L33 - Zeppelin

[Copt Hall]

L33 Zeppelin brought down in Essex (Little Wigborough) Sept 1916. Appreciate if anyone has any information, sources, photos, memorabilia. Looking to hold a 90 yr exhibition in 2006 to raise funds for the local churches etc. Piece of L33 Zepp hangs in Little Wigborough Church.

[Rod_Filan]

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

[Graeme]

Copt Hall

The RFC pilot was 2nd Lt Alfred de Bath Brandon, MC. Born 21 July 1883 and educated at Wellington College, New Zealand and Trinity College, Cambridge, he was Mentioned in Despatches on three occasions.

L33's bombs fell upon Bromley-by-Bow, Bow and Stratford, setting fire to a lumber yard and an oil depot while demolishing a row of houses in which six people were killed and a further 12 injured. Also hit was the "Black Swan" public house, four of its patrons being killed.

Attacking the airship over Chelmsford, Brandon fired a whole drum of Brock, Pomeroy and Sparklet (SPK Mk VII-T), reloaded and fired a further nine rounds before the Lewis gun jammed. Brandon lost sight of the airship while attempting the clear the jam.

It is said that the airship touched the earth only 60 feet from a labourer's cottage in a field between Little Wigborough and Peldon.

Also lost that night was L32, commanded by Oberleutnant Werner Peterson, which was hit by the gun at Tunnel Farm then attacked by 2nd Lieutenant Frederick Sowrey. His first two drums of ammunition appeared to have no effect but upon firing a third, the airship caught fire in a number of places and fell slowly to earth. L32 hit the ground at Snail's Hall Farm, Great Burstead, south of Billericay, where it burned for almost an hour.

Both pilots received the Distinguished Service Order:

FROM THE SUPPLEMENT TO THE LONDON GAZETTE OF TUESDAY, THE 3RD OF OCTOBER, 1916
PUBLISHED ON WEDNESDAY, 4 OCTOBER, 1916

War Office,
4th October, 1916.

His Majesty the KING has been graciously pleased to appoint the undermentioned Officers Companions of the Distinguished Service Order, in recognition of their gallantry and distinguished service in connection, with the successful attack on Enemy Airships:—

2nd Lt. Frederick Sowrey, R. Fus., attd. R.F.C.
2nd Lt. Alfred de Bath Brandon, M.C., R.F.C., Spec. Res.

Graeme

[Rick]

Originally Posted by Copt Hall

L33 Zeppelin brought down in Essex (Little Wigborough) Sept 1916. Appreciate if anyone has any information, . . .

I can provide a complete list of crew names if they are of any interest. Realizing no one else is interested contact me with a PM (Private Message) if you are. R.

[jempie]

Hi!

Try once the Airship Heritage Trust / Cardington !
www.airshipsonline.com

Pity their own Forum seems to have been infected and is byond use ?

But amongst their members are a lot of collectors having items , documents and artefacts related to WWI and further the AHT has an own collection!

But perhaps you could get via the AHT in contact with a few of them ( or get adresses) from their webmaster ?


Jempie.

[Ed]

A bit of a humorous story follows the forced landing of the L-33. After they set fire to the damaged airship Bocker had his crew of 22 fall in and marched down a country road hoping to find a boat to make their escape across the North Sea. They didn't know they had a large audience of villagers. They were finally confronted by a lone English bobby riding his bicycle. Bocker asked him , "Can you tell me how far we are from Colchester?'
"Never mind about Colchester," said the bobby, "You come along with me." So falling in behind the policeman, they obediently followed and were taken into captivity. ***



*** From the Time-Life book, "Epic of Flight"; The Giant Airships

[Mirrors]

Alread pledged!

[Rod_Filan]

Mirrors,
Interesting inscription. This is the second L 33 item that i've seen referenced to Mersea Island. The other was a ladder rung from *L 33 shot down over Essex on 23/24 Sep 16 crashing into a field at West Mersea Essex*
Also included was a photo showing Zeppelin wreckage of what I believe is the L 32 crash site at Great Burstead-not the assumed Little Wigborough site. Certainly there has been confusion between the airships, shot down the same night, which might explain this type of thing; however, is it a common mistake in England to think Little Wigborough is on Mersea Island? Other explanation: Considering L 33 had gone out to sea then turned back to land; are these items that were thrown overboard to slow the airship's descent right before landing? I'm guessing by the time they were over Mersea Island potential jettison had become scarce, thus ladders, auxiliary propellers, etc. would likely be the last to go. Comments?

Ref. Maps:
http://www.earlyaviator.com/archive/...Wigborough.jpg
http://www.earlyaviator.com/archive/...t.Burstead.jpg


Jempie !
Hat-tip for the AHT forum link. I've been to the airshipsonline site many times to collect H.M.A. data but never took notice of the discussion group link.

Ed,
The arresting policeman was Special Constable Edgar Nicholas.

Rick,
If you're still watching this thread... i'll take one of those lists off your hands. flyingaces(at)shaw(dot)ca .Thanx.

VBR
Rod

[crankcase]

there are so many threads to navigate that i only discovered this one now (i joined the aerodrome last month)...

can you pls send me details about the commemoration you plan in connection with L33. some years ago an english friend gave me a 6 inch strip of metal which formed part of the girder construction. it includes a 1.5 inch cross bit with the four welded points in place. i could visually verify it by examining the photo of the girder shown on www.aeroconservancy.com

the metal strip is accompanied by a similar bit of (flat) metal shaped into a crude iron cross with the inscription "zepp L33 sept 1916 essex.

i presume a number of these trinkets made the rounds after the ship came down in england.

crankcase