LZ66: Busy Zeppelin!
LZ66 took her first flight in April 1916, two years into WWI. During a 16-month long career, LZ66 took part in 51 reconnaissance missions, 3 bombing missions, and one boarding!
Reconnaissance and Bombing Missions
The reconnaissance missions were routine: This Zeppelin was operated by the German Imperial Navy and the L-Class airships were dedicated recon units!
The bombing missions occurred at a time when long-distance bombing was in its infancy. Zeppelins were an obvious choice as they had a longer range and bigger cargo capacity than planes of the era. LZ66 dropped over 5 tons of bombs in the span of three bombing missions. She took part in a raid over Boston (UK) on the night of the 2nd of September 2016 alongside 15 other German airships, making it the largest air raid of the war against England.
Historic Naval Boarding
However, it was on April the 23rd, 1917 that LZ66 entered the history books: The airship’s captain spotted the Norwegian schooner “Royal” and decided to check its cargo. The Royal was forced to stop when LZ66 dropped a single bomb in front of her as a warning. The German Zeppelin then dropped enough altitude to be able to lower a row boat with a prize crew. Upon inspection, it appeared the Norwegian ship was carrying timber to the UK, a clear violation of Norwegian neutrality. The ship was therefore legally confiscated and sailed back to Germany!
This marked the very first time in history that a Naval Boarding was conducted from an aerial vehicle! Nevertheless, the German Navy was not impressed as this little stunt put the Zeppelin at risk.
The End of LZ66
On the 21st of August 1917, LZ66 met her end when she was spotted by a Royal Navy squadron: A Sopwith Pup was launched from a cruiser. The fighter gave chase to the German airship and eventually caught up with her. LZ66 was riddled with incendiaries and caught fire. Only one of her crew members survived the initial crash but he subsequently drowned as there wasn’t anyone in the vicinity to pick him up.
As a side note, Schooner Royal was sold as a prize, operated under various German owners during and after WWI, and was finally sold for scrap in 1924!
RBM.
