LZ 17

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Airship LZ 17 "Saxony" over Meissen - 1913
Model of the airship LZ 17 "Sachsen" in the Dresden Transport Museum (scale 1: 200)

The Zeppelin LZ 17 "Sachsen" was a commercial airship of the Deutsche Luftschiffahrts-Aktiengesellschaft ( DELAG ) at the beginning of the 20th century. It was named after its primary place of civil use, the Kingdom of Saxony .

Technical specifications

The Zeppelin airship "Sachsen" was built and operated by DELAG in Ludwigshafen . When it was commissioned, the airship had a length of 158 meters, a diameter of 14.60 meters and a payload of 9.5 tons. The airship was powered by three Maybach engines with 165  hp each. Shortened after a renovation, it had a length of 148 meters. The payload was now 7.4 tons and the output of the three Maybach engines was increased to 180 hp each.

Mission history

Civilian use

The zeppelin "Sachsen" completed its maiden voyage on May 3, 1913 under the command of Hugo Eckener . On June 9, 1913, the airship covered the 760 km long route from Baden-Oos via Stuttgart , Ingolstadt , Passau and Linz to Vienna-Aspern in 9 hours and 26 minutes, which corresponded to an average speed of around 80 km / h on this long distance. LZ 17 was received by the Viennese population with great jubilation and Emperor Franz Joseph I granted the inventor and entrepreneur Ferdinand Graf von Zeppelin who traveled with him an audience and a gala dinner. On June 22nd, Count Zeppelin and the Saxon King Friedrich August III. present when the "Sachsen" and the "Viktoria Luise" arrived for the inauguration of the airship hangar in Leipzig-Mockau . The “Sachsen” was then stationed in Leipzig-Mockau and carried out passenger trips from there. Some prominent guests, such as the English Lord Sir John Shelley and his wife Eleanor Georgiana, were on board. The Zeppelin also operated charter flights from other locations such as Potsdam . At that time, the Sachsen was alternately led by Hugo Eckener and Georg Hacker .

In autumn 1913 Ernst August Lehmann , who had been trained as an airship commander under Eckener, was given command of the "Saxons" , which on October 23, 1913 already completed its 200th flight. Three days later, undertook "Saxony" at the inauguration of the Dresden urban land and water airport Kaditz again in the presence of the Saxon King, a trip to Pirna .

On November 26, 1913 , "Captain" Thomik , who lived in Breslau , made the first parachute jump from a zeppelin from the "Sachsen" launched from Dresden-Kaditz .

From December 1913, the Saxons were chartered by the Reichsmarineverwaltung for an initial period of four months for military use and training. Hugo Eckener was also assigned to the Navy Airship Department (MLA) as an instructor. Due to a failed landing of the zeppelin near Quickborn on December 7, 1913, the airship could not be taken over by the Imperial Navy until the following day in Hamburg-Fuhlsbüttel .

In the winter months, Eckener and Lehmann jointly trained the first officers and men of the MLA, including Corvette Captain Peter Strasser , who passed his exam as an airship pilot on the "Sachsen" in front of Graf Zeppelin on March 2, 1914 . After the end of the military charter period, the Sachsen was rebuilt from April 18 to May 5, 1914 in Potsdam and was ready for civil charter flights again on May 6.

Use in the First World War

testing

At the beginning of the First World War , the "Sachsen" , as well as the other DELAG airships "Hansa" ( LZ 13 ) and "Viktoria Luise" (now LZ 11 ), were taken over by the military, although only the "Sachsen" were required for war journeys Carrying capacity. The "Sachsen" was given the identification LZ 17 . Since there was no airship school, the commanders had to train the necessary personnel themselves in a short time, which was not completed when the war began. The opportunities for training were made even more difficult by the technical difficulties that occurred everywhere, so it was hardly possible to practice under wartime conditions. The development of suitable dropping ammunition was also not completed at the beginning of the war and emergency aids in the form of modified artillery shells as well as untested dropping devices and target devices had to be used.

At the beginning of the war, LZ 17 “Saxony” was stationed in Leipzig-Mockau and mobilized there. The crew under the Lieutenant zur See of the reserve Ernst August Lehmann belonged to the Royal Saxon Army . The LZ 17 was transferred to Potsdam to be militarily converted and armed there. The airship received a radio station, a bomb drop device and a platform equipped with machine guns on the back of the ship. In addition, the crew was reinforced by three officers - including a general staff officer who was in charge of the airship in action - and 15 men. The "Sachsen" was assigned to Max von Gemmingen-Guttenberg , a nephew and employee of Count Zeppelin. The "Sachsen" was then relocated to Cologne to replace the Z VI "Cöln" army zeppelin that had already been lost near Liège at that time . At the end of August, the Army Command on the western front had only two zeppelins - LZ 17 and Z IX .

On the western front

The crew of LZ 17 used the time up to the deployment for training drives, which also included the dropping of bombs for training purposes. In addition, the crew apparently tried to replace the artillery shells, which had been provisionally converted into bombs, but were completely inadequate, with test bombs manufactured according to their own designs in a Cologne ammunition factory.

From the end of August, LZ 17 was used together with Z IX to bomb the fortifications around the city of Antwerp in the still unoccupied part of Belgium in the rear of the German troops. The first attack by LZ 17 probably took place on August 27, another on September 2. The operations took place from Cologne and during the night. Operations planned for September 16, 22 and 24 failed due to strong headwinds and a lack of petrol. Only on October 3, LZ 17 reached Antwerp again and was able to drop bombs over the fortress of Brechem. During the missions, the zeppelin was damaged by fire from the ground. During one mission, the damage was so severe that one of the airscrews of the zeppelin had to be sawed off during the mission because it threatened to fall into the nacelle. The executing NCO Luickhardt received the Iron Cross for this act .

The sources are divided on the conclusion of the operations on Antwerp. On the one hand, three missions with 2000 kg drop ammunition are given, on the other hand four missions with 2940 kg.

On the Eastern Front

In autumn 1914 the weather worsened and the LZ 17 could only undertake short training runs. In January 1915, Gemmingen and Lehmann were transferred to other airships and Captain Fritz George was assigned to LZ 17 as commandant. With the appearance of the new, much more powerful zeppelins with a capacity of 25,000 m³, LZ 17 no longer appeared suitable for further use on the western front and was relocated to Allenstein in East Prussia . From February the zeppelin was used from there for smaller operations, for example on March 4th against Ciechanów near Warsaw with 520 kg bombs and on April 2nd against Białystok and Vilnius with 460 kg bombs. In the meantime, specialized drop ammunition ("ball bombs") with significantly increased effectiveness and lower weight was available.

After a downtime due to damage on a landing in Allenstein, LZ 17 was on 20/21. Used in July against the forts of Łomża with 500 kg of dropped ammunition. George's successor as commandant was first lieutenant Ernst Scherzer in July . In the period from August 2nd to 13th, the railway stations in Bialystok and Vilnius were again bombed with 500 and 600 kg respectively. During the operation against Vilna, an ammunition train standing in the station was apparently hit, which exploded and caused great destruction.

End of use

In September 1915, the technically completely outdated LZ 17 was transferred to the Imperial Navy and stationed in Dresden, where the naval airship school had been housed in the airship hangar Dresden-Kaditz since March 15, 1915. From here, LZ 17 carried out training trips and dropped mail until June 1916, after which it was decommissioned. The zeppelin would be dismantled in Düren on September 6, 1916 . The rumor that LZ 17 was burned on September 16 in Hamburg-Fuhlsbüttel is not true. This accident involved the L 6 naval airship .

Commanders of LZ 17 "Saxony"

Rank Surname date
- Hugo Eckener May 3, 1913 to autumn 1913
- Georg Hacker alternating with Eckener until autumn 1913
-
(from the beginning of the war, Lieutenant to the Sea of ​​the Reserve)
Ernst August Lehmann Autumn 1913 to December 1914
Captain Fritz George January 1915 to July 1915
First lieutenant Ernst Scherzer July 1915 to September 1916 (decommissioning)

Summary

The "Sachsen" made 419 trips by the start of the war, making it the most successful German pre-war zeppelin. All DELAG airships made a total of 1596 trips during this period. The one and a half to two hour trip cost 150 to 200 marks per passenger. Around 100 km were covered per trip. The "Sachsen" achieved a total travel time of 741 hours, during which 39,919 km were covered at an average speed of 53.9 km / h. A total of 9837 people were carried, of which 3465 were paying passengers.

The LZ 17 also proved itself in World War I and was considered the most successful zeppelin in its class in military use.

literature

  • Peter Meyer: Airships - The History of the German Zeppelins. Bernard & Graefe Verlag, Bonn 1996, ISBN 3-7637-5951-4 .
  • Hannesträger: Peace and war trips of the LZ 17 "Saxony". Published in: Das Propellerblatt - Bulletin of the Aviation Interest Group 1900–1920. Number 25, summer 2009. Pages III / 899 to III / 920.

Web links

Commons : LZ 17 “Saxony”  - collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Kölner Luftfahrt.de - Attack on Antwerp.Retrieved on December 15, 2016
  2. Peter Meyer: Airships - The History of the German Zeppelins. Bernard & Graefe Publishing House. Bonn. 1996. page 96.