden army ship. Certainly such a thing could not happen to the veteran navy captains in their true Zeppelins. The new L-30 class ships, led by Heinrich Mathy in the L-31, worked their way southward and crossed the southern English coast. This route assured a strong tail-wind and speedy flight past the most dangerous anti-aircraft areas over London. The other smaller Navy ships; L-13, L-14, L-16, L-17, L-21, L-22 and L-23 took the direct route into the Midlands, with only the L-17 causing any casualties at Nottingham. Captain Alois Böcker in the L-33 was the first to arrive over the capital. He dropped most of his bomb-load on the East End, around Bow and Stratford, with the airship crew reporting visible fires and explosions with each bomb burst . However, a shell from the defenses over Bromley exploded inside the ship, causing tremendous physical damage but no fires. She dropped much of her water ballast, reported by the ground spotters as a smoke screen, and made her way eastward, losing 800 feet of altitude each minute. After a dangerous encounter with a British airplane which pumped several drums of Brock-Pomeroy ammunition into L-33 to no effect, the airship came to earth at Essex, where Böcker and his men jumped to the ground and fired several flares into her. They were promptly captured as L-33 burned to the ground, mostly intact."
Interesting fact: British rigid airships R33 and R34 were built almost entirely from the data gathered from the wrecked L 33 and although they resembled the L 33, the similarity in numbering was purely coincidental; the R33 had been designated in early 1916 before the crash.
Almost forgot... Charles Gosse over at
http://www.aeroconservancy.com/ has a L 33 duralumin girder. Take a look.
Best of luck with the display/exhibit. I'll send along any images I come across. BTW, what exactly is the relic that hangs at Little Wigborough Church?
VBR
Rod