A-Z of Zeppelins

Your Now and Then column (3 September) mentions that in 1916 the first German airship to be shot down in the First World War was hit by Captain Leefe-Robinson.

You say it was a Zeppelin airship but strictly speaking it wasn’t.

Contrary to popular belief, Count Ferdinand Von Zeppelin did not have a monopoly on airship construction in Germany. This airship was the SL11, which was built by the Schutte-Lanz airship works.

These airships were rigid like the Zeppelins and of similar appearance but they differed in having wooden-framed hulls unlike the metal frames of the Zeppelins.

Robert Kelly

Round Riding Road

Dumbarton

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