Zeppelin Bombers

[Guest bb167]

I'm wondering if someone can help me in my research of those zeppelins that went on bombing raids?

I'm looking for information, pictures and web links on the types of bombs they carried. How many bombs in a payload, size of the bombs? Were these bombs released by hand or from a bomb bay inside the Zeppelin or the gondola? Any info would be of great help. Thanks in advance.

Frank

[Dolphin]

Frank

First of all, welcome to the Forum.

There are some excellent books on the subject that you might like to look out for:

Zeppelin! by Ray Rimmell, ISBN 0 85177 239 0;

The Zeppelin in Combat by Dr Douglas Robinson, ISBN 0 85429 130 X; and

The Air Defence of Britain 1914-1918 by Christopher Cole and Frank Cheesman, ISBN 0 370 30538 8.

Also, there's some information at: http://www.richthofen.com/dark_autumn/

and http://www.firstworldwar.com/airwar/bombers_zeppelins.htm

I hope that this helps you.

Gareth

[centurion]

Hi Frank

I assume that by "Zeppelin Bomber" you mean airships and not the Zeppelin Straken 5 and 4 engined R Planes (some of which also bombed the UK). Worth pointing out that not all the "Zeppelins" were in fact Zeppelins some (including Leef Robinson's victim) were Schutz Lange which differed from the Zeps in the hull design (continuous curves) and construction (mainly wood). Some Parsival rigid airships were also used in mainland Europe. The range of true Zeppelin types also varied as the war went on with new height climbers and 'super zeppelins'. As a result the bombload and types of bomb varied considerably but in general released from bomb racks from within the hull. The books that Dolphin has quoted are a good start. There are others and I'll try and post some details later.

[Guest bb167]

Thank you both for the information, it's a good starting point for my research.

Frank