The Zeppelin is Down (original) (raw)

Common knowledge states that a young British Royal Navy pilot, named Leefe Robinson, was the first flyer to shoot down one of the massive German Zeppelin dirigibles. Even today, some folks in England still recall the exploits of Robinson. He brought a dirigible down one foggy night and the Zeppelin fell down in a blaze near Cuffley, England. In the early days of the Great War, the German Zeppelins brought much terror to the residents of England. High level bombing runs made by formations of Zeppelins, sparked a strong anti-German sentiment among the British. They recalled the stories of H.G. Wells and other futuristic writers who predicted hell raining from above. Fortunately for the citizens of London at the time, this scenario would not become a reality until World War II.

The hydrogen filled Zeppelins could only carry a small bomb load and its bombing accuracy was nonexistent. Britain quickly adapted their defenses to meet the Zeppelin threat. Huge artillery pieces, for the first time were not pointed to land targets, but were instead pointed toward the skies. When a Zeppelin bombing run commenced, British gunners opened indiscriminate fire against them. Loses sustained by the German�s Zeppelin fleet were quickly becoming unsustainable. The Zeppelin changed tactics. They would now bomb from high above the clouds, sacrificing what little accuracy they could achieve in low-level bombing, for the safety of the dirigible and crew. Robinson downed the Zeppelin in 1915, but it was not officially recorded until September 3rd, 1916. In the mean time, another Royal Navy Air Service pilot, Reggie Warneford, destroyed a Zeppelin, the L.37, over Ghent, Belgium on June 7th, 1915. This act, over a nearly deserted town in a faraway land, brought Warneford nearly no recognition at home, whereas Robinson's kill was in clear skies near London with millions looking up—publicity was everything.

Reginal Alexander John Warneford was the model British Empire solider of those days. He was born in the jewel of the Empire, India, and was schooled at the famous English Collage in Simla. He later left India for England where he continued his studies at Stratford-Avon Grammar School. After graduating at the top of his class, Warneford, who had displayed a particular impressive mechanical skill, particularly with engines, decided to join the Merchant Marine and was serving with the Indian Steam Navigation Company, when the Great War started on August 1914. He quickly resigned his commission and made his way to Great Britain, where he promptly joined the Second Battalion of the Sportsman Regiment—an infantry outfit. The combat training for the unit took more time than Warneford desired—he feared, as many others in the Imperial Army did at the time, that the War would be over quickly, and he might miss the chance to enter the fray. After a lot of thinking, he decided to transfer from Sportsman to the infant Royal Navy Air Service.

His friends generally agreed that Reggie was a little too sure of himself, inclined to be boastful and brutally frank—not the best traits for a combat pilot. However, his instructors of the Navy Air Service, managed to curb his impetuosity somewhat. By the time he advanced to the prestigious Central Flying School at Upavon, he had proved himself to be a daring airman.

By May 1915, Reggie had won his RNAS wings and was transferred to the Number 2 Naval Squadron located at the Thames Estuary. After a brief time there, young Warneford was shipped across the English Channel to the Number 1 Naval Squadron under the command of Wing Commander Arthur Longmore, who would become an Air Chief Marshall during World War II. He was stationed at Dunkirk Air Base and was given an outdated Voisin scout biplane. After taking off on his first mission, Reggie and his observer spotted a German observation plane circling at low level over Zeebrugge. He immediately went in pursuit and ordered his observer to open fire from his light machine gun, but his gun was jammed after only firing a couple of rounds. However, Reggie still followed the German plane all the way back to their base. When he landed back at Dunkirk, Wing Commander Longmore, impressed by the report presented by Warneford, provided Reggie with a better aircraft, the high-winged monoplane Morane Parasol.

Young Warneford was sent off to do, what he was born to do—take the fight to the enemy, and more—from all accounts, he did just that. He chased enemy planes out of the skies in Northern France, attacked troop movements and made various bombing runs at German artillery emplacements. All of his exploits gave Reggie the reputation he craved, that of a young and daring pursuit pilot.

During the wee hours of June 7th, Reggie got another opportunity to add to his already impressive record. The Admiralty warned Longmore command, that three Zeppelin dirigibles, that had been in Southern Britain, were on their way back to their home field sheds. Reggie�s Morane took to the air around 1:00 a.m. and quickly rose to 2,000 feet. Other aircraft were also dispatched to assist in the mission. About an hour into his flight, Reggie, already at 3,000 feet, began to look for his companions, he found no one. He promptly checked his compass to see if he had strayed from his flight plan, and began the search again. Promptly, two planes, both Moranes, appeared from the south to join Reggie in his run. During the long flight to Brussels, he sat in his cockpit wondering what a dirigible shed would look like from above at night. The three planes found their target without much difficulty. One of Reggie�s wingmen, an airman from Dublin, known only as Wilson, quickly commenced a bombing run. German ground fire was somewhat subdued. At first the gunners thought that the attacking British airplanes were actually their own, returning from a bombing mission. But soon they realized that the incoming planes were not theirs, and German searchlights filled the sky—Reggie and his fellow airmen were promptly under heavy anti-aircraft fire. Nevertheless, they continued with their mission and on their two bombing runs, they manage to destroy one shed and heavily damage a brand new dirigible on the ground, marked L38.