Zeppelin LZ 39

First flight : 24 April 1915

Class : O

Three raids on the western, later two on the eastern front, dropping a total of 4,184 kg (9,224 lb) of bombs. On 17 December 1915, captained by Dr. Lempertz, LZ 39 was hit several times by shrapnel during an attack on Rovno. All rear gas cells were punctured and the front engine car was hit and later fell off. The crew abandoned the now-overstressed control cabin, dropped ballast and shifted loads to rebalance the ship and used an emergency control station in the rear to limp back to Germany. Upon forced landing the ship collapsed because material for repair and the supply of gas needed to refill the cells were not available.^[

17 May 1915 a Avro 504 dropped bombs on the stern of LZ39 causing damage, though the bombs passed clean through without exploding.

Literature :

Armament of British aircraft 1909-1939 page 28

Wikipedia