page_title: German strategic bombing during World War I
section_title: 1916
hierarchical_section_title: German strategic bombing during World War I / Campaign against Britain / 1916
caption_attribution_description: English: On the night of 2nd-3rd April 1916, two German Navy Zeppelins, failing to find their intended target, Rosyth Dockyard, dropped 27 bombs on Leith and Edinburgh instead. This one failed to explode. East Fortune airfield was alerted when the first Zeppelin was spotted coming in over the Berwickshire coast and sent up one aeroplane to intercept. Owing to poor visibility, it failed to locate the intruders and crash landed on return.
context_page_description: The best known German strategic bombing campaign during World War I was the campaign against Britain, although strategic bombing raids were carried out or attempted on other fronts. The main campaign against Britain started in January 1915 using airships. From then until the end of World War I the German Navy and Army Luftstreitkräfte mounted over 50 bombing raids on the United Kingdom. These were generally referred to as "Zeppelin raids": although both Zeppelin and Schütte-Lanz airships were used, the Zeppelin company was much better known and was responsible for producing the majority of the airships used. Weather conditions and night flying conditions made airship navigation and maintaining bombing accuracy difficult. Bombs were often dropped miles off target and accurate targeting of military installations was impossible. The civilian casualties made the Zeppelins an object of hatred, and they were dubbed "baby-killers". With the development of effective defensive measures the airship raids became increasingly hazardous, and in 1917 the airships were largely replaced by aeroplanes.
context_section_description: In December 1915 additional P-class Zeppelins and the first of the new Q-class airships were delivered. The Q-class was an enlargement of the P-class, lengthened to 178 m (585 ft), adding two gasbags, and improving both ceiling and bomb-load.  Improved defensive measures made raids more hazardous, and several airships were destroyed.  By mid-1916, there were 271 anti-aircraft guns and 258 searchlights across Britain, and the introduction of an effective combination of explosive and incendiary bullets gave the defending aircraft their first successes.  New types of Zeppelin with improved ceilings restored the advantage, but led to further flying and navigation problems; oxygen was needed to fly at high altitude, the extreme cold led to crew fatigue and technical problems, and the meteorologists of the time did not appreciate the differing wind conditions likely to be met at altitude.  Nevertheless, in 1916 twenty-three raids dropped 125 tons of bombs, killing 293 and injuring 691 people.
  Aerial defences against Zeppelins were haphazard, and divided between the RNAS and the Royal Flying Corps (RFC), with the Navy engaging enemy airships approaching the coast while the RFC took responsibility once the enemy had crossed the coastline. Initially the War Office believed that the Zeppelins used a layer of inert gas to protect themselves from incendiary bullets, and discouraged the use of such ammunition in favour of bombs. The initial trials of incendiary bullets in mid-1915 were unimpressive, and the explosive Pomeroy bullet attracted little official interest.  However experiments undertaken in 1916 using a mixture of explosive and incendiary rounds were promising, and the use of this mixture of Pomeroy, Brock, and Buckingham bullets brought the defending aircraft their first victories, using the technique of firing machine guns upwards at 45 degrees into the airship.
  Ten home defence squadrons were organised by February 1916, with London's defences assigned to No. 19 RAS at Sutton's Farm and Hainault Farm (renamed No. 39 (Home Defence) Squadron in April 1916, who were also allocated North Weald Bassett airfield in August 1916). The number of aircraft varied: in February there were only eight squadrons at less than half-full strength, and by June the number of squadrons had been cut to six and only No. 39 Squadron was at full strength and equipped with the B.E.2c aircraft, which was being outclassed on the Western Front, but provided a stable gun platform suited to night fighting.
  The first raid of 1916 was carried out by the German Navy. Nine Zeppelins were sent to Liverpool on the night of 31 January – 1 February. A combination of poor weather, difficult navigation and mechanical problems scattered the aircraft across the Black Country hitting Tipton, Wednesbury and Walsall. A total of 61 people were reported killed and 101 injured by the raid. Fifteen of the fatalities occurred in the town of Tipton. L 21, captained by Max Dietrich, caused the majority of the damage.  Despite ground fog, 22 aircraft took off to find the Zeppelins but none succeeded.  Six aircraft were damaged beyond repair and two pilots were killed when attempting to land. One airship, L 19, crashed in the North Sea because of engine failure and damage from Dutch ground–fire: all 16 crew were lost.
  Further raids were delayed by an extended period of poor weather and also by the withdrawal of the majority of Naval Zeppelins in an attempt to identify and resolve the recurrent mechanical failures. Raids resumed in March: three Zeppelins set off to bomb Rosyth on 5–6 March but were forced by high winds to divert to Hull, killing 18, injuring 52 and causing £25,005 damage. On 30 March – 1 April ten airships set off to bomb eastern England and London. Most turned back because of mechanical problems or the weather; L 15 was intercepted by Claude Ridley, who was unable to do more than fire a few rounds at extreme range; it was then damaged by anti-aircraft fire over Purfleet before being attacked by Alfred de Bathe Brandon using Ranken darts. It came down in the s
caption: Zeppelin bomb dropped on Edinburgh, displayed at the National Museum of Flight
exif: {}