Britain 1915. The war to end all wars was continuing. It will be over by Christmas had not happened and war remained. The British people didn't know it but they still had another three years of war to endure. Unbeknown to the British, on the 7th January 1915 Germany had just been given permission to bomb Britain using the Zeppelins. What was to follow was death and destruction never seen before. It was bombing raids that killed both the old and the young and created terror amongst the population.
The Zeppelin was created many years earlier and was named after its German creator, Count Ferdinand Von Zeppelin. In 1910 the Zeppelins were used as a passenger-paying airline. By the time the war how started, these German Zeppelins had flown over 1,500 passengers to various destinations.
In 1914, civillans started to report the sighting of Zeppelins, manly along the coast area. Although no other evidence was found, the German's were probably using the Zeppelins for reconnaissance missions that would aid them later in the war. It wasn't until January the next year that these would be used as a weapon.
In 1915 Germany began its bombing mission's on Britain. The drone of the Zeppelins could be heard well before it could be seen which warned people of what was about to happen. On average, Germany was able to launch two attacked per month - a lot less raids than would happen in a war to follow not that far in the future. The bombs these Zeppelins dropped caused damage to homes & businesses as well as killed or injured over 1,300 people. The destruction and devastation caused terror and outrage, that people had been personally attacked. The people had expected death in a far-away country but never in their wildest dreams had they thought it would be them in danger.
The Zeppelin was made from a light metallic and wood framework which contained specialist gas bags filled with hydrogen. Covering all of this was a canvas-like material that would add some protection to the weather conditions. It also had engines fitted with propellers on the outside so it could fly faster and had a passenger gondola on the underside. The design of the Zeppelin meant that it was controlled more so by the weather than the military and on numerous occasions, couldn't fly due to bad weather. The hydrogen filled bags also meant that these Zeppelins were highly flammable as many people were to find out during the course of the war.
Below are the stories of two pilots that on different occasions came out victorious against the Zeppelins. At a time when flying had only just begun, these two men showed true courage and bravery in order to protect their country.
During a night time mission on 6th June 1915, Rex Warneford was flying his Morane-Saulnier when he saw in the distance a Zeppelin on its was back from a bombing raid he knew had been reported in London. He tried shooting it down but came under heavy machine fire from the machine gun the crew were using on-board. He was angry that Britain had been attacked again and so decided to change his tactics. As the Zeppelin climbed in the sky to become less visible and make its was home, so did Rex. He stayed out of view of the crew on the Zeppelin but as the Zeppelin began its descent into Brussels, he decided to take his revenge. Climbing about 100 ft above the Zeppelin, Rex then released his six bombs which he was carrying, onto the Zeppelin. A huge explosion followed which completely destroyed the Zeppelin, but it also caused damage to Rex's plane. He was forced to land behind enemy lines, in the hope he wouldn't be found, so that he could carry out some much needed repairs on his plane. As soon as Rex landed he worked quickly and efficiently to repair his Morane-Saulnier and was able to take off and fly back home. Once landed safely back in Britain, Rex's story became known and he was awarded the Victoria Cross from Britain and from France awarded the Knights Cross of the Legion d'Honneur. As with many men fighting in the land, see and air during World War 1, Rex never got to see Britain's victory in the end of the war. He died just ten days after his Zeppelin Victory in another flying accident.
At 2am on 2nd September 1916, the people of Cuffley rose from their beds and ran to a nearby field to see what was happened. People could hear the dreaded drone of a Zeppelin getting closer and closer but something felt different tonight for many of the people. Suddenly a small gleam of orange light appeared on part of the Zeppelin. Within seconds that some gleam had turned into a fireball that was later reported to have been seen for up to 100 miles. The people stood still in amazement, watching the fireball slowly fall out of the sky. The next day, people were seen to be looking at the remains of a Zeppelin, of which had been casting fear amongst the people of Britain for over a year. Due to the highly flammable gas, the Zeppelin had burst into flames and had come down into thousands of tiny pieces, of which people were now taking home as souvenirs.
Slowly throughout the day, the story of Lieutenant William Leefe-Robinson unfolded. The pilot had saw the Zeppelin over Britain and had used three rounds only of machine fire which hit it and caused the gleam of like many people reportedly saw first. This then caused the gas to ignite and that fireball which then brought the Zeppelin to the ground. This was the first Zeppelin to be brought down on British soil and was seen as a huge victory and turning point of the war for the civilians. William's brave efforts had meant that although Zeppelin raids still occurred, the British people knew that the Zeppelins could be destroyed and a small amount of the terror had gone. For William, he continued to bravely fight the enemy in more missions and survived to see the end of the war. Lieutenant William Leefe-Robinson was unable to enjoy the freedom he had been fighting tirelessly for as just one month after the end of the war, he died in the influenza epidemic. However, for the people of Cuffley, his memory lived on and they was forever grateful.
For Germany, the use of the Zeppelin as a weapon of war proved unsatisfactory. As well as the highly flammable gases, as proved in the stories above, they were also large, loud and relatively slow moving. Of the 115 Zeppelins that Germany owned, 53 were completely destroyed and a further 24 more were too damaged to be used. As a result, after World War 1 ended, the Zeppelin's were never used by Germany as a weapon of war.
Men like Rex & William changed the path of the future of Britain for the best. When the first world war broke out, flying was a new concept of which Britain and its flying corps had just started. These men had very little training and safety procedures were unheard of. All they had was a small knowledge of how to fly, aim and release bombs and their own initiative to keep them safe. These brave men paved the way so that in world war two, we were able to use Spitfires & Hurricanes to help us win the battle of Britain and today be able to use advanced technology in the Euro Typhoons. If these men could see how far Britain has come, I'm sure they would be amazed that we now fly planes that, if needed to, can fly north to south of England in just under ten minutes.
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