Sir Charles Wakefield Medal - Zeppelin L15 (1)

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号齐柏林飞艇的指挥官为德国海军上尉约阿希姆·布赖特豪普特（Kapitanleutnant Joachim Breithaupt）。1916年3月31日（请注意该日期！）21时45分，L15在埃塞克斯郡珀弗利特遭到高射炮（AA gun）直接命中。高射炮弹损毁了其4个气囊（编号9、11、12与16），L15随即开始失去高度——尽管艇员倾卸了所有可丢弃物品以减轻重量。当L15逐渐贴近地面时，英国皇家飞行队皇家炮兵第19中队（19 RA Sqn）的阿尔弗雷德·德巴斯·布兰登少尉（2Lt Alfred de Bathe Brandon）驾驶BE 2C型战机发起攻击。布兰登爬升至L15上空，试图通过投掷燃烧弹与兰肯标枪燃烧弹（Ranken dart）摧毁该飞艇，但并未成功。最终齐柏林飞艇因重量过大无法维持飞行，于次日（4月1日）00时15分在马盖特附近海域坠毁，距肯特诺克灯塔船（Kentish Knock lightship）不远。艇上观测兵威利·阿尔布雷希特（ObsigMt Willy Albrecht）不幸溺水身亡，其余16名艇员被武装拖网渔船“奥利文号”（Olivine）救起，随后被转移至英国皇家海军“秃鹫号”军舰（HMS Vulture）。本图为时任伦敦市市长查尔斯·韦克菲尔德爵士（Sir Charles Wakefield）所颁发的金奖章。最初他曾承诺为首个击落齐柏林飞艇的炮组提供巨额现金奖励，但此后多支炮组均宣称自己是击中该飞艇的一方——毕竟所有参战炮组均对其开火。最终共有约300枚奖章被颁发给参战的各高射炮班组与探照灯分队，该奖金池被用于制作8开金（8-carat gold）奖章。随后，半沉于水中、被海水浸透的L15残骸被拖航，但该飞艇在韦斯特盖特附近解体，仅少量残骸被拖至岸边，显然有不少被纪念品猎人窃走。最终，海滩上剩余的飞艇残骸被海水彻底吞没。其余照片则收录了L-15号齐柏林飞艇，以及1916年4月22日周六版《伦敦画报》（Illustrated London News）中刊载的被俘艇员影像。