Shot down and crashed into the North Sea 14 June 1917
The LZ 92 (tactical number L 43) was a German S-class (naval) Zeppelin used by the Kaiserliche Marine in 1917 for maritime reconnaissance and limited bombing operations; she flew during the spring and early summer of 1917 and was shot down on 14 June 1917 with the loss of her 25 crewmember onboard.[1]
LZ 92 was built to the S-class (naval) Zeppelin design and completed in early 1917; contemporary reference works and museum descriptions record her as an S-type Zeppelin used for reconnaissance at high altitude.[2]
Contemporary accounts list LZ 92/L 43 as having the typical S-class arrangement of multiple Maybach engines, gas cells and long endurance suitable for North Sea patrols and high-altitude reconnaissance.[3]
War career
LZ 92 entered service in March 1917 and conducted several reconnaissance sorties over the North Sea and one recorded attack on English-area targets during her short career.[4]
On 4 May 1917 LZ 92 (L 43) engaged Allied ships in the North Sea and dropped a number of bombs near the British squadron that included the Australian cruiser HMAS Sydney; fragments and a contemporary report of the engagement are preserved in museum collections.[5]
Accounts of HMS/HMAS encounters show L 43 shadowing surface forces on at least one occasion in early May 1917, firing on destroyers and attempting bombing runs from high altitude.[6]
Destruction (14 June 1917)
On 14 June 1917 LZ 92 (L 43) was intercepted by a Felixstowe H12 flying boat (Felixstowe, Flight Sub-Lieutenant Basil D. Hobbs pilot) while on patrol; the seaplane attacked from a higher altitude and used incendiary and tracer rounds, which set the airship ablaze; L 43 broke in two and crashed into the sea near Vlieland, the Netherlands with the loss of all the 25 crew members.[7]
Photographic evidence held in museum collections shows the wreckage and contemporary photographs of L 43’s destruction and rescue / recovery operations, and the Australian War Memorial holds related photographic items documenting the action and its aftermath.[8]
The loss of L 43 and similar incidents prompted a tactical shift in German naval airship operations away from lower-level patrols and toward higher altitude operations, as British seaplanes and flying boats developed effective attack techniques.[9]
Aftermath and surviving relics
Fragments of bombs and other material associated with LZ 92 have been preserved in museum collections; one such item is a splinter of a bomb reportedly recovered from HMAS Sydney after the 4 May engagement, now catalogued in the Australian War Memorial collection.[10]
The destruction of L 43 (LZ 92) is also recorded in later museum and reference summaries (photo records and illustrated histories) making L 43 one of the better-documented Zeppelin losses of 1917.[11]
1Early Army designations, used pre-war. 2Wartime Army LZ designations were not always matched to Zeppelin's LZ hull number.
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