Landships II

Rob · Legend

The Dolphin Tavern and WWI German Air Raids on London

Tim R · Hero

Rob

�

� Hello

, and thanks a million for posting these photos, I am very interested in the Zeppelins. And the information you provided on the Dolphin Tavern is quite interesting as well.All the Best

Tim

Roger Todd · Legend

The story of how the observation car of the LZ-90 came to be lost (and thus retrieved for the IWM) may be even more fascinating than it simply falling off the zeppelin, as it is likely to be the subject of this tale:

http://forum.axishistory.com/viewtopic.php?t=84441

In his book "Zeppelins of World War I", Wilbur Cross writes about an unusual incident involving an observer riding in a zeppelin's sub-cloud car. In this case, the zeppelin was damaged during a raid over England. The winch mechanism used to raise and lower the sub-cloud car was jammed leaving the observer dangling below. On its homeward journey the aircraft was unable to maintain altitude. Despite jettisoning all expendable equipment, the aircraft continued to sink closer to the earth. Because it weighed nearly a half ton (including cable, winch, and observer), the decision was made to jettison the sub-cloud car. Via the telephone connection, the observer was told that the zeppelin would be maneuvered close enough to the ground to set the car down. As soon as the car touched earth, the observer was to notify the zeppelin above and the cable would be cut. The landing was hard, but the observer was able to get clear and the cable was cut.

The observer found himself somewhere in the English countryside. Holing up at night and skirting villages, the fellow was at large unknown to British authorities. After approximately two months, he was spotted by a civilian patrol and arrested in Sussex. He spent the rest of the war as a POW.

James H · Legend

This observer clearly had a more considerate captain than the one in the film Hell's Angels.

If you remember, the captain (who is covered in duelling scars and almost certainly has a monocle) cuts through the cable, presumably with his sabre,�without having the common decency to mention the fact.

Roger Todd · Legend

I love Hell's Angels! Actually, most of it is bobbins, with more corn than an EU food mountain,�but the flying sequences are fantastic, and it has the best Great War zeppelin sequence ever - not that the field is crowded...

It's even better than a sabre - the captain very gravely takes a set of wirecutters from a crewman who can't bring himself to cut the cable and does the dread deed himself. It then gets even more mad as the zeppelin crew, in a desperate attempt to lighten their vessel and gain height over the pursuing British fighters, sacrifice themselves by stepping through the bomb-bay doors one by one! All in vain, as it cops its whack in the end anyway.

I bunged a load of screengrabs over on this site...
http://www.airshipmodeler.com/forums/showthread.php?t=176

Runflat · Lieutenant-Colonel

Next Wednesday the lunch-time Holborn walk will be visting WW1 related sites, including the Dolphin. More information here: http://inholborn.org/

Centurion · Legend

Roger. Unfortunately Wiber Cross is sometimes a little cavalier in his book over detail. The cloud car winch did jam on more than one airship and the problem was more the fuel consuming drag that would be caused attempting to fly home with the cloud car dangling below with all that cable. This would also give problems in climbing rapidly if attacked. For this reason a quick release mechanism existed and the commander was authorised to drop the car and observer rather than risk his ship. On one occasion the commander did risk it and flew home with the cloud car dangling far below. On another the 'ship came down gradually and on touching down the observer baled out and�legged it, the quick release switch was thrown (no need to cut the cable) and all that steel cable came whistling down [probably the real cause of some of the damage to the car and the reason the observer got clear PDQ].

Runflat · Lieutenant-Colonel

Well a most enjoyable walk around four WW1 bomb sites in the Holborn area of London.� In order (although not chronological):

- Stone Buildings, Lincoln's Inn (off Chancery Lane).� A brass disc in the road opposite the Inns of Court & City Yeomanry (TA) building marks where a bomb fell on 18 December 1917.� The pock marks to the buildings made from the blast and shrapnel are still highly visable, having not been repaired.

- The Dolphin Tavern, Lamb's Conduit Passage.� As per the previous entries although it was suggested that the raid was on 8 September 1915: the bomb being one of string dropped at the same time as that which hit the next site.

- Queen Square Gardens.� Brass plaque in the grass at the north end of the gardens.� No injuries sustained or damage to property.

- Bedford Hotel, Southampton Row. Wall plaque to air raid on 24 September 1917.� Several dead and wounded.

The raids in 1917 were said to have been made by aeroplanes (Gotha) rather than airships.

Well worth spending the 40 minutes or so to do this trail should you be in London.� No doubt there are other WW1 air raid sites in London as well... and Harry Ricardo's house (of landship engine fame) is not far away at 13 Bedford Square, now complete with 'Blue Plaque'.

-- Edited by Runflat at 19:51, 2008-10-08

-- Edited by Runflat at 19:55, 2008-10-08

Mgebrov · Private

Not exactly Holborn, but there's also a building in the nearby Farringdon Road with� a cast iron plaque commemorating its 1917 rebuilding after an airship raid in 1915. Unfortunately when I tried to confirm the dates last week the plaque seemed to have gone (hopefully for renovation), so all there is is a (modern) sign giving the address as "Zeppelin House".

James H · Legend

It seems there is a fairly recent book by Neil Hanson called First Blitz that describes the various raids on London and the SE and goes on to claim that Germany planned to "raze London and Paris to the ground" in 1918 using a device called the Elektron Bomb.

I think he might be exaggerating a little as regards the latter part, but there's a review here http://blackmorehistory.blogspot.com/2008/09/book-review-first-blitz.html�that has links to other reviews and related material.

Centurion · Legend

I haven't read the book but -

The Elektron bomb sounds like something Ming the Mercyless (or some other early space opera character) would use. In fact it was a small incendary bomb, difficult for the� fire fighters of the time to exstinguish. Using special racks�a Gotha or Friedrichshafen could carry an awful lot of them, more if the gunner and his gun was left behind. The idea was to saturate a relatively small area of the centre of London or Paris with these, overwhelm the fire fighters and start a firestorm. Given the right weather conditions, an area that was suitably flammable and� poor defences this was just about feasible ( the ARP and fire brigade capabilities in WW1 were much inferior to WW2). The German Army High Command approved the scheme and the bombers for the first wave were bombed up and ready to go (to London) when the scheme was called off at the last minute on the direct orders of the Kaiser himself. His reasons have remained unknown but it seems possible that he had, correctly, realised that many German cities were more vunerable to this type of attack.

Gwyn Evans · Legend

There is a brief mention in my father's memoirs of his mother witnessing a Zeppelin being shot down over Potter's Bar during the Great War.

Gwyn

Mgebrov · Private

Re: the Farringdon Road Plaque

The placque has been replaced. It notes the Zeppelin raid as being on the 8th September 1915 - which I think means the bombs were dropped by L13 . Apparently the building was 'completely destroyed' but there is no mention of any casualties.

James H · Legend

When I was a kid I had a very elderly relative-by-marriage who lived in Hartlepool. She claimed to have seen the German Fleet shelling the town as part of the attempt to lure the Grand Fleet into the�Norh Sea, and to have seen a Zeppelin shot down, which I take to be this incident: http://portcities.hartlepool.gov.uk/server.php?show=ConNarrative.110&chapterId=276

She said that when it became obvious that the craft was in difficulties, the crowds were shouting for the crew to jump, but not in a�caring way, and cheering when they did so. Understandable in the circumstances.

-- Edited by James H at 11:30, 2008-10-18

Date: Apr 24, 2015

My Grandmother ran the pub when the bomb hit.

JamesAPrattIII · Lieutenant-Colonel

There is a site iancastle.zeppwlin.co.uk that deals with all the air raids on the UK during WW I. see also the site the great war forum. archive.org has all 6 volumes of "War in the Air" the RAF official history. I hope this of some use.

JamesAPrattIII · Lieutenant-Colonel

In archive.org there is supposedly the book "The Defense of London 1915-1918" which is by an officer who commanded some of the AA units around London. It has a quite funny account of him chasing after the L13 during the raid the pub was hit.