Vehicle    From 1900 

Zeppelin airships

Categories: Armed Forces, Aviation

Invented by Count Ferdinand von Zeppelin in 1900. London was first targeted with airships in May 1915 and initially found defence very difficult. Searchlights and incendiary ammunition helped to defeat the Zeppelins and the last raid was in August 1918. Londonist has a great post about the Zeppelin raids over London, with a map! And Flickering Lamps has a good post on airships over London in war and peace.

But to get a really good idea of how they were used (the bombs, the water ballast, the observer basket) you have to see the 1930 film Hell's Angels. Forget the plot and the acting, just watch the stunning aerial scenes. Howard Hughes produced it so money was no object.

2018: Londonist have a post about the first Zeppelin raid on London, 31 May 1915, with maps showing the damage sites.

This section lists the memorials where the subject on this page is commemorated:
Zeppelin airships

Commemorated ati

Camberwell WW1 victims - Chumleigh Gardens

This memorial commemorates all 22 Camberwell citizens killed in WW1. We don't...

Read More

First Zeppelin bomb of WW1, correct - 1

First bomb of World War One, dropped on London by Zeppelin LZ 38 fell on this...

Read More

First Zeppelin bomb of WW1, correct - 2

First bomb of World War One, to be dropped on London by Zeppelin LZ38, fell o...

Read More

First Zeppelin bomb of WW1 - incorrect

This plaque was, according to the Council, a mistake and was removed by Hackney.

Read More

Zeppelin

We are familiar with the "pensioner crosses road" syndrome in local newspaper...

Read More

Show all 7

Other Subjects

ORP Orkan

ORP Orkan

Former Destroyer in the Polish Navy. ORP stands for Okret Rzeczypospolitej Polskiej (Ship of the Polish Republic).

Vehicle, Armed Forces, Poland

1 memorial
C. F. Pritchard

C. F. Pritchard

Clive Fleetwood Pritchard was born in 1864 in Canonbury, the eldest of the eight children of Andrew Goring Pritchard (1834-1928) and Marianne Pritchard née Titford (1839-1920). His birth was regist...

Person, Armed Forces, Law, Politics & Administration

1 memorial
Lieutenant Commander Ewen Montagu

Lieutenant Commander Ewen Montagu

Montagu and Charles Cholmondely conceived the idea behind Operation Mincemeat and carried it out. Ewen Edward Samuel Montagu was a British judge, Naval intelligence officer and author. Born into a...

Person, Armed Forces

1 memorial
13th (County of London) Battalion, The London Regiment (Kensington)

13th (County of London) Battalion, The London Regiment (Kensington)

London unit which served in WW1. Their Wikipedia page show how the Battalion came into being on 1 April 1908 and how it was subsequently transformed. It is shown as the 13th Battalion (Kensingtons...

Group, Armed Forces

1 memorial
R. Kitchen

R. Kitchen

Sergt 18th Co. of London. Fought but did not die in WW1

Person, Armed Forces

War served, WW1
1 memorial