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Zeppelin LZ38 LZ38

General characteristics P-class airships

Crew: 19 (Executive Officer, Commander, Navigator, Sailmaker (responsible for gasbags), Chief Engineer, 2 altitude coxswains, 2 steering coxswains, 8 engineers)

Length: 163.50 m (536 ft 5 in)

Diameter: 18.69 m (61 ft 4 in)

Volume: 32,920 m³ (1,162,400 cu ft)

Powerplant: 4 × Maybach 3M C-X 6-cylinder inline piston engine, 160 kW (210 hp) each

Performance

Maximum speed: 92 km/h; 50 kn (57 mph)

Cruise speed: 63 km/h; 34 kn (39 mph)

Service ceiling: 3,500 m (11,600 ft)

Armament

Guns: 7 or 8 machine guns: naval airships generally using the water-cooled MG 08, army ships the air-cooled Parabellum MG 14

Bombs: 2,000 kg (4,400 lb) bombs (a greater load could be carried with reduced fuel load)

An artist’s impression (based on crew recollections) of the control car of a wartime Zeppelin – Army airship LZ 38, under the command of Hauptmann Erich Linnarz. At left, holding binoculars, an officer (likely the ship’s executive officer) keeps watch for enemy aircraft. Behind him, also facing to the left, is the elevatorman. The rudderman stands at the forward end of the control car with his back to us. Hauptmann Linnarz stands at centre right, holding the ship’s speaking tube, and a mechanic climbs down the ladder from the ship’s hull at right.

Hauptmann Erich Linnarz and his crew pose for photographs after LZ38's first raid

First flight 3 April 1915, first raid on London 31 May 1915, 7 dead and 35 wounded, dropped 8360 kg bombs on the UK

Damage done in the first bombing raid on London, 1915 (1937). On 31st May 1915, Zeppelin LZ38 of the German Army carried out the first air raid on London

Night raid aboard LZ38

This map by Chris Mycock of St Edmundsbury Museum Service, shows the route which Zeppelin LZ38 probably took in its attack on Bury in April, 1915.

The first P class Zeppelin constructed was LZ 38, assigned to the Army and first flown on 3 May 1915. After a series of raids on the East coast of England, it became the first airship to bomb London on 31 May 1915, dropping 1,400 kilograms (3,000 lb) of bombs on the eastern suburb of London, killing seven people. A consequence of this raid was that reporting restrictions were introduced in England. Formerly press coverage contained detailed accounts of the location of bombing raids: after this, only generalised locations were published.^[7] It carried out five raids on England,^[8] before it was destroyed when its shed at Evere was bombed on 7 June 1915.^[

Ipswich was attacked by Zeppelin LZ38 on April 30th 1915 with two explosive and three incendiary bombs. Three houses were burnt out at Rosebery Villas, but residents escaped without injury. Theses addresses are believed to be numbered 56, 58 and 60 Rosebery Villas, Brooks Hall Road, Ipswich.

Ramsgate has been in the forefront of enemy attack in two world wars. On the night of May 16th/17th 1915 the town received approximately 20 bombs when German Zeppelin LZ38 attacked killing 2 people and caused widespread damage estimated at £1,600. One crew member of the Zeppelin was killed when the craft was attacked over Ostende by the RNAS. The raid made front page news in the Daily Mail of Tuesday May 18th 1915.

17 may 1915 a Avro 504 engaged Zeppelin LZ38 with 2 grenades and 2 incendiary bombs but the Zeppelin climbed to fast and left the Avro behind.

LZ38 was destroyed 7 June1915 in its shed in Evere.

Literature : Armament of British Aircraft 1909-1939 page 27