Canadian encounters with Airships and Zeppelins

R-100 Airship

(Library and Archives Canada Photo, MIKAN No. 3349142)

British R-100 Airship visiting, St. Hubert, Quebéc, Sep 1930.

(IWM Photo, Q18264)

The Coastal Class(often known as the C-Class or simply the 'Coastals') were a class of non-rigid airship or "blimp" used by the Royal Naval Air Service (RNAS) during the First World War.

09 Sep 1916. John A. Barron of Stratford, Ontario, commanding His Majesty’s Airship C-10 from the Coastal Class of non-rigid airships, embarked on a memorable 7.5-hourpatrol off The Lizard peninsula in Cornwall. The C-10 was a second-generation airship, with engines at either end of a box-like gondola. The sight of two burning vessels led him to a surfaced U-boat, which submerged well before he dropped his bombs. He radioed a warship, which rescued the ships’ survivors and searched briefly for the enemy vessel. His flight had more drama when a fuel pipe leading to the forward engine broke; his mechanic took a spare pipe, climbed out on the skid and made inflight repairs.

Barron joined the RCN before the war but was invalided out on medical grounds. He was fit enough, however, to be accepted by the Royal Navy in August 1914. He was soon a flight lieutenant in the RNAS, posted to Kingsnorth and then to operational units. Barron later served in the Mediterranean and was decorated by the Italian government for helping establish an airship squadron at Taranto. Posted to the United States in 1918, he was then attached to the RCN as the Royal Canadian Naval Air Service, (RCNAS) was being formed. The Armistice ended that. From 1920 to 1922, he was seconded to the Canadian Air Board, but when the gifted British airships remained packed away, he returned to RAF service until 1925. Barron eventually came back to Canada, and during the Second World War, he served as a civilian ground school instructor at No. 10 Elementary Flying Training School in Mount Hope, Ontario. He died in Toronto in 1956.

The RNAS operated a large fleet of lighter-than-air machines. It had six as of August 1914; by November 1918, the RAF had 111 of various designs, including six rigid airships. The RNAS and RAF scrapped, lost or rebuilt dozens of airships through the war; 48 men were killed in accidents or enemy action; and 28 craft were transferred to Allies such as Italy. Several were gifted to Canada after the war but were never uncrated.

Repeated attempts to use these “battlebags” in fleet reconnaissance were unsuccessful; airships were too ungainly and vulnerable to changing weather to be reliable scouts. They found wider use in an anti-submarine role, principally as scarecrows. No slow-moving airship could hope to surprise and attack a U-boat before it submerged. However, experiments conducted in 1918 used hovering airships with hydrophones aimed to detect submerged submarines, a tactic now used with helicopters. (Hugh A. Halliday, Legion Magazine, 18 Feb 2016).

(Deutsche Luftstreitkräfte Photo)

German Zeppelin L-31 in flight, c1916.

Major Wulstan Joseph Tempest, DSO, MC (22 January 1891 – 1966), wasa British First World War pilot with the Royal Flying Corps and Royal AirForce. Born in the UK, Tempest moved with his family to Perdue, Saskatchewanin 1911, but returned to England to enlist in Oct 1914. Flying a Royal Aircraft Factory B.E.2c fighter, he shot down the Imperial German Navy Zeppelin L-31 (LZ-72), an R Class R-class super-Zeppelin airship commanded by Kaptianleutnant Heinrich Mathy, over Potters Bar, England, on 2 Oct 1916. Mathy was killed in the crash. (Wikipedia)

(Library of Congress Photo)

Royal Aircraft Factory B.E.2c, 1916.

Tempest was commissioned as a second lieutenant in the King's Own Yorkshire Light Infantry, with seniority from 30 November 1914.[10]His battalion was sent to France in May 1915, where he saw action during the Second Battle of Ypres in April,[9] which marked the first large-scale use bythe Germans of chlorine gas on the Western Front.[11] Suffering from theeffects of gassing Tempest was invalided home to recuperate. He returnedto his battalion in July, but was then transferred to a garrison battalionbased at Newcastle. In early 1916 he transferred to the Royal Flying Corps totrain as a pilot, receiving his Royal Aero Club Aviators Certificate in April,and on 17 June he was appointed a flying officer in the RFC, and transferred tothe General List.

Tempest was posted to No. 39 (Home Defence) Squadron.This unit was based at RFC North Weald in Essex, and flew a mixture of B.E.2and B.E.12 aircraft. It was specifically formed to defend London from Germanair raids, and had several successes. On 2/3 September 1916, Lieutenant LeefeRobinson destroyed SL.11, becoming the first British pilot to bring down aGerman airship, and winning the Victoria Cross. On 23/24 September SecondLieutenant Frederick Sowrey destroyed Zeppelin L.32, which crashed in flames atBillericay, and Second Lieutenant Alfred Brandon damaged Zeppelin L.33sufficiently for her crew to make a forced landing at Little Wigborough, andset her on fire.

At 23:45 on 1 October1916, Tempest was on patrol about 15,000 ft (4,600 m) overSouth-West London flying B.E.2c night fighter, (Serial No. 4557), having takenoff from North Weald around 22:00. Meanwhile, Zeppelin L.31, commanded byKapitänleutnant Heinrich Mathy had flown across the North Sea, and crossed theEnglish coast at Lowestoft, but was unable to penetrate London's defences,coming under heavy anti-aircraft fire. L.31 dropped most of her bombs overCheshunt, but was then captured by searchlights. Tempest spotted the airship 15 miles (24 km) in thedistance and immediately set a course to intercept her. As he approached hisfuel tank pressure pump failed, and he was forced to use the hand pump to keephis engine operating. He eventually closed with the airship, running thegauntlet of anti-aircraft fire. Approaching from the bows he fired a burst intoher, then dived underneath firing another burst, seeing his incendiary bulletsripping through the airship's fabric skin, before turning to make another passfrom the tail. He momentarily saw a red glow illuminate the Zeppelin fromwithin "like an enormous Chinese lantern" before flames erupted fromthe bows. Tempest spun away to avoid being hit by flames anddebris as the airship plunged to the ground, crashing at Potters Bar. Exhaustedby his exertions and the bitter cold Tempest crashed his aircraft on landing, cracking hisskull against the butt of his machine gun. The next day he travelled to PottersBar to survey the wreck of L.31, but the area was cordoned off by the Army, andhe was obliged to pay a shilling to see the wreckage from an adjoining farm.

Two weeks later, on 13October Tempest was made a companion of the DistinguishedService Order, "...in recognition of conspicuous gallantry and devotion toduty in connection with the destruction of an Enemy Airship."

His portrait appears on apostcard, titled Three Zepp. Wreckers (William Leefe Robinson; Wulstan JosephTempest; Frederick Sowrey), in a portraitphotograph for the Rotary Photographic Co. Ltd., taken in late 1916.

On 25 January 1917Tempest was mentioned in despatches "...fordistinguished services rendered in connection with the War".

In February 1917 he wastransferred to the newly formed No. 100 Squadron RFC, a bomber squadron flyinga mixture of F.E.2b and B.E.2e aircraft, and on 1 March he was promoted tolieutenant. The squadron soon crossed to France, flying its first mission onthe night of 5/6 April, attacking Douai aerodrome. That summer the squadron sawaction during the battles of Vimy Ridge, Arras, Messines, and third Ypres,gaining a reputation for energy and efficiency, while on 27 June Tempest was appointed a flight commander with thetemporary rank of captain.
On 18 October Tempest was awarded the Military Cross.[22] Hiscitation, gazetted on 5 March 1918, read:

Temporary SecondLieutenant (Temporary Captain) Wulstan Joseph Tempest, DSO, General List and Royal FlyingCorps.

"For conspicuousgallantry and devotion to duty on many occasions. He has successfully bombedrailway sidings and aerodromes, often in misty and cloudy weather, and at a lowaltitude, causing much damage to his objectives. On one occasion he descendedto a very low altitude and dropped bombs on two moving trains, causing themboth to be derailed. This officer has taken part in thirty-four night bombingraids."

The same month hissquadron become part of the Independent Air Force, and was relocated to Ocheyaerodrome to fly strategic bombing missions over Germany, attacking munitionsfactories in the Rhine towns. On 15 December 1917 Tempest was appointed squadron commander with thetemporary rank of major, taking command of his squadron. In March 1918, duringthe German spring offensive, No. 100 Squadron was temporarily moved to anaerodrome near Rheims, flying tactical missions against German lines ofcommunication, before returning to Ochey and the Independent Air Force. InJune, Tempest handed over command of No. 100 Squadron toMajor C. Gordon Burge.

In July 1918 Tempest took command of No. 36 Squadron, a trainingunit flying the Sopwith Pup and Bristol F.2 fighters, based at RAF Usworth nearSunderland. From January 1919 until March 1919, he commanded No. 101 Squadron,a night bomber unit flying the F.E.2b, based in France and Belgium. He wastransferred to the RAF unemployed list on 1 August 1919.

Of his brothers, MajorWilfred Norman Tempest, 2nd Battalion (attached 9thBattalion), King's Own Yorkshire Light Infantry, was killed in action on 26September 1916, and is commemorated on the Thiepval Memorial. Flight LieutenantEdmund Roger Tempest, also served inthe King's Own Yorkshire Light Infantry before transferring to the RFC, and wascredited with 17 aircraft shot down while serving in No. 64 Squadron. He was killedin a flying accident in 1921.

In May 1919 Tempest became engaged to Camille Millicent Best, ofBrussels, but eventually married Ethel Fernandes on 5 April 1923 at All Saints'Church, Ennismore Gardens, London.

Tempest died in 1966 and is commemorated in the namesof two streets in Potters Bar near Oakmere Park, "Tempest Avenue" and "Wulstan Park",close to where the L.31 crashed.
On 1 October 2016 the 100th anniversary of the shooting down of L.31 was marked by a memorial service with a fly-past by a replica B.E.2c aircraft, and wreaths were laid by the Mayor of Hertsmere and the German Air Attaché in memory of the nineteen German crewmen who were killed. (Wikipedia)

16 Jun 1917. 2Lt L.P. Watkins, a graduate of the Curtiss school in Toronto, shot down Zeppelin L.42 over England.

(IWM Photo, Q 68163)

Curtiss H-12 Large Americaflying boat in RNAS, c 1917.

14 Jun 1917. Flt Sub-Lt B.D. Hobbs DSC, from Sault Ste. Marie, Ontario, andFlt Sub-Lt F.L. Dickey DSC, downed Zeppelin L.43 while flying a Curtiss H-12 flying boat off the Dutch coast.

(Australian War Memorial Photo)

German Zeppelin L43, which was shot down by Flight Sub-Lieutenant B D Hobbs DSC, and Flight Sub Lt R F L Dickey DSC flying by an H-12 Flying Boat from the Royal Naval Air Station at Felixstowe on 14 June 1917. Crew: A/MS H.M. Davis and Goody.

(Library and Archives Canada Photo, MIKAN No. 3582850)

The Imperial German Navy Zeppelin LZ 112, given the tactical number L 70, was the first of three X-class / L70-class First World War zeppelins of the Imperial German Navy. It is shown here in flight during the war. On 5 Aug 1918, L 70 was intercepted and destroyed over the North Sea by a British de Havilland DH-4 flown by Major Egbert Cadbury with Captain Robert Leckie.

Air Marshal Robert Leckie, CB, DSO, DSC, DFC, CD (16 April 1890 – 31 March 1975) was an air officer in the Royal Air Force and later in the Royal Canadian Air Force, and served as Chief of the Air Staff of the Royal Canadian Air Force from 1944 to 1947. He initially served in the Royal Naval Air Service during the First World War, where he became known as one of "the Zeppelin killers from Canada", after shooting down two airships. During the inter-war period he served as a Royal Air Force squadron and station commander, eventually becoming the RAF's Director of Training in 1935, and was Air Officer Commanding RAF Mediterranean from 1938 until after the beginning of the Second World War. In 1940 he returned to Canada where he was primarily responsible for the British Commonwealth Air Training Plan, transferring to the Royal Canadian Air Force in 1942.

(Library and Archives Canada Photo, MIKAN No. 3582847)

The Royal Naval Air Service C.26 was a Coastal class First World War non-rigid airship. The airship was used to search for German submarines off the British coast. The airship had made a total of 202 flight hours between 21 November 1916 and 14 November 1917.

The airship was powered by two Daimler-branded 12-cylinder engines and could stay in the air for 22 hours. The balloon of the airship was about 60 meters long. The airship had a crew of five in a gondola below the balloon. After drifting over the North Sea due to an engine failure, the airship finally crashed in Eemnes the Netherlands in the morning of 14 November 1917.