Sir Charles Wakefield Medal - Zeppelin L15

The commander of the L15 was Kapitanleutnant Joachim Breithaupt. On the 31st March 1916 (note date!), at 21.45 hours, the L15 received a direct hit from the AA gun at Purfleet, Essex.

The AA shell damaged four of the gas cells (numbers 9, 11, 12, and 16), and the L15 began to lose height - despite the crew chucking out everything, to lose weight.

While the L15 got closer to earth, it was attacked by 2Lt Alfred de Bathe Brandon RFC, 19 RA Sqn (Hainault Farm), in a BE 2C. Brandon climbed above the L15 and tried to destroy it by dropping incendiary bombs, and Ranken darts onto the top of the hull. He was not succesful.

But eventually the Zeppelin became too heavy to fly, and she came down in the sea off Margate at 00.15 (1st April) - close to the Kentish Knock lightship. One crew member, ObsigMt Willy Albrecht, was drowned. The rest of the crew (16 members in total) were rescued by the armed trawler Olivine (and then transferred to HMS Vulture).

This image is of a gold medal awarded by Sir Charles Wakefield, Lord Mayor of London. Originally he had promised a significant monetary reward for the first gun crew to shoot down a Zeppelin. However, in the event numerous gun crews put in a claim as being the one which hit the Zeppelin, all having fired on it. As a result some three hundred medals were issued to various members of the gun crews and searchlight batteries involved, the large money prize funding their manufacture in 8-carat gold.

The sodden, half-sunk remains of the L15 were then taken under tow but the airship broke up off Westgate and only small sections were hauled ashore, where parts were obviously liberated by souvenir hunters. Eventually the sea reclaimed what was left of the airship on the beach.

Other photos show the L-15 Zeppelin and photos of the captured crew from a copy of the Illustrated London News, dated Saturday, April 22 1916.

L15的指挥官为海军上尉约阿希姆·布赖特豪普特（Kapitanleutnant）。1916年3月31日（注意日期！）21时45分，L15在埃塞克斯郡珀弗利特遭到高射炮（Anti-Aircraft gun）的直接命中。

高射炮弹损坏了4个气囊（编号9、11、12和16），尽管机组人员为减轻重量丢弃了所有物品，L15仍开始下降高度。

当L15接近地面时，皇家飞行队（Royal Flying Corps）第19皇家炮兵中队（Royal Artillery Squadron，海诺特农场基地）的阿尔弗雷德·德巴思·布兰登少尉（2Lt）驾驶BE 2C型飞机对其发起攻击。布兰登爬升至L15上方，试图通过投掷燃烧弹和兰肯镖（Ranken darts）攻击其艇体顶部以将其摧毁，但未成功。

最终，这艘齐柏林飞艇因过重无法继续飞行，于4月1日00时15分在马盖特附近海域（靠近肯特郡诺克灯塔船）迫降。一名船员——威廉·阿尔布雷希特下士（ObsigMt）溺水身亡。其余16名船员（总计16人）被武装拖网渔船“奥利文”号营救，并随后转移至英国皇家海军“秃鹫”号（HMS Vulture）。

这张图片展示的是伦敦市长查尔斯·韦克菲尔德爵士颁发的一枚金牌。最初，他曾承诺向首个击落齐柏林飞艇的炮兵班组提供丰厚的现金奖励。然而，由于众多炮兵班组均声称自己击中了该飞艇（且均对其开火），最终向相关炮兵班组及探照灯部队的多名成员颁发了约300枚金牌，这些金牌为8克拉金质，费用来自原计划的巨额现金奖励。

L15湿透且半沉没的残骸随后被拖航，但飞艇在韦斯特盖特附近解体，仅小块残骸被拖上岸，其中部分显然被纪念品猎人取走。最终，海滩上剩余的飞艇残骸被大海收回。

其他照片展示了L-15齐柏林飞艇及被俘船员的影像，这些照片来自1916年4月22日（周六）出版的《伦敦新闻画报》（Illustrated London News）。