LZ 38

LZ 38
Type:	Zeppelin type p
Design country:	German Empire
Manufacturer:	Airship construction Zeppelin
First flight:	April 3, 1915 LZ 38
Commissioning:	April 1915
Production time:	1915– January 1, 1916
Number of pieces:	21 Type p ; Army: LZ 38 , -72, -74, -77, -79, -81, -85, -86, -87, -88 / L25, -90; Navy: L10, -11, -12, - 13, -14, -15, -16, -17, -18, -19, -20.

The Zeppelin LZ 38 was Count Zeppelin's 38th airship and the eighteenth airship of the German army . She was the lead ship of the new P-class , which became the most built class of zeppelins.

history

The airship was the first of the new p series, of which a total of 21 were built by the end of 1915 for the army and navy. With a length of 163.5, the ships were the longest zeppelins to date. The diameter of the ships and their lifting gas volume also increased significantly. For this purpose, the zeppelins have now been equipped with four motors.

The first trip from LZ 38 took place on April 3, 1915. LZ 38 was first used on the eastern front with the Königsberg and Schneidemühl locations and then moved to Düsseldorf and Brussels-Evere for use in the west in early May 1915 .

From the end of April to the end of May 1915, the army airship carried out a series of bombing raids against English coastal cities on the North Sea, dropping between 1.5 and 1.9 tons of bombs with each attack.

LZ 38 was the first airship to bomb London. On May 31, 1915, the zeppelin dropped 1.36 tons of bombs on the capital of the British Empire from a height of 3000 meters .

End of LZ 38

On June 7, 1915, LZ 38 was destroyed by the bombing of an English aircraft in its home port of Brussels-Evere.

Technical specifications

Carrying gas volume: 31,900 m³ hydrogen
Length: 163.50 m
Diameter: 18.70 m
Payload: 15 t
Drive: three Maybach engines, each 210 hp (154 kW)
Speed: 25 m / s

literature

Peter Meyer: Airships - The History of the German Zeppelins. Wehr & Wissen, Koblenz / Bonn 1980.

Web links

Commons : LZ 38 - collection of images, videos and audio files