Zeppelin engine covers

Colleen · 10 August 2005, 12:46 PM

I've been told that the trademark used for Zeppelin engine were little brass gnomes about 6" high which sat on top of the engine covers. If correct, has anyone ever seen seen one of these gnomes or seen a photo of one and/or can anyone suggest where I might get hold of photo of one? Thanks. Colleen

Aerowallah · 10 August 2005, 02:07 PM

Hi, Colleen!

Pretty obscure! I've got some old magazines with aero-manufacturers' advertisements--maybe I'll find a logo like that. Zeppelin used engines made by his subsidiary (Motorenbau-Friedrichshafen GmbH) headed up by K. Maybach but I'm not sure what their logo was. Have you tried querying the Zeppelin Museum in Friedrichshafen and Aeronauticum at Nordholz? Or are you confusing these engines with the "Gnom" engine sold by Oberursel to the French company that became Gnome et Rhone and made rotary engines during the war?

Was there a gnome found in Wigborough? Good luck with your exhibition!
Rgds

Colleen · 11 August 2005, 11:21 AM

Thanks for your help and advice, Aerowallah, much appreciated. If I can reciprocate with a copy of anything you need, let me know. As is all too apparent, I'm a novice at aero stuff. My fascination for Zepps and other things aero grew out of my research and old and current picture/document archive of the Blackwater estuary villages & towns - Gt & Lt Wigborough, Goldhanger, Heybridge, Messing, Maldon, the Tothams, Tollesbury etc - and recording the accounts of locals like Zeppelina Clark, who was born the night the Zepp crashed at Little Wigborough. I rely very much on my brother, a militaria collector, for the information on this. I'm sure my bro' said that it was Maybach's engines which had the gnomes, he didn't mention gnom.

No one that I know of has admitted finding the L33 gnome - assuming there was one. However, the site was certainly swamped in high powered visitors like Lloyd George and entourage plus many thousands of locals and non locals. Quarter of a million people are said to have visited at the time, everyone who could took a souvenir.

People who visit the site now are amazed that its remained virtually unchanged. The two cornfields near the estuary where this monster zeppelin was forced to land, the lane between them that it completely blocked, the farm cottages it crashed just yards from and towered over, the gaps in the hedge the crew emerged from and the lane they walked down - until they met the local special constable peddling along on his bike, and asked him in impeccable English how far it was to Colchester - the grave of the young farmer who crashed his motor bike while chasing the zepp, the house of the local doctor who recorded in his diary how he watched the orange flare as the zepp came down and was then was called out to simultaneously attend the baby's birth at the farm near the crash site (he named Zeppelina after 'this historic night'), try to patch up the farmer and attend to to the crew at what looked like the burnt Crystal Palace . Its all still there, minus zepp...except for who knows what beneath the corn... much as it was almost 90 years ago. Standing in those fields you can almost hear the great cheer that went up 'across the whole of Essex' as the zepp came down. Local pubs, even the church are steeped in and part of the L33's history. Its a fascinating place with a wonderful story. There has to be a 90 year commemorative exhibition while the site remains frozen in time as it is. Though I'm not yet sure if the museum will hold it, I believe the village will if not. Are you going to be there? Colleen

Colleen · 11 August 2005, 11:29 AM

Forgot to add that my brother told me that it was a little model of a gnome which sat on top the engine case, not a flat or raised trade mark. Colleen

VtwinVince · 14 August 2005, 04:17 PM

Sounds like it's time to get the old metal detector out...

Aerowallah · 14 August 2005, 06:43 PM

Hi, Colleen...no joy on the logo. The IWM and RAF Hendon also have more Zeppelin bits than they know what to do with and you might ask them. Maybe they'd lend you something for your local museum which would, in turn, be more likely to show some interest if you got the IWM to show interest first! (Human nature.) I'd love to come over...we'll see what I'm up to in `06...good luck!

P.S. For a giggle, look at my Zep threads under "Medals and Decorations"...

Colleen · 16 August 2005, 02:20 PM

Thanks for looking, Aerowallah - and for your advice re contacting RAF Hendon and the IWM, I will do that. Ok, going to have a look at Medals and decorations... Colleen