The Day a Zeppelin flew over Kilburn

During WWI the Germans began Zeppelin airship attacks in 1915. Because they had never seen anything like it, people came out to stare in wonder at these huge flying machines, but they soon became more cautious as the bombs started to fall.

Ferdinand Graf von Zeppelin (1838 -1917)

On the 19 October 1917 a group of 13 airships left Germany to attack the Northern industrial cities of Liverpool, Manchester and Sheffield. Climbing to 16,000 feet they encountered extremely strong winds which forced them off course and made it very difficult for the commanders to establish their position. Lt. Waldemar Kolle was in L.45 aiming for Sheffield, but he found he was being blown rapidly south. He dropped a number of bombs on Northampton, but around 23.30 the crew saw a large number of lights and realised they were over London. Kolle dropped several bombs which damaged the Grahame-White Aviation Company in Hendon. Continuing south-east, he dropped further bombs which landed near Cricklewood Station.

These Zeppelins were a new class of airship which flew so high that British fighters and anti-aircraft guns couldn’t reach them. Some of the crew got frostbite and others suffered from altitude sickness. The height and the thin cloud cover also meant that people on the ground couldn’t see or hear the airship and this attack became known as ‘the silent raid’.

The airship flew over the Kilburn High Road but no bombs were dropped. Passing over St John’s Wood towards central London, the Zeppelin crew dropped bombs at random: but the effects were devastating. The first fell close to Piccadilly Circus where a huge 660lb bomb smashed the front of department store Swan and Edgar’s and caused further damage in Regent Street, Jermyn Street and Shaftesbury Avenue. Flying glass and shrapnel cut down 25 people and seven died. L.45 continued over South London bombing Camberwell and Hither Green, killing another 20 people.

Despite the strong winds, Lt. Kolle flew his Zeppelin across the Channel and with only two engines working and short of fuel, landed in Southern France. He set the ship on fire before surrendering to a group of French soldiers. This proved to be last Zeppelin attack on London; subsequent raids were carried out by Gotha and Staaken Giant bombers.

The Staaken Giant Bomber

Marianne owns a postcard, which will have been printed in thousands. An inky black sky is pierced by the beams of search lights which light up a small, elongated white oval, meant to be a Zeppelin. The date ‘Wednesday 8 September 1915’ is printed bottom right, when London experienced its most severe Zeppelin raid, almost all the damage inflicted by just one Zeppelin, the L.13. Bombs were dropped on Golders Green and in Central London as far as Liverpool Street Station. Printed at the bottom left was, ‘Zeppelin Raid as seen at …’ (blank), so people could buy the card as a souvenir and send it to a friend or relative, filling in the blank with their location.

The Hindenburg bursts into flames (May 1937)

After the War the Zeppelins and other airships continued to be used for long-range commercial flights. But the crash of the British R101 in France on its maiden overseas flight on 5 Oct 1930, and the Hindenburg disaster when the German LZ 129, burst into flames in Lakehurst New Jersey on 6 May 1937, effectively ended interest in airships.

There is a short Pathe film clip here:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CgWHbpMVQ1U

The map and information about the raid come from an excellent book by Ian Castle, London 1914-17: The Zeppelin Menace, Osprey Publishing, 2008.

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History of Kilburn and West Hampstead

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