Zeppelin - emergency landing/mooring in the Midlands

[Tom Morgan]

There are stories that at some time in 1916 a Zeppelin either landed or was moored somewhere in a rural part the Midlands. Explanations for this event seem to centre on the idea that there was some problem with the ship.

Has anyone heard anything of such an event?

Tom

[centurion]

Sounds like something out of that ghastly film with Michael York. I don't think it would have been possible to moor without a mast and ground crew.so it would have to be a landing. Zeppelins could carry out engine repairs in flight so a landing would have to be because of some problem with buoyancy - loss of gas. Somehow I have a manic pythonesque picture of a group of German naval officers (led by Eric Idle in a picklhaube) furtively turning up at some provincial chemist and asking to buy a few thousand cubic litres of hydrogen 'to go'.

I think the story might have been occasioned by the forced landing of L33 after experiencing shell damage from AA and mg fire from a determined Be2, the crew had just enough time to set it on fire before being captured. Alternatively an Army Zeppelin's cloud car winch jammed and the airship came down low enough so that the cloud car grounded and the observer could get out, before the cable was jettisoned and the airship flew off. Urban myths are like pearls - there is often a tiny piece of grit/truth around which the whole shining structure has acreted. These might be the gritty bits.

[Moonraker]

... Urban myths are like pearls - there is often a tiny piece of grit/truth around which the whole shining structure has acreted.

A bit reminiscent of the story I've told before of the old lady in Tilshead in central Wiltshire recalling German Zeppelins overhead in her childhood; in fact there was an RFC balloon school outside the village and German PoWs were said to have hauled the balloons through the village.

Moonraker

[Tom Morgan]

I agree that the whole idea is bizarre and can think of dozens of reasons why it couldn't have happened, but I have been asked to comment on the story. My first thought was to see if anyone else had heard of it!

According to the story, the airship is said to have moored itself to a tree after which several crew members decended by a ladder to carry out repairs.

The most amazing thing is that there are people who think it might be true.

Tom

[centurion]

I might have a possible explanation. The British SSZ non rigid airships were often operated from 'mooring out' sites -rather akin to advanced airstrips where they might sit for several days. Such sites were frequently surrounded by trees (I suspect to act as a wind break). Typicaly such sites contained a large pit so that the car of the airship could sit within it allowing the envelope to be close to the ground (for ease of maintenance and again to reduce the impact of any wind). Although the ships would not be mooored to the trees photos suggest that it would have looked as if they were. To many people airship = zeppelin. I wonder if this could be the source of the story.