Aviation / Aerospace

Zeppelin Z.12 (LZ-26)

Type N-class Airship [ 1914 ]

LZ-26 became one of the more successful of the World War 1 German airships with some 44,000lbs of ordnance dropped.

Authored By: Staff Writer | Last Edited: 07/31/2019 | Content ©www.MilitaryFactory.com | The following text is exclusive to this site.

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First flown on December 14th, 1914, the military-minded Zeppelin "LZ-26" became one of the more successful of the German Empire Zeppelins of World War 1. it was used as a reconnaissance and bombing platform over the Eastern Front against the Russian Empire and against the Allies on the Western Front, particularly over Northern France. The airship served under the tactical designation of Z XII and was born from the "Type N" class. As a bombing platform, it claimed some 44,100lbs of ordnance dropped in the war across eleven total missions. Despite these successes, the age of the Zeppelin as a useful frontline bombing platform was more or less over - it was formally decommissioned on August 8th, 1917.

LZ-26 took on the established shape of Zeppelins with tapered ends - the frontal section a nose cone and the aft section finned for stability control. These ends capped a tubular body consisting of a metal skeletal structure covered over in fabric. Lifting was accomplished through use of hydrogen-filled cells with the skin of the airship - hydrogen proving useful for the role though highly flammable in turn. When the Allies began wider spread use of incendiary ammunition, this became a very real and lethal problem for German airship crews. The crews were housed in under-slung gondolas containing armament stores and defensive weaponry while engines (providing the necessary forward propulsion) were held out and away from the fuselage by way of struts. Despite their climbing ability and valuable "over-the-horizon" qualities from a tactical sense, the more advanced Allied aircraft and improved ground-based anti-aircraft fire began to severely marginalized airships as useful battlefield weapons.

The airship concept was pioneered by German Count Ferdinand von Zeppelin (hence its popular common name of "Zeppelin"). The concept first emerged in useful form as early as 1874 before being finalized in 1893 while a German patent proved forthcoming in 1895. First commercial use of Zeppelins in the airliner role began in 1910 - roughly four years before the war.
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Specifications

Service Year

1914

Origin

Imperial Germany

Status

RETIRED
Not in Service.

Crew

18

Production

1
UNITS

German Empire

(View other Aviaton-Related Manufacturers)

German Empire

(OPERATORS list includes past, present, and future operators when applicable)

✓ Ground Attack (Bombing, Strafing)
Ability to conduct aerial bombing of ground targets by way of (but not limited to) guns, bombs, missiles, rockets, and the like.

Installed: Multiple engines in pusher configuration.

(Showcased performance specifications pertain to the base Zeppelin Z.12 (LZ-26) production variant. Performance specifications showcased above are subject to environmental factors as well as aircraft configuration. Estimates are made when Real Data not available. Compare this aircraft entry against any other in our database or View aircraft by powerplant type)

STANDARD:
Multiple 7.92mm machine guns in trainable mountings.

OPTIONAL:
Up to 2,720lb of conventional drop bombs.

Supported Types

Graphical image of an aircraft medium machine gun

Graphical image of an aircraft conventional drop bomb munition

(Not all ordnance types may be represented in the showcase above)

Z.XII - Tactical Designation

LZ-26 - Production Number

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