Evening journal., 1921-08-26
DIRIGIBLES IN
MANY DISASTERS
Accidents of All Kinds With
Many Lives Lost Since
1908
zcrrELINS TOPPLE
BEFORE ALLIED GUNS

Dirigibies, under the test OF war.
in the opinion Of most military auth
critics. failed to make good. Count
Zeppelin was the pioneer champion
OF this type OF lighter than ar war
engine and Germany In pre-war
times had developed It to its highest
degree of efficiency.
At the close Of the world war.
however, figures made public by the
Germans themselves conceded that
Of the eighty-three Zeppelins sent
out altogether sixty-siX were de-
stroyed. a larger percentage than
even the Allied General STAFF had
estimated.
According to Paris dispatches
published this year. OF the sixty
six destroyed in the war. thirty-four
were accounted for by the allied
armies. two were demolished while
entering their hangers, thirteen were
burned and ten smashed while land
ing. Four Of these great rigid
frame gas bags fell because OF ac-
cidents to their motors. one was
struck by lightning. one broke away
from it's moorings and disappeared
and one fel Into the sea.
Among the more notable OF these
wartime disasters were that Of No
vember %, 1916. when a super Yep
pelin was wrecked during its trial
trip and all but one OF her crew
were lost; that OF July 10, 1918.
when a Zeppelin fell in flames over
Dalheim, and that OF August, 1913,
when two Zeppelins were lost OF the
"coast Of Norway I'm a storm.
Record Before the War.
Prior TO the great war the fate OF
the series Of peaceume~ zeppelins
was hardly less tragic. Zeppelin /.
made her first flight July /, 1908.
She made several successful aerial
voyages thereafter. during one Of
which Count Zeppelin had as pas
sengers King William and Queen
Charlotte OF Wurtemburg. on the
afternoon Of August 8, however, a
severe wind drove the dirigible into
a clump OF trees, the motor explod-
ed and when the smoke cleared
away only the framework of the air
ship remained.
All Germany helped the aged
Count Zeppelin to build Zeppelin H.
That craft made several successful
flights. but she was caught In a
storm and wrecked on May 81. 1909
Zeppelin III met a like fate al
Mergentheim.
The Deutschland. the next Yep.
pelin. made her maiden voyage june
%. 1910, with twenty passenger.
from Friedrichshafen TO Dusseldorf
a distance OF 800 miles That wal
10 have been the beginning OF a reg
ular aerial passenger service be-
tween those cities. but six days latei
the great ship came TO grief in the
Teutoburgian forest. though he
thirty-three passengers escaped un
injured.
Zeppelin VI, was wrecked Will
being worked into her hangar a
Baden Baden, September "A. 1910
An explosion set fire to her shed am
IL also was destroyed.
Deutschland II. smashed three o
her compartments against the wal
of her aerdrome.
Wrecked by Explosion.
The schwaben. while at ancho
before her aerdrome at Dusseldorf
was swerved by a sudden gust o
wind. An explosion wrecked tn
airship and injured thirty-four sol
diers. June 2S, 1e1L
on March 49, 1912. the substitute
IL was destroyed while attempting
a landing.
The Ii, a large naval Zeppelin
was destroyed by hurricane ol
September Q. 1913, and Captain Met
zing. Captain Hanne Baron vo
Multzahn and twelve others wer
killed.
on October II. 1913. L-2. III
largest dirigible yet built az tina
time for the German navy. explode
and was wrecked while making ne
trial trip. Three unexplained ex
plosions were heard while the diric
ible was at a height OF about 60
feet above the Johannisthal aero
drome just outside Berlin. Their
We're twenty-eight officers and en-
listed men killed, among them Lieu
Commander Behnisch. a close frien
Of the then Emperor William. an
: other members OF the Admiralt
trial board.
other nations than Germany hav
i paid heavy toll in their efforts {
conquer the air routes by lighter
than-air dirigibles. The first nav,