Weakness of Type. The L-I (Luftschiff, or airship), the first of the German airships designed for purely military purposes, was a Zeppelin 525 feet long by 50 feet in diameter, of 777,000 cubic feet capacity, and 22 tons displacement. Its three sets of motors developed 500 horsepower and it had a speed of 52 miles per hour. It was launched at Friedrichshafen in 1912, and after a number of successful cross-country trips, it was tried in connection with naval maneuvers off Heligoland. Before the trial had proceeded very far, a sudden squall broke the backbone of the huge gas bag and hurled it into the sea, drowning fifteen out of the crew of twenty-two. It is a striking commentary on the frailness of these aerial monsters that every one of the big airships built up to that time had met disaster in an equally sudden manner but from a totally different cause in each instance. The L-II was slightly shorter but had 5 feet longer beam and displaced 27 tons. She was designed particularly for naval use, had four sets of motors developing 900 horsepower, and was fitted with a navigating bridge like that of a ship. It was confidently thought that all possible shortcomings had been remedied and success finally achieved in the L-II, but before there was any opportunity to demonstrate its efficiency, the airship exploded in mid-air, killing its entire crew.
Effectiveness Grossly Overrated. Despite this unbroken chain of disasters, the German official press bureau spread broadcast the prowess of the Zeppelin, its magnificent ability, and its remarkable achievements as an engine of war—in theory, since this was a year or two prior to the outbreak of hostilities. Had it not been for the forced descent of the Zeppelin IV at Luneville, where it was taken possession of by the French, these tales might have been accepted at their face value. But the log of the commander of this airship showed that its maximum speed was but 45 miles per hour, the load 10,560 pounds, and the ascensional effort 45,100 pounds. The fuel consumption averaged 297 pounds per hour while the fuel capacity was only sufficient for a flight of seven hours. During its flight, it had reached an altitude of only 6,250 feet, to accomplish which over 3 tons of ballast had to be dropped. It was also shown that the critical flying height of these huge airships is between 3,500 and 4,000 feet, Zeppelin himself declaring that his machines were useless above 5,000 feet. This probably accounts for the fact that the early raids on English towns were carried out at a height but slightly in excess of 2,000 feet. Later types, however, are said to have reached high altitudes.
Fig. 22. Zeppelin L-49 Brought Down Intact by a French Airman, Resting on Hillside near Bourbon-Les-Baines
Copyright by Underwood and Underwood, New York
Shortly before the outbreak of the war the L-5 was completed. This had a capacity of about 1,000,000 cubic feet, motors aggregating 1,000 horsepower or over, and a reputed speed of 65 miles per hour. Just what was the fate of this particular ship did not become known, since information of a military character has not been permitted to leak out of Germany from that time on. But capture or destruction has accounted for many of the intermediate numbers of the series; big German airships have been brought down in England, in the North Sea, in France, and at Saloniki, their loss culminating in the disaster to four out of the fleet of five that attempted a raid over London but were caught by adverse winds which exhausted their fuel supply so that they were blown out of control, toward the south of France. French anti-aircraft batteries or aeroplanes accounted for three of these, while the fourth, the L-49, was captured intact.
Fig. 23. Nose of Giant L-49 and Group of Sightseers
Copyright by Underwood and Underwood, New York
L-49. An essential part of the equipment of every form of German military apparatus is a means of destroying it in case of capture. In the case of the big airships, the officers are provided with revolvers loaded with incendiary bullets, which are fired into the gas bag, so that until the L-49 was forced to descend in the south of France by the activities of a battle plane, plus a lack of fuel, no airship of a recent type had ever been captured intact. In this case, the commander fired his pistol at the balloon but missed and was prevented from firing again by a French peasant who "covered" him with a shotgun. The wireless operator succeeded in using a sledge hammer on some of the apparatus of the very completely equipped wireless cabin before he was captured but did not do sufficient damage to prevent reassembly of the parts with little trouble. With the exception of the earlier type of Zeppelin that was forced to descend at Luneville prior to the war, the L-49 was the first that was ever known to have landed undamaged in hostile territory, as practically all the others were destroyed in the air, most of them having been wrecked either by aeroplane or anti-aircraft fire. Fig. 22 shows the L-49 as it rested on a hillside at Bourbon-les-Baines, France, and Fig. 23 shows a close view of the nose of the monster.
Standardized Parts. Comparing the L-49 with many of its predecessors led to the conclusion that it was one of the latest types, but an inspection of its construction revealed the use of many parts produced in quantities from standard patterns as well as a lack of the finish that has always characterized airship construction. Appearance and comfort had both been sacrificed with a view to saving the last ounce of superfluous weight in order to carry more fuel and ammunition. Evidently the production of these large airships has been reduced to a manufacturing basis and they are constructed in series in much the same manner as motor cars, though on a reduced scale.
General Design. In its general construction the L-49 was along the same lines that have characterized the Zeppelin since its inception, the outer envelope being stretched over a rigid frame of aluminum girders, inclosing a large number of independent balloons inflated with the usual hydrogen gas, no trace being discovered of the non-inflammable gas, the discovery of which had been hailed by the German press. The commander’s cabin was suspended well forward with the wireless room directly behind it, while a V-shaped gangway, recessed in the envelope proper so as to present no additional head resistance, ran back from the latter the whole length of the ship. This and the gun platform on top, mounting two machine guns and reached by a ladder suspended in a well amidships, have been familiar features of all the recent Zeppelins. The main envelope contained nineteen independent gas bags, each of which was made integral with an air balloonet to take care of the expansion and contraction of the hydrogen with varying altitudes and temperatures. Distributed along the lower part of the frame inside the envelope were a series of 50-gallon water-ballast tanks.