Zeppelin L.10 (LZ-40)

P-class Airship

Imperial Germany | 1915

"German airship LZ-40 managed several raids against Britain in World War 1 but was lost to a lightning strike in early September of 1915."

Authored By: Staff Writer | Last Edited: 07/31/2019 | Content ©www.MilitaryFactory.com | The following text is exclusive to this site; No A.I. was used in the generation of this content.

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The Zeppelin was a rigid, "lighter-than-air" manned aircraft developed by German Count Ferdinand von Zeppelin in the latter part of the 1800s. The design was finalized by 1895 and the style born into aviation history using the classic "cigar" shape which was tapered at both ends and powered by propeller-driving engines suspended in individual nacelles under the aircraft. The "Zeppelin", as it came to be known, grew in popularity with the masses for its unique appearance and travel range. Internally, the fabric shell housed a line of light alloy structure (duralumin) and contained cells usually filled with hydrogen or helium. The filling provided the vessel with its required lighter-than-air quality. A compartment was typically affixed to the underside of the design - either to ferry passengers from one destination to another or to provide military personnel with unfettered views of a region ahead from a bird's eye perspective. The first Zeppelin to ferry passengers was LZ.6 in 1909 while the first German Zeppelin was accepted for service that same year in March. The first German Zeppelin to bomb England in World War 1 (1914-1918) was L.3 and L.4 at Great Yarmouth and King's Lynn respectively, this on January 15th/16th, 1915.

At the start of World War 1, some 21 Zeppelins were in circulation to which the German military operated 14 between its Army and Navy branches and further examples were confiscated from DELAG, the world's first airliner company. Zeppelin designs were evolved considerably in the lead up to war and proved valuable in the opening stages of the conflict due to their operating altitudes and endurance. For the German military, the Zeppelin served for scouting and reconnaissance while others were eventually graduated to an early, albeit cruse, form of strategic bombing as fixed-wing aircraft still lacked the required ranges to reach Britain across the North Sea.

The L.10 served as one such German military Zeppelin. She exhibited the traditional tapered cigar shape with stabilizing fins added to her aft section. Power was served through 4 x Maybach C-X series engines of 210 horsepower each which provided the airship with a maximum speed of 57 miles per hour and an operational range of 2,700 miles. Operating ceilings ranged up to 10,500 feet. These qualifications were adequate in the early part of the war where the airship could essentially out-climb an enemy interceptor. Dimensions included a running length of 536 feet, 6 inches, a diameter of 61 feet, 4 inches and a height of 79 feet, 4 inches - certainly a large and visible target. Maximum take-off weight was listed at 35,000lbs. Her typical operating crew was eighteen personnel and defense was through a collection of three or four machine guns. Her complete bomb load was 5,840lbs.

First flight of L.10 was recorded on May 13th, 1915. L.10 served as her tactical designation while she carried the production designation of "LZ-40".

L.10 served with the German Naval Airship Division and represented one of the early (and improved) "P-class" Zeppelin forms. She was involved in several air raids against Britain during her wartime career including one such mission on June 4th, 1915. On this sortie, the vessel was misguided by strong winds which sent her in the direction of Gravesend (east of London) where she ended up dropping her bombs. Such results proved all too common for airship raids and led to much random bombing, usually over civilian populations.

As night time hours decreased over the summer months of 1915, airship raids were, in turn, curtailed to a certain extent - they presented obvious tempting targets in daylight hours. L.10 returned to Britain, this time at Tyneside, between June 15th/16th, to engage targets but, again, results were poor. On August 12th/13th, L.10 was involved in a four-strong airship raid over Harwich with better results - L.10 being the only airship to reach the intended target area. In an attack on the Lea Valley reservoirs on August 17th/18th, 1915, L.10 was once again put off course and ended attacking Leyton and Walthamstow resulting in the deaths of 10 persons with 48 injuries despite a threat from British interception aircraft and ground-based anti-aircraft fire.

The service career of L.10 came to an abrupt end when, on September 3rd, 1915, the aircraft was struck by lightning in a storm over the North Sea. The vessel was forced to crash land which claimed the lives of all of her 19-man crew near Cuxhaven. Such ended the flying career of German Zeppelin L.10.

In all, L.10 completed eight reconnaissance sorties over the North Sea and participated in five bombing missions against Britain. In these missions, she dropped a total of 1,984lbs (9,900kg) of ordnance.

From a military standpoint, strategic bombing using Zeppelins led to very mixed results. They largely served a psychological purpose to showcase enemy civilians that no place was safe from the reach of the Germans, especially London. Bombing was rather indiscriminant and rarely led to the defined target being struck and night time results proved much poorer due to visibility - largely reliant on maps, memory and visual references. Conversely, interceptors and ground-based cannon fire found it difficult - if not impossible - to locate and engage enemy airships in the dark. Airship pilots had the added advantage of quick climbing and losing any attackers in clouds should the sky provide them - early aircraft required up to one hour to reach the required engagement altitudes. Where German Zeppelins proved their worth was in over-the-horizon reconnaissance, particularly of the North Sea, where airship commanders could work in unison with surface naval forces in locating enemy warships, convoys or minefields. Indeed, a large percentage of missions involved simple reconnaissance over strategic bombing of targets. The age of the wartime airship was further curtailed with the widespread adoption of incendiary ammunition which held a tendency to ignite the highly flammable hydrogen being used in German airships like the L.10.

The only combined German Army/Navy air raid involving airships against London was on September 2nd/3rd, 1916 and this involved six Zeppelins. However, poor weather limited effectiveness of the raid and SL.11 lost to an intercepting British BE.2c. As losses mounted, the German Army gave up use of Zeppelins in February of 1917 while Navy use lingered on due to their usefulness in the reconnaissance role - ultimately enlisted some total 73 airships for service.

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Power & Performance
Those special qualities that separate one aircraft design from another. Performance specifications presented assume optimal operating conditions for the Zeppelin L.10 (LZ-40) P-class Airship.

4 x Maybach C-X engines developing 210 horsepower each.
Propulsion

58 mph
93 kph | 50 kts
Max Speed

10,499 ft
3,200 m | 2 miles
Service Ceiling

2,700 miles
4,345 km | 2,346 nm
Operational Range

City-to-City Ranges
Operational range when compared to distances between major cities (in KM).

NYC

LON

PAR

BER

MOS

TOK

SYD

LAX

NYC

Structure
The nose-to-tail, wingtip-to-wingtip physical qualities of the Zeppelin L.10 (LZ-40) P-class Airship.

18
(MANNED)
Crew

536.4 ft
163.50 m
O/A Length

61.4 ft
(18.70 m)
O/A Width

79.4 ft
(24.20 m)
O/A Height

34,998 lb
(15,875 kg)
MTOW

Design Balance
The three qualities reflected below are altitude, speed, and range. The more full the box, the more balanced the design.

RANGE

ALT

SPEED

Armament
Available supported armament and special-mission equipment featured in the design of the Zeppelin L.10 (LZ-40) P-class Airship .

STANDARD:
3 or 4 x 7.92mm machine guns on trainable mountings.

OPTIONAL:
Up to 5,840lb of conventional drop bombs as needed.

Variants
Notable series variants as part of the Zeppelin L.10 (LZ-40) family line.

L.10 - Tactical Designation

LZ-40 - Production Number

Operators
Global customers who have evaluated and/or operated the Zeppelin L.10 (LZ-40). Nations are displayed by flag, each linked to their respective national aircraft listing.

Total Production: 1 Units
Contractor(s): German Empire

[ German Empire ]

Relative Max Speed

Hi: 100mph

Lo: 50mph

Aircraft Max Listed Speed (58mph).

Graph Average of 75 MPH.

Era Crossover

Showcasing Aircraft Era Crossover (if any)

Max Alt Visualization

Production Comparison

1

36183

44000

Entry compared against Ilyushin IL-2 (military) and Cessna 172 (civilian) total production.

MACH Regime (Sonic)

Sub

Trans

Super

Hyper

HiHyper

ReEntry

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Aviation Timeline

EarlyYrs

WWI

Interwar

WWII

ColdWar

Postwar

Modern

Future

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Mission Roles
Some designs are single-minded in their approach while others offer a more versatile solution to airborne requirements.

GROUND ATTACK

Recognition
Some designs stand the test of time while others are doomed to never advance beyond the drawing board; let history be their judge.

Military lapel ribbon for the World War 1

Going Further...
The Zeppelin L.10 (LZ-40) P-class Airship appears in the following collections:

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