On the night of 23/24 September 1916 four Zeppelins flew over England. Only one returned from this mission. One was shot down near Potters Bar (the crew all died) and two came down in Essex. The one pictured, L2, is not one of them. (It had already come down in flames as a result of an accident in 1913.)
The History House website, that relates the history of Essex, tells the tale better than I can:
“How inhabitants of the sleepy villages of Great Burstead and Little Wigborough were suddenly thrust into the front line of the First World War when Zeppelins crashed in their fields.
In 1915, German Zeppelins commenced bombing missions over the UK. Targets included London, Edinburgh, the North East, the Midlands, and the Home Counties.
On the night of 23/24 September 1916, Zeppelins set out to bomb London. These were newly designed and built Zeppelins, superior to the Zeppelins which had previously flown over England.
L32
Zeppelin L32 was shot down by Frederick Sowrey, RFC, aged 23, and crashed near Snails Farm, South Green, Great Burstead, Near Billericay. Its target was London, but because of an anti-aircraft barrage, it dropped its bombs near Purfleet. It began to make its way back to Germany when it was intercepted by Sowrey who was on routine night patrol. The airship was picked out in the night sky by searchlights and Sowrey launched his attack. Firing three drums of incendiary ammunition into the body of the airship, she caught alight and plummeted to the ground at sometime after 1 a.m. All 22 of the crew were killed.
One witness described how in the night sky he saw a pink glare which turned to coppery red, then a ball of flame emerged which changed its shape to a perpendicular cylindrical mass of flame.
A few days later the crew were buried at Great Burstead Churchyard. The bodies were later transferred to a church in Staffordshire.
By 3 o’clock that night, not only had the local people rushed to see the wreckage, but cars full of Londoners started to arrive to view the wreckage of twisted and broken aluminium struts. Access to the area was limited by a narrow country lane and by 8 o’clock it was reported that the lane was blocked with “motor cars, motor-cycles, bicycles, traps, tradesmen’s carts, and pedestrians, all jammed together”. By far the most popular transport was bicycles with hundreds laying abandoned on the fields.
Souvenir hunting was prevented by a cordon of soldiers armed with fixed bayonets, and police, but this did not deter the souvenir hunters who scoured nearby potato and mangold fields looking for debris. Even lemonade sellers set up their stalls in an attempt to profit on the spectacle.
Sowrey was later awarded the DSO; He died in 1966 aged 75.
L33
The other ill-fated Zeppelin was L33. On the raid it was damaged by anti-aircraft fire and was forced to land at New Hall Farm, Little Wigborough, only twenty yards from a nearby house. The occupants of the house, a man, his wife and three children, ran for their lives as the airship hit the ground. The crew ran from the craft and shortly after it exploded.
Special Constable Edgar Nicholas, who lived nearby, made his way to the scene and came across the crew walking along a road. They identified themselves as the Zeppelin crew and he arrested them. Other officers later joined them and the local constable, Pc 354 Charles Smith, arranged for the prisoners to be handed over to the military to be taken off to a prisoner-of-war camp.
Once again the airship was the subject of great attention by spectators, but the guarding of it was expeditiously arranged by the military as parts of the airship were still relatively undamaged. Indeed, she was later studied in great detail and many aspects of her design were incorporated into later British airship designs.
However, some souvenirs were gathered up and even today parts of L32 and L33 can be found for sale on eBay and collectors’ forums.”
Give yourself a pat on the back as you have done the groundwork, thanks to The History House, and now it’s up to me to tell you what happened next, which I will do tomorrow.
My grandfather had much to do with airships. You can read all about British efforts in ‘Airships – Cardington’ by Geoffrey Chamberlain, published by Terence Dalton (foreword by RVG).
I have one of the steering wheels from the airship R23 on my boat. On the R23 this wheel was used to control one of the flaps. As much of the design of airships was taken from ships the wheel, made of aluminium with wooden handles, looks just like a ship’s wheel.
Apparently, when visiting London after the Great War, Baron von Oertzen, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Klaus_von_Oertzen , when asked if he knew and enjoyed London, is understood to have replied that he had only previously seen it from a Zeppelin as a young man…….he went on to be a key figure in the development of the German motor industry, as well as being a great friend of the St Moritz Tobogganing Club – there is a race named after him held on the Cresta Run every year.
After your and Stephen’s excellent comments my further contributions will seem paltry.
James, I recall, quite a few years ago, hearing that the English owner of a runner in the Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe was unable to go to Paris to watch his horse win because he didn’t have a passport. He said he didn’t need one the last time he’d been in France.
There is a fine memorial in the Brompton cemetery marking the grave of Reginald Warneford who downed a Zeppelin over Bruges by dropping a bomb on it. He was awarded the VC, but died in an air accident only nine days afterwards. The incident is vividly depicted in stone together with a portrait of him. Perhaps you were going to write about him in Part II.
Apropos the Baron in the comment above, my father when a county councillor for Bradford-on-Avon, Wiltshire was visited by a delegation from the twin town, Norden, in Germany. When asked if he had visited their town he replied he had, but at altitude while bombing a bridge during the war. Apparently they were not amused.
I will look for it.