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.

Comments are provided by Facebook, please ensure you are signed in here to see them

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

F. W. Bryant

F. W. Bryant

J. Lyons & Co. Ltd. staff member who died in WW2.

Person, Armed Forces

War dead, WW2
1 memorial
Board of Ordnance / Royal Army Ordnance Corps

Board of Ordnance / Royal Army Ordnance Corps

Responsible for the supply of armaments and munitions to the army and the navy, based in the Tower of London and also used Verbruggen's House at the Woolwich Arsenal until 1939. Disbanded in 1855 d...

Group, Armed Forces

4 memorials
Second Lieutenant Norman Charles Achille Negretti

Second Lieutenant Norman Charles Achille Negretti

From the oundle-heritage.daisy.websds.net website we learn that Norman Charles Achille Negretti was the third and youngest son of Mr. and Mrs. H. P. J. Negretti of Frognal, Hampstead, where he was ...

Person, Armed Forces, Belgium

War dead, WW1
1 memorial
William Burman, VC

William Burman, VC

Soldier. Born William Francis Burman. As a sergeant in the Rifle Brigade (Prince Consort's Own) he fought in the battle of the Menin Road Ridge. near Ypres in Belgium. His company was held up by a ...

Person, Armed Forces

War served, WW1
1 memorial
W. Summers

W. Summers

J. Lyons & Co. Ltd. staff member who died in WW1.

Person, Armed Forces

War dead, WW1
1 memorial

Previously viewed

William Glanville

William Glanville

Engineering research. FRS.  Born 75 Kempe Road, Willesden.  Carried out research on concrete at first the Building Research Station and then the Road Research Laboratory.  During WW2 he was scienti...

Person, Engineering, Science

1 memorial
Muses - Clio

Muses - Clio

WC2, Trafalgar Square, National Gallery - Staircase Hall - Half-way Landing

Virginia Woolf as Clio the muse of history, holding a quill pen.

1 subject commemorated
Royal Docks Trust

Royal Docks Trust

From the website "It works to provide community benefits to the Docklands part of Newham between the A13 and the River Thames."

Group, Benefactor, Community / Clubs

1 memorial
The Trafalgar Way

The Trafalgar Way

The route used to carry news of the Battle of Trafalgar overland from Falmouth to the Admiralty in Whitehall. At the 21 stops to change horses, plaques similar to the one in Whitehall have been ere...

Place, Armed Forces, Transport

5 memorials
Stephenson at IC

Stephenson at IC

SW7, Prince Consort Road, Imperial College

This building, the Royal School of Mines, (1906, Aston Webb). has 34 memorials: a foundation stone, 2 busts and 30 scientists' surnames p...

1 subject commemorated