Zeppelin Crew help please

[jager1]

I'm looking for any references concerning a Zeppelin Officer called (Rudolf)Grastorf, He seems to have been with L5 and later Zeppelins but I can't find him on any casualty lists or any mention of him on the net.

Any help on this would be great.

Jager1

[TomVrille]

According to Casualties of the German Air Service, Ltn.d.R Rudolf Grastorf was lost on 27 July 1916 over the Black Sea, while on the crew of SL10.

[Rick]

Tom, took the words right out of my mouth . Jager1, as L 5 was a fairly early Naval airship, what do you have on his service with the ship? And a side question, could L 5 possibly be SL 5 ?? R.

[agblume]

hello jaeger1, German Navy airship L.5 (factory number LZ.28) was built at Friedrichshafen. She carried out first flight on 22.09.1914, and was based at Nordholz, Fuhlsbuttel and from 14.07.1915 at Seddin in East Prussia. Her commanders were Kplt. Hirsch, Kplt.d.R. Boecker and Kplt. Ehrlich. She was badly damaged on 06.08.1915 by Russian artillery over Dunamunde and made a heavy forced landing at Plugiany. She was dismantled by 16 August. She carried out 47 reconnaissance missions and hunted mines in the Baltic Sea.

Schutte-Lanz Army airship SL.5 (factory number C.3) made its first flight at Darmstadt on 21.05.1915. On 05.07.1915 engine failure resulted in her forced landing at Giessen, where a thunderstorm battered the ship to pieces. She flew no combat missions. I don't know her commanders. Hope this helps. Cheers, agblume

[jager1]

Hi Tom

Thanks for that info- I totally missed the entry in Casualties of the German Air Service.

Rick, I have Grastorf's photoalbum and I'm just trying to piece together a service. He seems to have served with Zeppelins from pre War. Taking another look at some of the photos I'm thinking maybe agblume has second guessed me! (thanks fo putting the details together) The airship might well be SL5 but since there are a few pics of a pretty battered machine and both around the same period - I will need to get some more references of the types to see what it is as the photos are of only parts of the airship.

So far I have him with (S)L5 in 1914/15 -?
7/8 September 1915 took part on Raid on London - I think with SLII as he was deffinately with this airship later in 1915 as navigations Officer
LZ93 in May 1916
and SL10 - which is was killed on

All the above dates are from the odd labelled photo but I don't know how long he was with which.

He does seem to have served with Von Wobeser and Nordhorst in all or most of his airships from 1914 but so far this is all I can put together

Jager1

[Rick]

Jager1, as SL 10, SL 11, and LZ 93 were all Army airships, whereas L 5 was a Naval one, I suspect it was indeed SL 5. Thanks for the data, I'll see what I can do with von Wobeser. Nordhorst may be a new name for me! R.

[jager1]

Hi Rick

It must be SL5 he was with as you say.
It seems von Wobeser was Commanding SL2 also so maybe my thoughts that they all served together in different airships are correct.

Jager1

[Rick]

Originally Posted by agblume

Schutte-Lanz Army airship SL.5 (factory number C.3) made its first flight at Darmstadt on 21.05.1915. On 05.07.1915 engine failure resulted in her forced landing at Giessen, where a thunderstorm battered the ship to pieces. She flew no combat missions. I don't know her commanders. Hope this helps. Cheers, agblume

Augie, I show the C.O. of SL 5 as Hptm. Pochhammer (NFN) from (as you stated) 21May15 to 5Jul15 when it was destroyed. R.

[Glenn]

Hi Jager1,

The then Vizefeldwebel der Reserve Rudolf Grastorf (Landwehrbezirk Liegnitz) of Luftschifferbataillon Nr. 5 was commissioned as a Leutnant der Reserve on the 27th of January 1915. At the time of his commissioning he was serving with Luftschiffertrupp 8.

Regards
Glenn

[jager1]

Hi Glen

Thanks for that info. I had seen a photo of Grastorf with a button on his collar so thought He must have been an NCO at some point but there was no dates or information - this really gives me a good start for his War Service

Jager1