Great War>The War in the Air

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Schütte-Lanz SL11 1st August 1916 Schütte-Lanz Airship.   Burial of Crew SL11 at Potter's Bar Cemetery Schütte-Lanz SL11 First Flight: 1st August 1916 Length: 174 metres (571 ft) Diameter: 20.1 metres (66 ft) Gas Capacity: 38,780 cubic meters Performance: 91.8 km/h Payload: 21 tonnes Engines: 4 Maybach 960 hp/716 kW total Army airship based at Spich and Commanded by Hauptmann Wilhelm Schramm. The first German airship to be shot down over Britain. It was attacked over Hertfordshire by Lt. W.L. Robinson in a BE 2C with incendiary ammunition on the 3rd September 1916. It crashed at Cuffley, having bombed Saint Albans. The crew were buried at Potters Bar Cemetery and in 1962 they were re-interred at Cannock Chase German war cemetery. The press incorrectly reported it as the L21 Zeppelin which was only corrected much later. It was probably a touch of propaganda as the death of a baby-killer Zeppelin rather than the lesser known SL Airship would create greater public interest. John Doran 2nd September 1916 Zeppelin raid on London  The biggest raid to date was launched on 2,3 September, with 12 German Navy airships and four from the German Army taking part. A combination of rain and snowstorms scattered the airships while they were still over the North Sea. None of the naval airships reached London, and only the army's LZ 98 and the newly commissioned Schütte-Lanz SL 11 achieved their objective. SL 11 came in over Foulness with the intention of attacking the capital from the northwest. It dropped a few bombs over London Colney and South Mimms before it was picked up by a searchlight over Hornsey at about 0150 and subjected to an intense but ineffective barrage. It was lost in cloud over Wood Green but rediscovered by the searchlights at Waltham Abbey as it bombed Ponders End. At around 0215 one of the three aircraft in the sky that night finally came into range, a BE2c piloted by Lt. William Leefe Robinson flying from Suttons Farm. Robinson fired three drums of ammunition from his Lewis gun, one on each of three passes. After he emptied the third drum, the airship began burning from the stern and was quickly enveloped in flames. It fell to the ground near Cuffley, witnessed by the crews of four of the naval Zeppelins. There were no survivors. For bringing down the first rigid airship downed on British soil and the first 'night fighter' victory Leefe Robinson received the Victoria Cross. The pieces of SL 11 were gathered up and sold by the Red Cross to raise money for wounded soldiers. For unknown reasons, when the SL 11 became the first German airship to be shot down over England, it was described officially and in the press as Zeppelin L 21 (LZ 61's tactical number). This mis-identification persisted for decades, even though it is clear that the authorities were always aware of SL 11's correct identity. It has been suggested that the reason for this confusion was a calculation by the authorities that the downing of a hated and feared Zeppelin "baby killer"' would play better with the public than the destruction of an almost unknown Schütte-Lanz type. The loss of SL 11 ended the German Army's interest in raids on Britain. John Doran 3rd Sep 1916 Air Ship Destroyed If you can provide any additional information, please add it here. Want to know more about Schütte-Lanz SL11? There are:2 items tagged Schütte-Lanz SL11 available in our Library   These include information on officers, regimental histories, letters, diary entries, personal accounts and information about actions during the Great War. Those known to have served with Schütte-Lanz SL11 during the Great War 1914-1918. This page is new, as yet no names have been submitted. All names on this list have been submitted by relatives, friends, neighbours and others who wish to remember them, if you have any names to add or any recollections or photos of those listed, please Add a Name to this List The Wartime Memories Project is the original WW1 and WW2 commemoration website. 1st of September 2023 marks 24 years since the launch of the Wartime Memories Project. Thanks to everyone who has supported us over this time. Want to find out more about your relative's service? Want to know what life was like during the Great War? Our Library contains many many diary entries, personal letters and other documents, most transcribed into plain text. Looking for help with Family History Research?    Please see Family History FAQ's Please note: We are unable to provide individual research. Can you help? The free to access section of The Wartime Memories Project website is run by volunteers and funded by donations from our visitors. If the information here has been helpful or you have enjoyed reaching the stories please conside making a donation, no matter how small, would be much appreciated, annually we need to raise enough funds to pay for our web hosting or this site will vanish from the web. If you enjoy this site please consider making a donation. Announcements 9th May 2024     Please note we currently have a massive backlog of submitted material, our volunteers are working through this as quickly as possible and all names, stories and photos will be added to the site. If you have already submitted a story to the site and your UID reference number is higher than 264033 your submission is still in the queue, please do not resubmit. Wanted: Digital copies of Group photographs, Scrapbooks, Autograph books, photo albums, newspaper clippings, letters, postcards and ephemera relating to the Great War. 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