Zeppelin LZ 95 L 48

L 48 took part in an attempted air raid on London on the night of 16th June 1917.

The L48 was a new ‘Height Climber’ Zeppelin; stripped of excess weight, and containing 55,800 square metres of flammable hydrogen gas with a length of 196.5 m. It could travel at 60 mph and fly as high as 20,000 feet, much further than British anti-aircraft guns and fighter planes could reach. Tactically the Zeppelin would fly at lower levels, using faster winds to approach its target, and then ascend to safer heights before dropping its 6,000 pound bomb load. The Zeppelin had 19 crew, based mainly in two gondolas attached to the bottom of the airship. Some crew could also be sited on machine gun platforms on the top of the airship, and others in passages inside the structure of the airship itself.

Mei 1917 Friedrichshafen trials

On the night of 16th June 1917, the L48 was one of four airships sent to attack London. After dropping bombs on Harwich, the airship tried to return home by heading east. However its compass had frozen at the high altitude and, unknown to its crew, it drifted north in the dark along the Suffolk coast. The airship was caught in searchlights and antiaircraft guns opened up, although the Zeppelin was too high to be harmed by these.

Robert Saundby attacks with his DH-2

Several aircraft took off to attack the airship, but although firing at the Zeppelin, the planes could not gain the altitude to inflict any damage. In an effort to escape British airspace before dawn, the Zeppelin captain gave orders to descend to reach more favourable winds. Captain RHMS Saundby in his aircraft, noticed the descent beginning, and attacked again. His bullets hit the Zeppelin this time and the tail of the airship ignited and the huge airship began to fall to earth, lighting up the sky as it did so. The vast structure crashed into the ground at Holly Tree Farm in Therberton, near Leiston, Suffolk. Three of the German crew managed to jump out of their gondola as it hit the ground and then watched in horror as the flames consumed the entire Zeppelin, as well as their 16 fellow crew members.

In the next days crowds of locals came to view the wrecked Zeppelin, and a local photographer arrived to take pictures of the airship (see below). The entire structure was dismantled by the army and removed for military study. The piece of aluminium frame on display in the Ancient House is one of only two surviving significant parts of the Zeppelin now known to exist, the other being in Theberton Church.

Views of the Zeppelin wreckage at Theberton.

Literature : Warplanes WOI page 75