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Zeppelin LZ18 L 2
Class : I
First flight : 09 September 1913
Crew : 15 Length : 158m diam. 16.61m volume : 27000m3
Empty weight : 20185 kg useful lift : 11100 kg
Engines : 4 x Maybach C-X 180 ps Vmax : 76 km/hr
General information :
Second airship built for the Kaiserliche Marine. It was built at Friedrichshafen.
On the morning of 17 October 1913 L2 was taken out of its shed for a scheduled test flight at Johannisthal, an airfield south east of Berlin, Germany. It was delayed by problems with the engines. The morning sun heated the hydrogen contained in the airship’s gas bags, causing the gas to expand and increasing the buoyancy. Once released, L2 rapidly rose to approximately 2,000 feet (610 meters). The hydrogen expanded even more due to decreasing atmospheric pressure. To prevent the gas bags from rupturing, the crew vented hydrogen through relief valves located along the bottom of the hull. In this early design, the builders had placed the relief valves too close to the engine cars. Hydrogen was sucked into the engines’ intakes and detonated. L2 caught fire and a series of explosions took place as it fell to the ground.All 28 persons on board were either killed immediately, or died of their injuries shortly thereafter
Literature :
Military aviation disasters page 11
De oorlog in de lucht en in de ruimte deel 1 page 38
20 Kapittel fruhe Luftfahrt page 36,37
Memorial stone at Friedhof Columbiadamm , Berlin - Neukoln