Zeppelin

[Flyby PC 23]

I've seen that Lou, yes, but that footage doesn't look quite the same as what this lady was describing seeing. That's kind of why her words struck me as odd.

 

 

She describes it as burning in the air for a long, long time (her words) as opposed to exploding. It didn't lose bouyancy immediately as it would if an explosion ripped through the hydrogen cells all at once, it would quickly come hurtling towards the ground. We all know hydrogen is very flammable, but only once there is oxygen there too. To really explode, you would need the hydrogen and oxygen mixed before ignting. A 'ball' of hydrogen would only really burn at the perimiter where it can disperse itself and where there is contact with Oxygen in the air. If there was no explosion ripping through the cell walls, they would only fail sequentially as the fire consumed them.

 

She describes fire, an engulfing fire which took time to destroy the aircraft, but no explosion. I don't know what altitude the Zeppelin was at, or how thin the air was to support fire. The Hindenberg was nearly on the ground. I'm left wondering whether things still burn with the same ferocity at 25,000ft, particularly if the object was nearly stationary relative to prevailing winds.

 

 

Bother! Tried to upload the Podcast but it's 13 Mb and the limit is 10. I'll try editing it later. It's only the last minute that talks about it.

[RAF_Louvert 101]

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Please take note Flyby, that I said "how a WWI Zep might have burned". I have only ever read one firsthand account of a Zep 'bursting' into flames, and that concerned the Warneford incident. More often what I have seen written in contemporary accounts described how Zeps were damaged and then crashed due to loss of gas. There were one or two I seem to recall that stated how an air ship had been set alight and burned for quite some time as it decended. Another thing to keep in mind is that the wartime Zeps had a less flammable finish applied to the outer covering than the Graf Hindenburg did, and this would certainly change the burn characteristics, as would the altitude and wind factors you have alluded to. I would hazard a guess that humidity levels would change things as well.

 

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[UK_Widowmaker 571]

A little bit left of Coxlodge Lou

[RAF_Louvert 101]

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Are you describing where your house is WM, or where the pain is in your upper thigh?

 

But seriously, if I lived where you do I'd be tempted to print a copy of the map, borrow a metal detector, and go on an archeological dig for bits of WWI German aerial bomb casings.

 

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[UK_Widowmaker 571]

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Are you describing where your house is WM, or where the pain is in your upper thigh?

 

But seriously, if I lived where you do I'd be tempted to print a copy of the map, borrow a metal detector, and go on an archeological dig for bits of WWI German aerial bomb casings.

 

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Well, of course..the Luftwaffe also paid a few visits

[RAF_Louvert 101]

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Well, yes, but those bits would look much newer.

 

 

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[Herr Prop-Wasche 7]

Lou...on fire today!

[33LIMA 972]

One of the best (tho short) account's I have ever read of the Zeppelin raids is the chapter 'The Zeppelins Come' in Alexander McKee's excellent WW1 air war potted history, 'The Friendless Sky', which, like the rest of the book, is a good example of the author's uncompromising, whimsical, human and very readable style. This short chapter is full of menorable and often chilling accounts; including this one, of the end of L.21 in November 1916, caught with daylight breaking as she passed over the coast into the North Sea, probably already damaged and trying to get away:

 

'As she passed out to sea, three Naval aeroplanes were fast coming up with her. Kapitainleutnant Frankenberg and his men must have known it was the end, and decided to sell their lives dearly. A continuous series of bursts came up at the Naval pilots as they attacked in turn...the last machine, flown by E. L. Pulling, closed to point-blank range - fifty feet - under heavy fire from L.21's machine-gunners; and his gun chattered briefly in reply. It fired precisely two rounds, and then stopped. Jammed.

As Pulling turned away from the German gunners, to attempt to clear his jam at a safe distance, he saw the L.21 suddenly catch fire from end to end. From out of the flames, from one of the lower gondolas, a German machine-gun continued to fire at Pulling; then it stopped, abruptly. But he was still being shot at. From the top gun position of the Zeppelin, above the nose, a single man was spending his last few seconds of life in trying to kill Pulling. Then, as the British pilot pulled away, and L.21 fell out of range beneath him, the man sprang to his feet, ran the whole length of the envelope, probably maddened with the pain of burns, and fell headlong towards the sea, thousands of feet below.

It was the end of the main phase of the Zeppelin raids; gallantry was not enough. In a Suffolk churchyard, above the grave of the crew of another Zeppelin, fallen later, was to be the epitath of them all: 'Who art thou that judgest another man's servant. To his own master he standeth or falleth.'

Edited March 21, 2012 by 33LIMA