LZ-26 was one of the more successful zeppelins of the war. She participated in eleven attacks in northern France and on the eastern front, dropping some 20,000 kg of bombs. She was decommissioned on 8 August 1917.
LZ-27 led eleven reconnaissance missions over the North Sea. She participated in the first raid of England on 20 January 1915. She was caught in a storm on 17 February 1915 and forced to land in Blavandshuk. The crew was taken captive, with four members reported missing in action.
LZ-28 participated in 47 reconnaissance missions over the North and Baltic Seas, proving especially useful in discovering enemy mines. She flew two attack missions on the eastern front, dropping 700 kg of bombs. She was damaged beyond repair by Russian air defence on 7 August 1915.
LZ-29 participated in two attacks on Calais and Paris, dropping 1,800 kg of bombs. On the way back, she was damaged by enemy fire and dismantled after being forced to land in St. Quirin.
LZ-31 had a prominent role in repelling a British Navy attack on the German coast on Christmas Day of 1914. She logged 36 reconnaissance missions around North Sea, including several where she was called upon to mark minefields. She even participated in one successful raid on England, dropping 700 kg of bombs. She caught fire during gas refilling in her hall at Fuhlsbuttel and burned together with LZ-36 on 16 September 1916.
LZ-32 participated in a record 77 reconnaissance missions over the North Sea, including several unsuccessful attempts to attack the English coast. She was brought down by British cruiser fire from HMS Phaeton and HMS Galatea and finally destroyed by British submarine E 31 on 4 May 1916. Perhaps she should have been named Rasputin.
LZ-33 flew reconnaissance missions along the western front during early 1915. She was damaged by enemy fire during a patrol and stranded south of Ostend on 5 March 1915.
LZ-34
Usage:
military
First Flight:
6 January 1915
LZ-34 participated in two raids at the eastern front, dropping 1,110 kg of bombs. She was heavily damaged by enemy fire on 21 June 1915 and burned following forced landing near Insterburg.
LZ-35
Usage:
military
First Flight:
11 January 1915
LZ-35 flew two raids on Paris and Poperinghe (Belgium), dropping 2,420 kg of bombs. She was forced to land near Aeltre (Belgium) due to heavy damage by enemy fire. While on the ground, she was destroyed by a storm.
LZ-36 flew 74 reconnaissance missions in the North Sea, four raids on England dropping 5683 kg of bombs, and several attacks on British submarines. She burned in her hall on 16 September 1916 together with LZ-31.
LZ-37
Class:
Type M
Usage:
military
First Flight:
4 March 1915
Length:
536 feet / 163.37 meters
Gas Volume:
1,126,000 cu. feet / 33,780 cu. meters
Engines:
Four 210 hp Maybach engines
Maximum Speed:
60 mph / 96 kph
LZ-37 had the misfortune of being shot down during its first raid, at Calais, on 7 June 1915.
LZ-38
Class:
Type M
Usage:
military
First Flight:
3 April 1915
Length:
536 feet / 163.37 meters
Gas Volume:
1,126,000 cu. feet / 33,780 cu. meters
Engines:
Four 210 hp Maybach engines
Maximum Speed:
60 mph / 96 kph
In marked contrast to its sister ship the LZ-37, LZ-38 flew the first bombing raid on London on 31 May 1915, and an additional five successful raids on Harwich, Ramsgate, Southend (twice), and London, dropping 8,360 kg of bombs. She was destroyed by British bombing of her hall in Brussels.
LZ-39
Usage:
military
First Flight:
24 April 1915
LZ-39 flew three raids at the western and two at the eastern front, dropping 4,184 kg of bombs in total. She was heavily damaged by enemy fire on 17 December 1915 and decommissioned following a forced landing.
LZ-40 flew eight reconnaissance missions around the North Sea. She participated in five attacks on England, dropping 9,900 kg of bombs. She flew in the great raid on London of 17-18 August 1915 during which Leyton was bombed causing ten deaths and injuring 48 people. She was destroyed in a thunderstorm on 3 September 1915 near Cuxhaven.
LZ-41 flew 31 reconnaissance missions, including one during the Battle of Jutland. She participated in twelve raids on England dropping 15,543 kg of bombs. She was decommissioned on 25 April 1916.
LZ-43 flew five reconnaissance missions. She was towed back to Ostend after taking heavy damage in a raid on London, Harwich, and the Humber region on 10 August 1915 but burned down during subsequent disassembly.
LZ-46 was the most successful German Naval airship. She flew 42 reconnaissance missions and 17 attacks on England, dropping 22,045 kg of bombs. This was despite the fact that the High Command took her out of service during 1917 and 1918. Rather than allower her to become war reparations, her crew destroyed her on 23 June 1919.
LZ-47 participated in six attacks on England and France, dropping 12,610 kg of bombs. She was destroyed by enemy fire on 21 February 1916 in the Battle of Verdun.
LZ-48 flew eight reconnaissance missions and attacks on England, dropping 5,780 kg of bombs. She was damaged by ground fire during a raid on London on 1 April 1916. She landed at Knock Deep in the Thames estuary, and seventeen members of her crew were captured, only one having died.
LZ-49 dropped 4,440 kg in two attacks on Brest-Litovsk and Kovel. During an attack on Paris on 30 January 1916, she was hit by French fire and damaged beyond repair in a forced landing near Ath.
LZ-50 flew 44 reconnaissance missions and twelve attacks on England, dropping 18,048 kg of bombs. She famously delivered supplies to isolated German islands in the winter of 1916. She was damaged beyond repair in a forced landing near Brunsbüttel on 19 October 1917.
LZ-51 was used at the South-Eastern and the Western Fronts. She participated in one attack on Etables (France) and two attacks on Bucharest, dropping a total of 4,513 kg of bombs. One of her more daring adventures involved transporting a diplomatic commission over enemy Serbia on 9 November 1915. She was stranded near Turnovo (Bulgaria) on 27 September 1916 and subsequently scuttled.
LZ-53 flew 27 reconnaissance missions and nine attacks on England, dropping 10,724 kg of bombs. She was destroyed in her hall on 28 December 1916 when LZ-69 broke her back and took fire across the hall's entrance.
LZ-54 participated in one raid on England on 31 January 1916, dropping 1,600 kg of bombs. With three engines failing, she came under Dutch fire and sank in the North Sea, drowning all crew members as the nearby English fishing trawler King Stephen refused to come to their assistance.
LZ-55 participated in six attacks, dropping 14,200 kg of bombs on Dünaburg (Latvia), Minsk, the railroads of Riga, and Saloniki (three times). Damaged by fire from Battleship HMS Agamemnon on 5 May 1916, she stranded in the Wardar marshes.
LZ-56 participated in seven attacks, dropping 14,800 kg of bombs along the Eastern and South-Eastern front. She crashed on 3 September 1916 when the fore and aft nacelle broke away from her hull after a raid.
A much-storied airship, LZ-57 participated in two attacks on Ramsgate and Margate, dropping 3000 kg of bombs. In July of 1916 she was transferred to the German Navy where she participated in 16 reconnaissance missions around the Baltic Sea. She was later used as a school ship. Decommissioned in July 1917.
LZ-58 participated in 14 reconnaissance missions and three attacks, dropping 4,249 kg of bombs along the Western Front. In January of 1917, she was handed over to the German Navy who used her for experiments. Decommissioned in September 1917.
LZ-59 participated in six reconnaissance missions and two attacks on England, dropping 2,864 kg of bombs. She ran out of fuel after the second attack on 4 May 1916 and stranded near Stavanger (Norway). The crew was taken into custody. Kapitänleutnant Stabbert escaped six months later.
LZ-60 participated in four attacks, on Bar-le-Duc, Norwich, London, and Etables, dropping 8,860 kg of bombs. On 7 November 1916 she was caught in a storm in the the North Sea and never seen again.
LZ-61 participated in 17 reconnaissance missions and ten attacks on England, dropping 14,442 kg of bombs. She was intercepted and destroyed by English fighters firing phosphor shells off Lowestoft on 28 November 1916.
First of the "Super-Zeppelin" Class, LZ-62 participated in 31 reconnaissance missions above the North and Baltic Sea and at the Eastern Front and ten raids on England, dropping 23,305 kg of bombs. She was retired on 17 November 1917. In 1920 she was transferred to Belgium as a war reparation where she was disassembled. Some components, including an engine car, are preserved at the Royal Army and Military History Museum, Brussels.
LZ-64 participated in 30 reconnaissance missions and eight attacks on England, dropping 9,215 kg of bombs. She was destroyed by a British Curtis H12 Flying Boat near Terschelling on 14 May 1917 during a reconnaissance mission (see LZ-112).
LZ-66 participated in 51 reconnaissance missions and three attacks on England dropping 5,254 kg of bombs. She was destroyed on 21 August 1917 by an English fighter starting from the cruiser HMS Yarmouth.
LZ-67 participated in four attacks on London (twice), Boulogne, and Bucharest, dropping 5,760 kg of bombs. She also flew several unsuccessful flights in bad weather. She was decommissioned on 5 July 1917.
LZ-68 participated in a single successful attack on London, dropping 1,513 kg of bombs, as well as several flights aborted due to bad weather. She was handed over to the German Navy in November of 1916. In Naval service, she flew 15 reconnaissance missions around the Baltic Sea. She was decommissioned in August of 1917.
LZ-69 participated in 19 reconnaissance missions around the North Sea and four raids on England, dropping 8,510 kg of bombs. She crashed into a wall while being "halled in" on 28 December 1916 and burned down together with LZ-53.
LZ-71 was stationed in Yambol (Bulgaria). She flew seven attacks dropping a total of 11,934 kg of bombs on Bucharest, Ciulniţa, Feteşti, Galaţi, Odessa, Mytilene, Jassy, and Mudros. She was disassembled in September 1917.
LZ-72 flew one important reconnaissance mission in fleet operation against Sunderland, and six attacks on England dropping 19,411 kg of bombs. She was intercepted and destroyed by a British fighter on 2 October 1916 near Potters Bar, North of London, while commanded by the leading airship commander of the time, Kapitan Leutnant Helmut Mathy, who perished with his entire crew.
LZ-73 participated in one successful attack on Calais, dropping 1,530 kg bombs. Several other planned attacks were cancelled or aborted due to poor weather. She was decommissioned in August 1917.
LZ-74 participated in one important reconnaissance mission in fleet operation against Sunderland and three attacks on England, dropping 6,860 kg of bombs. She was intercepted and destroyed by British fighter on 24 September 1916 near Burstead, Essex. [Kapitan-Leutnant Werner Petersen]
LZ-75 participated in 17 reconnaissance missions around the North and Baltic Seas and England, and she flew four raids, dropping 6,450 kg of bombs. She was retired on 24 December 1917. After the war, she was transferred to Japan in 1920 where she was disassembled.
LZ-76 was forced to land near Brentwood, Essex on 24 September 1916 during her first mission, in which 3,200 kg bombs had been dropped. The crew was only partly successful in burning the hull, and British engineers examined the skeleton and later used the plans as a basis for the construction of airships R33 and R34. [Kapitan-Leutnant Alois Bocker]
LZ-77 participated in one attack on Boulogne, France, dropping 1,440 kg of bombs. Several other raids were cancelled or aborted. She was decommissioned in July of 1917.
LZ-78 participated in three reconnaissance missions and two attacks on England, dropping 3,890 kg of bombs. She was intercepted and destroyed by British fighters off Hartlepool on 28 November 1916.
LZ-79 participated in 15 reconnaissance missions around the North Sea and four attacks on England, dropping 6,567 kg of bombs. She was used as a school ship from 11 December 1917 on. Scuttled by her crew on 23 June 1919.
LZ-80 participated in 13 reconnaissance missions around the North and Baltic Sea and three attacks on England dropping 4,284 kg in bombs. She was decommissioned in September 1918.
LZ-81 was never flown by the German Army and was instead transferred to Navy in May of 1917. She participated in seven reconnaissance missions around the Baltic Sea and was decommissioned on 10 August 1917.
LZ-82 participated in 20 flights around the North Sea and England, including four reconnaissance missions. She was damaged during landing in fog at Rehben-an-der-Aller on 7 February 1917 and subsequently decommissioned.
LZ-83 participated in 15 reconnaissance missions around the Eastern Front and the Baltic Sea and three attacks, dropping 6000 kg of bombs. In 1920, she was transferred to France as war reparations.
LZ-85 participated in twelve reconnaissance missions around the North Sea and three attacks on England, dropping 4,700 kg of bombs. She ran out of fuel on 20 October 1917 and was destroyed in forced landing near Sisteron, France; the crew was taken captive.
LZ-86 participated in two reconnaissance missions around the North Sea and one attack on England dropping 300 kg of bombs. Returning from England, she was destroyed by French flak fire near Compiègne on 17 March 1917.
LZ-87 participated in 18 reconnaissance missions and three attacks, dropping 3,240 kg of bombs around the North Sea and England. On 5 January 1918, a giant explosion in the air base in Ahlhorn tore through three halls, destroying four Zeppelins (including LZ-87) and one other airship. The incident was ruled an accident, although sabotage could not be discounted.
LZ-88 participated in six reconnaissance missions and two attacks on England, dropping 3,105 kg of bombs (a large percentage of which missed their targets). She was damaged beyond repair in a failed landing on 16 June 1917 in Nordholz.
LZ-89 participated in five reconnaissance missions around the North Sea and two attacks on England, dropping 4,135 kg of bombs. She ran out of fuel on 20 October 1917 and was driven to the Mediterranean Sea after a forced landing near Dammartin, France.
LZ-90 participated in 17 reconnaissance missions and three attacks, dropping 11,250 kg bombs around the Eastern Front and the Baltic Sea. She was retired on October 8, 1917. In 1920, she was transferred to Italy as war reparations. She broke apart a year later while gas was being removed.
First of the "Height-Climber" class, which had a lightened structure to improve altitude. The strength of the structure was therefore compromised, which proved disastrous when unwittingly copied in the British R38, and the American USS Shenandoah. LZ-91 participated in twenty reconnaissance missions and four attacks on England, dropping 6,030 kg of bombs. She was used as a school ship after 6 June 1918. He crew scuttled her on 23 June 1919.
LZ-92 participated in six reconnaissance missions and one attack on English docks, dropping 1,850 kg of bombs. She was shot down by British fighter aircraft on 14 June 1917 during a reconnaissance mission.
LZ-93 participated in eight reconnaissance missions and four attacks on England and British Navy units. Driven south to France by a heavy storm, she was shot down above Lunéville on 20 October 1917.
LZ-94 participated in 19 reconnaissance missions around the North Sea and three raids on England, dropping 5,700 kg of bombs. She was destroyed in the Ahlhorn explosion (see LZ-87).
LZ-95 participated in one reconnaissance mission; she was intercepted and destroyed by enemy fighter aircraft over the sea near Great Yarmouth during an attempted attack.
LZ-96 participated in two reconnaissance missions around the North Sea and one raid on England, dropping 2,100 kg of bombs. While returning, she was forced to land near Bourbonne-les-Bains on 20 October 1917 and captured almost undamaged by French forces. Plans derived from LZ-96 were later used in the United States for construction of the first US "zeppelin", USS Shenandoah (ZR-1).
LZ-97 participated in three reconnaissance missions and one raid on the English coast, dropping 280 kg of bombs. She was destroyed in the Ahlhorn explosion (see LZ-87).
LZ-98 participated in 20 reconnaissance missions. Following an unexpected storm during a raid, she found herself above London and so dropped 2,020 kg bombs there. She was scuttled by her crew on 23 June 1919.
LZ-99 participated in 14 reconnaissance missions and two attacks on England, dropping 5,840 kg of bombs. She was destroyed together with LZ-108 when seven British Sopwith Camel fighters from the first aircraft carrier, HMS Furious, bombed the halls in Tondern.
LZ-90's captain, Baron Oberleutnant Treusch von Buttlar-Brandenfels was the most legendary air-captain of the war. He was awarded the Pour le Mérite (the "Blue Max"), a copy of which was affixed to the control gondola of the zeppelin.
LZ-100 participated in 19 reconnaissance missions and four attacks on England, dropping 11,930 kg of bombs. She was intercepted and destroyed by a British Sopwith Camel which took off from a lighter towed by the Destroyer HMS Redoubt, on 11 August 1918. She was hundredth zeppelin laid down, and the last zeppelin destroyed in the war.
LZ-101 participated in two attacks, dropping 5,450 kg of bombs. Heavily damaged in her second sortie on 19 October 1917, she drifted behind the western front and rose to a Zeppelin all-time world record altitude of 7600 m to escape. She was dismantled following her forced landing.
LZ-104 was stationed in Jamboli, Bulgaria. She was supposed to reinforce German troops in German East Africa, but she did not arrive in time and returned upon reports of German defeat, thereby setting a long-distance flight record (6,757 km in 95 hours). She participated in one attack on Italy, dropping 6,350 kg of bombs. She crashed during a raid on Malta on 7 April 1918 for unknown reasons.
LZ-106 participated in nine reconnaissance missions and two attacks on England, dropping 4,500 kg bombs. In 1920 she was transferred to Italy as a war reparation.
LZ-107 participated in two reconnaissance missions and two attacks on England, dropping 5,923 kg of bombs. She crashed north of Helgoland on 10 May 1918 for unknown reasons.
LZ-108 participated in 11 reconnaissance missions and one attack on England, dropping 3,120 kg of bombs. She was destroyed together with L-54 when British fighters bombed the halls.
LZ-109 participated in 13 reconnaissance missions over the North Sea and one attack on England, dropping 2,800 kg of bombs. In 1920 she was transferred to England in the context of war reparations, where she was disassembled.
LZ-110 dropped 8,915 kg of bombs in three attacks on England, including participation in the last raid on England on 5 August 1918. She was scuttled by her crew on June 23, 1919.
LZ-112 directed the last raid on England on 5 August 1918, with Pieter Strasser, Commander of the Navy Airship Department, on board. She was intercepted and destroyed over the North Sea, killing all aboard.
The largest military airship yet built, LZ-114 was never delivered due to the end of the war. In 1920 she was transferred to France as a war reparation. Christened Le Dixmude, she made regular trips between France and Algeria before vanishing over the Mediterranean in 1924.
NOTE:Tactical refers to the airship's tactical designation(s). The Z designation indicates an airship operated by the German army, whereas the L designation indicates an airship operated by the German navy. During the war, the army changed their scheme twice: following Z XII, they switched to using the LZ numbers, later adding 30 to obscure the total number in production.
The Officers and Crew of LZ-99
