Zeppelins Finished Before World War I
| Production number | Name / tactical numbering | Usage | First flight | Remarks | Image |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| LZ1 | prototype | 2 July 1900 (L) | three flights, beat speed record set by La France, dismantled 1901 after lack of shareholder interest | ||
| LZ2 | experimental | 17 January 1906 | In 30 November 1905 never lifted off from lake; second attempt took flight but damaged beyond repair after emergency landing Photographs by Franz Stoedtner (Lichtbildverlag) (died 1944): empennage detail from 4th version | ||
| LZ3 | Z I | experimental; military | 9 October 1906 | flew for 2 hours in 9 October 1906 and in 10 October 1906, flew for 8 hours in 1907; as part of LZ4's contract sold to the German Army in 1908 after refitting; used as a school ship; decommissioned in 1913 (D). Photographs by Franz Stoedtner (Lichtbildverlag) (died 1944): perspective; cross-section and front elevation; exiting the hangar | |
| LZ4 | military (intended) | 20 June 1908 | part of contract including LZ3; 12 hour flight on 1 July 1908; attempted contractual 24 hour endurance flight on 4 August 1908, landed near Echterdingen after 12 hours to repair an engine but destroyed when wind broke its moorings; see Zeppelin#The first generations. Photographs by Franz Stoedtner (Lichtbildverlag) (died 1944): Z4 climbing; view of empennage over the water | ||
| LZ5 | Z II | experimental; military | 26 May 1909 | stranded near Weilburg in 1910 during a storm (D) | |
| LZ6 | experimental; civilian (DELAG) | 25 August 1909 (L) | first experiments with wireless communication; first DELAG craft; accidentally destroyed in its hangar in Baden-Oos in 1910 (D) | ||
| LZ7 | "Deutschland" | civilian (DELAG) | 19 June 1910 | damaged beyond repair in an accident above the Teutoburg Forest on 28 June 1910 (D) | |
| LZ8 | Ersatz "Deutschland II" | civilian (DELAG) | 30 March 1911 | pushed to the wall of its hangar by strong wind and damaged beyond repair on 16 May 1911 (D) | |
| LZ9 | Ersatz Z II | military | 2 October 1911 (L) | decommissioned 1 August 1914 (D) | |
| LZ10 | "Schwaben" | civilian (DELAG) | 26 June 1911 (D) | Sources differ as to passenger totals: 4354 passengers in 218 commercial flights, traveling 27,321 km; others claim 6045 passengers in 363 flights. Sources differ regarding injuries suffered on 28 June 1912 when the Schwaben caught fire after a strong gust over-stressed the airship at its mooring near Düsseldorf: the New York Times reported "34 soldiers were injured"; others claimed 40 injured. Photographs by Franz Stoedtner (Lichtbildverlag) (died 1944): over the Havel river | |
| LZ11 | "Viktoria Luise" | civilian (DELAG); later military | 19 February 1912 | transported 9783 passengers in 489 flights, traveling 54,312 km; taken over as school ship by German military upon outbreak of World War I; broke apart while being hauled in (i.e. put into its hangar) on 1 October 1915 (D) | |
| LZ12 | Z III | military | 25 April 1912 | decommissioned 1 August 1914 (D) | |
| LZ13 | "Hansa" | civilian (DELAG); later military | 30 July 1912 | traveled 44,437 km in 399 flights; first regular flight outside Germany (commanded by Count Zeppelin on first visit to Denmark and Sweden in 19 September 1912); taken over by German military upon outbreak of World War I; decommissioned in summer 1916 (D) | |
| LZ14 | L 1 | military | 7 October 1912 (L) | Helgoland Island Air Disaster: pushed down into the North Sea in a thunderstorm on 9 September 1913, drowning 14 crew members. This was the first Zeppelin incident in which fatalities occurred (D) | |
| LZ15 | Ersatz Z I | military | 16 January 1913 | destroyed in a forced landing on 19 March 1913 (D) | |
| LZ16 | Z IV | military | 14 March 1913 | accidentally crossed French border on 3 April 1913 in misty weather and was kept in Lunéville for one day. Performed some reconnaissance missions in World War I and attempted bombing of Warsaw and Lyck. Used as a school ship from 1915; decommissioned in autumn of 1916 (D) (Z IV crew showing their Iron Crosses) | |
| LZ17 | "Sachsen" | civilian; later military | 3 May 1913 | transported 9837 passengers in 419 flights, traveling 39,919 km; taken over by German military upon outbreak of World War I in 1914; this was Captain Lehmann's first command; it had bomb racks and bomb drop station fitted, together with an improved radio room, machine guns in the cars below and a gunners nest on top of the tail; In its first attack on Antwerp it carried 1,800 pounds (820 kg) of bombs and spent 12 hours in the air. Decommissioned in autumn of 1916 (D) | |
| LZ18 | L 2 | military | 9 September 1913 | Johannisthal Air Disaster: destroyed by an exploding engine on 17 October 1913 during a test flight; the entire crew was killed. (D) | |
| LZ19 | Second Ersatz Z I | military | 6 June 1913 | damaged beyond repair in a thunderstorm on 13 June 1914 (D) | |
| LZ20 | Z V | military | 8 July 1913 | used in World War I for reconnaissance missions in western Poland; forced landing after an attack on Mława during the Battle of Tannenberg; crew captured by enemy cavalry while trying to burn down the ship. (D) | |
| LZ21 | Z VI | military | 10 November 1913 | In World War I mainly used in Belgium as a bomber; during a bombing raid of Liège dropping artillery shells instead of bombs, the ship's overweightness kept it at low altitude so that the bullets and shrapnel from defending fire penetrated the hull. The ship limped back to Cologne but had to be set down near Bonn in a forest, completely wrecking it, on 6 August 1914. | |
| LZ22 | Z VII | military | 8 January 1914 | Limited to a flight ceiling around one mile. On 21 August 1914 sent to find the retreating French Army around the Vosges mountains in Alsace, and dropped bombs on the camps. After passing through clouds found itself low, right above the main army whose infantry fire penetrated many gas cells. The ship leaking heavily, the crew forced it down near St. Quirin, Lorraine | |
| LZ23 | Z VIII | military | 11 May 1914 | same orders as Z VII on 21 August 1914; engaged French army while a few hundred feet up and according to Lehmann received "thousands of bullets and shell splinters"; this forced it to drift and a forced landing in no man's land near Bandonvillers; the crew destroyed all documents and tried to burn the wreck but so little gas remained it would not burn; French Cavalry arrive and a gunfight ensues, the German crew retreating; captured and plundered by French army | |
| LZ24 | L 3 | military | 11 May 1914 | 24 reconnaissance missions over the North Sea; participated in the first raid of England on 19 January 1915; released by its crew after a forced landing (due to engine failure compounded with strong headwind and insufficient fuel to reach Germany) in Denmark on 17 February 1915. The wind was so strong it blew the now unmanned but still running airship out across the sea. | |
| LZ25 | Z IX | military | 13 July 1914 | used for reconnaissance missions and bombings in northern France; destroyed by English bomber aeroplane which dropped a bomb through the hangar roof in Düsseldorf on 8 October 1914. The bomber was a single-seat Sopwith Tabloid flown by Flt Lt Reginald Marix, RNAS (later Air Vice Marshal); he had flown from Antwerp and the raid was the first strategic bombing raid by an airplane. |
Key:
- D indicates translated summary from a sighted version from
- L indicates data from Lueger 1904.
Read more about this topic: List Of Zeppelins
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