The Pensacola journal. (Pensacola, Fla.) 1898-1985, 1913-10-18
TWENTY SIX ARE KILLED WHEN
LARGEST OF GERMANY'S WAR
AIRSHIPS EXPLODES IN MIDAIR
Was Making a Test Prelim-
mary to It's Acceptance as
Flagship of the New Ger
man Aeral Navy-Entire
Admiralty of That Board
Killed.
BY ASSOCIATED PRESS.

Berlin, oct. 1I.-Ine newest anu
largest of the Zeppelin war airships.
the LII, was destroyed in midair by
an explosion at 1915 o'clock this morn
ing All but one of the twenty seven
military men on board, including the
entire admiralty trial board, were
killed, The disaster occurred just
above the main street of Johannisthal
while the dirigible, 500 feet long, was
making a trial flight preliminary to it's
acceptance as agship of the new Ger
man aerial navy
The shattered bulk of the a.irship,
a mass of blazing casvas and crumpled
aluminium, dropped 500 feet into the
public highway. Hundreds of people
who had been watching the flight
rushed to the scene. There was moth
ing TO be done except to take out the
bodies of the victims from the wreck
age.
Lieutenant von BiqeI Of the Queen
Augusta gre snadler guards, VINO was
making the trip as a guest, was the
only survivor of the wreck. He was
badly injured
Many of the bodies were so burned
and mangied as to be unrecognizable.
The admiralty trial board consisted
of seven officers including Lieutenant
Commander Behnisch and Senior Lieu
tenant Freyer of the German naval fly
ing corps. The airship's pilot was Cap
tain G1uth, a veteran steersr1ap in the
employ of Count Zeppelin.
Naval Constru ctors Neumann and
Pietzler and Naval Engineer Busch
were among the victims.
Lieutenant Commander Behnisch was
a close personal friend of the emperor
He was formerly navigating officer of
the imperial yacht Hohen3ollern and
later commander of the cruiser Panther.
Lieutenant F7reyer was also q. guest
Spectators who had been watching
the impressive maneuvers of the LII
saw the great gas bag suddenly burst
into a. glaring fame and then fall. A
second later the reverberating sound of
the terrific explosion reached them
1t was Impossible for some time to
approach the flaming dirigible, beneath
which the members of the crew had
been crushed and burned.
A director of one of the aviation
companies at the Johannisthal aero
drome was an eye witness of the dis
aster. He described 1t as follows:
'I was working in my Office about
500 yards from the scene of the wreck
when 1 was startled by an explosion Of
extraordinary violence.
IT rushed to a window and saw the
new dfrigible in flames and plung1ng
toward the earth. The outer covering
of the aircraft had already been burned
off and the inner balioonets containing
the gas had disappeared.
THE naked aluminium framework
with its long center pieces, its inter
laced ribs and its tapering ends and
the gondo1as containing the motors fell
rapidly, bow foremost.
when the skeleton of the immense
craft struck the earth the heavy gon-
dolas buried themselves in the ground
Coming so shortly after the destruc-
ton of the LII in a hurricane on the
North Sea, on September when fifteen
men were killed, today's disaster gave
rise to a feeling of CONSERVATION IN
Berlin.
The dirigible, before leaving the oal-
loon hall at Johannisthal, took on
board her regular navy crew and
number of officers. She headed for
Berlin, a short distance away, IN
light wind About a dozen aviators
were circling the aerodrome at the
time.
EVERYTHING IN GOOD ORDER. .
Everything was apparently in good
order on the airship. She was grad
1laIly getting up speed when suddenly
an explosion was heard by those on
the ground, evidently in one OF the mo-
tors in the center gondola- Tnere was
a flash of flame and the next instant
the whole ship was afire and plunging
downward Every inch of the canvas
covering and the baIioonets disappeared
in a moment.
A second and more violent explosion
was then heard the fire having reached
the gasoline tanks filled with about
ton of liquid fuel. Before the echoes
of the explosion had died down the
wreck of the most modern OF Ger