MayorJim
02-26-2011, 19:08
Enjoy this read I found of a Zeppelin raid over England:
After launching from one of the airship bases near the North Sea coast, the new Zeppelin Type-V "height climber" you are aboard forms up with its squadron and cruises toward England at an altitude of 5000 to 9000 feet. The target on this fine spring day in 1918 will be an industrial city. Only the pilot knows its identity, to prevent spies from giving away German plans. At this level the ships cannot reach full speed because the engines are specially designed and tuned to provide peak performance at a much higher raiding altitude. As the airship nears the predetermined bearing point, it slows and hovers, awaiting darkness. Deck hands arm the bombs. Engineers in the rear and side engine , gondolas service each of the five engines which power the ship. The chief engineer inspects one of the two rear gondola engines which is running hot. During breaks the men snack on tinned meat or catnap in hammocks. Night slowly falls.
At last the rudder helmsman in the forward control gondola spots the faint English coastline in the moonless dark. While the warrant officer, stopwatch in hand, listens for the timed navigation signals from Germany to plot his position, the airship commander orders the ship to climb. All plain water ballast is discarded because the temperature drops below zero as the ship rises. Only water ballast with glycerin anti-freeze remains. The elevator helmsman sets the ship at an upward angle. Flashes appear to the south as the Zeppelin on the squadron's left flank takes flak from naval or coastal artillery batteries.
The airship rises a remarkable 1000 feet per minute. At 12,000 feet altitude sickness sets in. Ringing in the ears and light-headedness is followed by headaches and panting as the pulse rate doubles. At 16.000 feet the men take oxygen, periodically sucking the tube of the liquid oxygen canister. Earlier in the war it was considered unmanly to use oxygen and the old compressed oxygen gas cylinders caused nausea for days. But now the commander has ordered everyone to use the new liquid oxygen, which is quite tolerable almost exhilarating.
All preparations and repairs must be completed before the airship reaches 18,000 feet. Beyond this height any manual labor so exhausts a man that he is incapacitated for the remainderof the trip. Over England the airships split up and select targets. Your airship plots a course over the industrial part of Norwich and drops a ton of bombs. With the release of each 660 pound bomb from the bomb bay the ship rises a little more. Turning south, the second target is London. Climbing higher, the airship dashes across the capital city just after midnight at an altitude of 20.000 feet. The blacked out city is hard to spot through the thick clouds and moonless night. By instinct, some visual recognition, some navigation, and much luck, the commander finds the city and releases two tons of explosive and incendiary bombs. It is impossible to accurately gauge bombing results from such a high altitude. Only large and persistent fires can be recognized.
Suddenly the starboard engine fails and the airship begins turning west, away from its return route to Germany. The lever and dial mechanism (called a "telegraph") for communicating with the starboard engine gondola gets no response. The commander sends his adjutant to investigate. The lieutenant climbs up the aluminum ladder to the hull. Totally exposed to the 65 mph wind, the -30 degree temperatures stab though his flying suit. Not even the newspaper lining his leather and felt suit can keep out the chill. Once inside the hull, the lieutenant moves down the central passageway which forms the ship's keel. Movement is difficult at raiding altitude, and he stops at each point where a liquid oxygen canister is located. Halfway down the length of the ship he reaches ring 110, and climbs upward and outward following the curvature of the hull to the starboard engine gondola. Totally exhausted, he again braves the wind to climb down another ladder into the gondola. Inside he finds both mechanics unconscious and nearly frost bitten. The lieutenant revives them with oxygen and chocolate, the only food which will not freeze at this temperature. Together they get the engine running, but only to half power.
Forward in the control gondola, the commander realizes that he cannot fight the headwind at this altitude and dives to 13,000 feet for the return trip to Germany. They have been over England for nearly four hours without incident, but now comes the most dangerous few minutes. As they cross the coast into the North Sea, machine gun fire is heard. Gunners in the rearengine gondola are firing at two English planes. The English are apparently too far away for their incendiary bullets to be completely effective but the gas cells are riddled with holes and leak hydrogen gas. The modern day sailmaker aboard the airship quickly handles this damage. His tools are not needle and thread, but special rubberized patches for sealing holes and fast setting adhesives for mending torn gas cells. By climbing at full speed the airship eludes the threat. In the distance a flash of light as bright as day lingers for nearly a minute: another airship was not so lucky.
Due to loss of hydrogen gas the airship drops slowly during the return trip home. All ballast is jettisoned to maintain altitude. As the airship drops, the gas warms by a phenomenon called adiabatic heating which helps maintain enough buoyancy to reach home.
By morning they are over Germany and find that their base is formed in. Observers in a Drachen balloon above the ground fog signal to the Zeppelin that the ground crew awaits. To help the Zeppelin judge its height above the ground, the ground acrobats clap and yell up through the fog. Just a few meters above the earth, the commander of the airship realizes he is coming in too quickly and showers the ground hands with smelly glycerin and water ballast. At last the landing ropes are caught, the airship is secured, and the tired crew disembark just in time for lunch.
After launching from one of the airship bases near the North Sea coast, the new Zeppelin Type-V "height climber" you are aboard forms up with its squadron and cruises toward England at an altitude of 5000 to 9000 feet. The target on this fine spring day in 1918 will be an industrial city. Only the pilot knows its identity, to prevent spies from giving away German plans. At this level the ships cannot reach full speed because the engines are specially designed and tuned to provide peak performance at a much higher raiding altitude. As the airship nears the predetermined bearing point, it slows and hovers, awaiting darkness. Deck hands arm the bombs. Engineers in the rear and side engine , gondolas service each of the five engines which power the ship. The chief engineer inspects one of the two rear gondola engines which is running hot. During breaks the men snack on tinned meat or catnap in hammocks. Night slowly falls.
At last the rudder helmsman in the forward control gondola spots the faint English coastline in the moonless dark. While the warrant officer, stopwatch in hand, listens for the timed navigation signals from Germany to plot his position, the airship commander orders the ship to climb. All plain water ballast is discarded because the temperature drops below zero as the ship rises. Only water ballast with glycerin anti-freeze remains. The elevator helmsman sets the ship at an upward angle. Flashes appear to the south as the Zeppelin on the squadron's left flank takes flak from naval or coastal artillery batteries.
The airship rises a remarkable 1000 feet per minute. At 12,000 feet altitude sickness sets in. Ringing in the ears and light-headedness is followed by headaches and panting as the pulse rate doubles. At 16.000 feet the men take oxygen, periodically sucking the tube of the liquid oxygen canister. Earlier in the war it was considered unmanly to use oxygen and the old compressed oxygen gas cylinders caused nausea for days. But now the commander has ordered everyone to use the new liquid oxygen, which is quite tolerable almost exhilarating.
All preparations and repairs must be completed before the airship reaches 18,000 feet. Beyond this height any manual labor so exhausts a man that he is incapacitated for the remainderof the trip. Over England the airships split up and select targets. Your airship plots a course over the industrial part of Norwich and drops a ton of bombs. With the release of each 660 pound bomb from the bomb bay the ship rises a little more. Turning south, the second target is London. Climbing higher, the airship dashes across the capital city just after midnight at an altitude of 20.000 feet. The blacked out city is hard to spot through the thick clouds and moonless night. By instinct, some visual recognition, some navigation, and much luck, the commander finds the city and releases two tons of explosive and incendiary bombs. It is impossible to accurately gauge bombing results from such a high altitude. Only large and persistent fires can be recognized.
Suddenly the starboard engine fails and the airship begins turning west, away from its return route to Germany. The lever and dial mechanism (called a "telegraph") for communicating with the starboard engine gondola gets no response. The commander sends his adjutant to investigate. The lieutenant climbs up the aluminum ladder to the hull. Totally exposed to the 65 mph wind, the -30 degree temperatures stab though his flying suit. Not even the newspaper lining his leather and felt suit can keep out the chill. Once inside the hull, the lieutenant moves down the central passageway which forms the ship's keel. Movement is difficult at raiding altitude, and he stops at each point where a liquid oxygen canister is located. Halfway down the length of the ship he reaches ring 110, and climbs upward and outward following the curvature of the hull to the starboard engine gondola. Totally exhausted, he again braves the wind to climb down another ladder into the gondola. Inside he finds both mechanics unconscious and nearly frost bitten. The lieutenant revives them with oxygen and chocolate, the only food which will not freeze at this temperature. Together they get the engine running, but only to half power.
Forward in the control gondola, the commander realizes that he cannot fight the headwind at this altitude and dives to 13,000 feet for the return trip to Germany. They have been over England for nearly four hours without incident, but now comes the most dangerous few minutes. As they cross the coast into the North Sea, machine gun fire is heard. Gunners in the rearengine gondola are firing at two English planes. The English are apparently too far away for their incendiary bullets to be completely effective but the gas cells are riddled with holes and leak hydrogen gas. The modern day sailmaker aboard the airship quickly handles this damage. His tools are not needle and thread, but special rubberized patches for sealing holes and fast setting adhesives for mending torn gas cells. By climbing at full speed the airship eludes the threat. In the distance a flash of light as bright as day lingers for nearly a minute: another airship was not so lucky.
Due to loss of hydrogen gas the airship drops slowly during the return trip home. All ballast is jettisoned to maintain altitude. As the airship drops, the gas warms by a phenomenon called adiabatic heating which helps maintain enough buoyancy to reach home.
By morning they are over Germany and find that their base is formed in. Observers in a Drachen balloon above the ground fog signal to the Zeppelin that the ground crew awaits. To help the Zeppelin judge its height above the ground, the ground acrobats clap and yell up through the fog. Just a few meters above the earth, the commander of the airship realizes he is coming in too quickly and showers the ground hands with smelly glycerin and water ballast. At last the landing ropes are caught, the airship is secured, and the tired crew disembark just in time for lunch.