Zeppelin LZ33 L 8
First flight : 17 December 1914
Class : M built at : Friedrichshafen
Commanders : Kptlt. Meyer and after January 1915 kptlt. Helmut Beelitz
Used for reconnaissance missions along the western front. It made 22 flights and covered 1423 km
LZ33 is moved into its shed at Gontrode
The LZ33 was the first Zeppelin that was based at Gontrode. It arrived at Gontrode on 27 February 1915.
Length : 158m diam : 14.9m gas volume : 22470 m3 speed : 85 km/u
Engines : 3x Maybach 210 hp each useful load : 8552 kg
On 04 March 1915 in the afternoon LZ33 started for a raid against Great-Britain (Essex?) with 70 incendiary bombs.
The crew of the LZ33
The crew had trouble determining the position and broke through the cloud cover over Brugge. Later, however, this happened again, west of Ostend around 9 p.m., but they forgot that Nieuwpoort was at front line. When LZ33 came across the city and fired a recognition signal at an altitude of 300 meters altitude, this was to ask for trouble. According to German sources, Belgian machine guns and artillery damaged the airship in such a way that it ran into trouble and had to abort the mission. Other sources incorrectly stated that LZ33 was shot at by 2 British and 2 French aircraft.
Gontrode airfield in WWI
The LZ33 fled, threw the water ballast, bombs and everything possible, over the side while there was plenty of hydrogen leaking. Kapitänleutnant Helmut Beelitz, the commander, decided to set course back to Düsseldorf. That turned out to be a wrong decision, because around 1:00 a.m. their luck ended near to Tienen (Tirlemont) . First the front engine fell out due to cooling water problems and then also the rear port engine. The airship began to descend. The rudder and the rear gondola got stuck in the trees and the bow hit a tree row. As a result, part of the crew was catapulted out of the gondolas. Then the wind put an end to the blimp. LZ33 was wrecked and the remains were demolished the next days. All 21 crew were killed in the crash.
Remains of LZ33 in Tirlemont
Literature :
http://www.luchtschipontploftboven.gent/zeppelin-l8
Wikipedia