LZ 61 (L 21)

The LZ 61 took part in a total of ten raids on England during 1916. These included:

• 31 January

:It was ordered to attack Liverpool, but problems with night navigation meant that instead it bombed Tipton, Bradley, Wednesbury, and Walsall: killing over 30 people - including Julia Slater, Walsall's Lady Mayoress.{{cite web |url=http://net.lib.byu.edu/estu/wwi/memoir/zeppelin.html |first=Tom|last=Morgan |title=31 January 1916 - The Great Zeppelin Raid |publisher=World War I Document Archive |year=1996 |location=Brigham Young University |access-date=28 February 2025}}

• 1 April

:It attacked Cleethorpes, dropping several bombs on the town just after midnight. One of which landed on the Alexandra Road Baptist Chapel, killing 31 soldiers of the 3rd Battalion the Manchester Regiment, who were billeted there.{{cite web |url=http://archiver.rootsweb.ancestry.com/th/read/WEST-RIDING/1999-05/0927581085 |first=Vernon|last=Cook |title=Zeppelin Disaster Casualty List - Cleethorpes Lincs 1916 |publisher=Ancestry.com |work=WEST-RIDING-L Archives|year=1999}}{{dead link |date=February 2025}} One of the only British Army units to be directly engaged by enemy action on British soil during World War I.

• 2 September

:It took part in the largest airship attack of the war with 13 other naval airships and also four army airships - 16 in total. During this raid, the crew of the LZ 61 witnessed the downing of the SL 11, the first airship to be shot down over the British mainland.{{cite web|url=http://www.richthofen.com/dark_autumn/ |title=Dark Autumn: The 1916 German Zeppelin Offensive |editor=James Burbeck |publisher=The War Times Journal |location=www.wtj.com |archive-date=October 9, 1999 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/19991009205758/http://www.richthofen.com/dark_autumn/ |url-status=dead }}

• 25–26 September

:It was unable to find its designated targets of Derby and Nottingham, and instead attacked Bolton,{{cite web|url=http://www.boltonmuseums.org.uk/collections/local-history/war-and-conflict/zeppelin-raid-on-bolton/|title=Zeppelin raid on Bolton|publisher=Bolton Council|location=Bolton|author=Bolton Museum and Archive Service|access-date=2010-07-18|archive-date=2010-10-07|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20101007065119/http://www.boltonmuseums.org.uk/collections/local-history/war-and-conflict/zeppelin-raid-on-bolton|url-status=dead}} Lumb, Rawtenstall, Ewood Bridge, Stonefold, Haslingden, Helmshore, Rossendale, Ramsbottom and Holcombe.{{cite web|url=http://www.bramhill.net/BramhillLiverpool/rawtenstallzeppe.html|title=Zeppelin Attack on Rossendale|publisher=www.bramhill.net|first1=william|first2=Elizabeth|last1=Bramhill|last2=Bramhill|access-date=2010-07-18|archive-date=2011-07-23|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110723032142/http://www.bramhill.net/BramhillLiverpool/rawtenstallzeppe.html|url-status=dead}}

On 27 November 1916, ten Zeppelins set out in two groups, heading for the Midlands and the North of England. One, the L.21, crossed the English coast at Atwick at 21:20, and then turned north to evade patrolling aircraft before heading to Leeds, where it was driven off by heavy anti-aircraft fire. An effective blackout shielded Barnsley from attack, so the airship headed southwest to the Potteries where it dropped a number of bombs on industrial targets in Stoke, causing some damage, but no casualties. At 01:30, it headed for home, setting a course towards Great Yarmouth. It was spotted by two RNAS aircraft north of Peterborough, but managed to evade them. Over East Dereham, it was spotted by Flight Lieutenant W. R. Gaynor, who was forced to abort his attack after suffering engine failure. However, reports of the L.21{{'}}s movements had reached Great Yarmouth, so at dawn Egbert Cadbury and Flight Sub Lieutenant Gerard W. R. Fane took off in their B.E.2c fighters to intercept. They were joined by Flight Sub Lieutenant Edward L. Pulling from RNAS Bacton. Cadbury later reported:{{sfn|Handford|2014|p=}}

I saw the Zeppelin approaching the coast and immediately chased after it. It was flying about 5,000 feet when I first saw it and it immediately climbed to 8,000 feet. I went after it. I approached from the stern about 3,000 feet below and fired four drums of explosive ammunition in to its stern, which immediately started to light. At the same time one of the other pilots was flying over the Zeppelin and to his horror he saw a man in the machine-gun pit run to the other side and leap overboard. Having seen the Zeppelin circle down to the sea in a blazing mass – a most horrible sight – I went back to Yarmouth. I could not say I felt very elated or pleased at this; somehow I was overawed at the spectacle of this Zeppelin and all the people aboard going down into the sea.{{sfn|Handford|2014|p=}} {{cite book|last1=Holdstock |first1=David |last2=Holdstock |first2=Amelia |editor1-first=Andrew |editor1-last=Lewis |editor2-first=Sarah |editor2-last=Lewis |title=A Celebration of Fengate Road |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090716225207/http://www.fengatesroad.com/chap05.htm |url=http://www.fengatesroad.com/chap05.htm |access-date=2010-07-03 |archive-date=2009-07-16 |year=2000 |publisher=FRIEND (Fengate Road Inclusive Entertainment & Neighbourly Development) |location=Redhill |chapter=Chapter 5 – Edward Laston Pulling: Fengates Hero |chapter-url=https://www.webcitation.org/5qwyJHRg0?url=http://www.fengatesroad.com/chap05.htm |url-status=usurped }}

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 the Zeppelin L 21 (the LZ 61{{'}}s tactical number). This misidentification persisted for decades, even though it is clear that the authorities were always aware of its correct identity.

One suggestion for this confusion was a calculation by the authorities that the downing of a hated and feared Zeppelin 'baby killer', would be received better with the public than the destruction of an almost unknown Schütte-Lanz type.{{cite book |title= Zeppelin!: a battle for air supremacy in World War I|last=Rimell |first=Raymond Laurence |year=1984 |publisher= Conway Maritime Press|oclc=10759648|location=London |isbn=978-0-85177-239-4 }}

Accordingly, the 1918 film The Last Raid of Zeppelin L-21 told the story of the SL 11{{'}}s destruction and not that of the LZ 61.{{cite web

| url =http://www.allmovie.com/work/the-last-raid-of-zeppelin-l-21-236688

| title =The Last Raid of Zeppelin L-21

| first =Hal

| last =Erickson

| publisher =Allmovie.com

}}{{dead link |date=February 2025}}

{{LZ shot down over UK}}

{{Reflist}}

• {{cite web|last=Handford|first=Paul|date=3 July 2014|url=http://www.birminghammedalsociety.com/uploads/1/1/9/7/11975097/bms_meeting_3_july_2014_final.pdf|title=The story of Egbert 'Bertie' Cadbury and his remarkable achievement during WWI|publisher=Birmingham Medal Society|access-date=23 November 2016|archive-date=23 November 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161123201535/http://www.birminghammedalsociety.com/uploads/1/1/9/7/11975097/bms_meeting_3_july_2014_final.pdf|url-status=dead}}
• {{cite book |last=Liddell Hart |first=Sir Basil Henry |author-link=B. H. Liddell Hart |title=A History of the World War 1914–1918 |year=1934 |publisher=Faber |isbn=978-0-304-93653-3}}

• [http://aircrashsites.co.uk/history/zeppelin-airship-l21-over-lancashire-2/ Zeppelin Airship L21 over Lancashire]
• [https://web.archive.org/web/20050304102259/http://www.cjbalm.com/auto-aero/aitem86.htm Signet Ring Made From W.W.I. Zeppelin "L.21"]

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Category:Airships of the Imperial German Navy

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Category:Zeppelins

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Category:Aircraft first flown in 1916

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