question: Zeppelins used in combat, how?
comment: The airplane technology in World War I was very primitive. They did not have airplanes or guns to shoot the zeppelins down efficiently. If they were able to hit them they would only make small bullet holes that would not make the zeppelin deflate before they were able to get back home. The lifting bags of the zeppelins were also covered in rubber so that the rubber would fill the gaps made by the bullets. It was not until they got better airplanes and incendiary rounds that they were able to successfully combat zeppelins.
passages: Section::::History.:During World War I.:Bombing campaign against Britain.
   Section::::History.:During World War I.:Bombing campaign against Britain.:1917.
   Section::::History.:During World War I.:Technological progress.
   At the beginning of the war Captain Ernst A. Lehmann and Baron Gemmingen, Count Zeppelin's nephew, developed an observation car for use by dirigibles. This was equipped with a wicker chair, chart table, electric lamp and compass, with telephone line and lightning conductor part of the suspension cable. The car's observer would relay navigation and bomb dropping orders to the Zeppelin flying within or above the clouds, so remaining invisible from the ground. Although used by Army airships, they were not used by the Navy, since Strasser considered that their weight meant an unacceptable reduction in bomb load.
   Section::::Principal characteristics.
   BULLET::::- fengatesroad.com story of L21's last flight
  
  BULLET::::- Luftschiffe in Tondern – illustrated list of Zeppelins stationed at Tønder
  
  BULLET::::- LZ 3 Photographs by Franz Stoedtner: perspective; cross-section and front elevation; exiting the hangar
  
  BULLET::::- LZ 4 Photographs by Franz Stoedtner: Z4 climbing; view of empennage over the water
  
  BULLET::::- LZ 10 Photographs by Franz Stoedtner: over the Havel river
  
  BULLET::::- Z IV crew showing their Iron Crosses
  
  BULLET::::- This photograph on 19 March 1918 shows 32 crew with Kapitänleutnant Friemel. Selected L 52 crew photographs: , , ,  and .
   On 8 September 1915 LZ 45 (L 13), commanded by Heinrich Mathy, was the first Zeppelin to bomb central London, setting fire to textile warehouses to the north of St Paul's Cathedral and causing over half a million pounds worth of damage, around one sixth of all material damage caused by the bombing of Britain during the war.
   Because of the history of the world of "Crimson Skies", especially given that the nation-states of North America are constantly at war with one another and that air travel is the primary means of transportation, advancements in both aircraft and weaponry technology would have proceeded at a faster pace than had actually happened in the same time period. Zeppelins with hangar launch bays that can accommodate escort fighters are featured prominently in "Crimson Skies"; in actuality, only a few zeppelin-based airborne aircraft carriers saw service. Zeppelins in "Crimson Skies" are also armed with broadside cannons and are also heavily armored. Radio-controlled rockets are also available in the "Crimson Skies" universe, which can be controlled remotely after launch.
   Section::::XB-70 Valkyrie.
  
  The Transformers character of Silverbolt was upgraded to a North American XB-70 Valkyrie for the "Universe" line as an Ultra class toy.
  
  Section::::Zeppelin.
  
  A German Zeppelin is shot down in the 1930 Howard Hughes film "Hell's Angels".
  
  A bombing raid by a Zeppelin comprises a major plot point in the Elsie McCutcheon novel "Summer of the Zeppelin".
  
  The 1971 British film "Zeppelin", set during World War I, features a new prototype airship.
  
  Section::::Zeppelin-Staaken R.VI.
   BULLET::::- January 24 – An airship plays a role in a naval battle for the first time, when the German Navy Zeppelin "L 5", flying a routine patrol, arrives over the ongoing Battle of the Dogger Bank between British and German battlecruisers in the North Sea. Operating cautiously after taking fire from British light cruisers, "L-5" finds it difficult to track the action through cloud cover and plays a minimal role in the engagement, passing limited information to the commanding German admiral, Franz von Hipper, in the late stages of the battle.
   BULLET::::- October 19 – German Navy Zeppelins participate in a High Seas Fleet sortie into the North Sea, but German and British ships do not come into contact with one another, although the Zeppelin "L 14" sights part of the Royal Navy's Harwich Force. Five Zeppelins suffer serious mechanical breakdowns during the operation.
   Section::::Design.:Propulsion and steering.
   BULLET::::- September 7–8 (overnight) – Two Imperial German Army airships raid England. One, the Schütte-Lanz "SL-2", bombs Millwall, Deptford, Greenwich, and Woolwich docks, but crash-lands in Germany short of her base after suffering engine failure on the way home. The other, the Zeppelin "LZ 74", drops most of her 2,000-kg (4,409-lb) bombload on greenhouses in Cheshunt before dropping her lone remaining incendiary bomb onto a shop on Fenchurch Street in London.
   BULLET::::- December 28 – While ground crewman are walking the German Navy Zeppelin "L 24" to her shed at Tondern, Germany, she is slammed against her hangar by wind and catches fire. She and the Zeppelin "L 17", which is in the hangar, are destroyed in the resulting blaze.
  
  BULLET::::- December 28–29 (overnight) – Six German Navy airships – five Zeppelins and the Schütte-Lanz "SL12" – attempt a raid on England but are recalled due to bad weather. "SL12" is unable to return to base and lands nearby, where she is battered to pieces by wind.
   BULLET::::- March 17 – The Imperial German Army attempts its first airship raid against the United Kingdom with the Zeppelin "Z XII". Unable to find targets through cloud cover, "Z XII" drops no bombs, but over Calais, France, on the way home makes the first use of a manned observation car lowered by winch below the Zeppelin to allow observation while the airship remains safely above cloud cover. The German Navy later also experiments with such cars and later makes them standard equipment aboard German naval airships.
   When World War I broke out, the Army took over the three remaining DELAG ships. By this time, it had already decommissioned three older Zeppelins, including Z I. During the war the Navy Zeppelins were mainly used in reconnaissance missions. Bombing missions, especially those targeting London, captured the German public's imagination, but had little significant material success, although the Zeppelin raids, together with the later bombing raids carried out by aeroplanes, did cause the diversion of men and equipment from the Western Front and fear of the raids had some effect on industrial production.
   BULLET::::- 5 August – The Netherlands decrees that all Dutch military aircraft display an orange disc on each side of the fuselage and on the upper and lower surfaces of the wings.
  
  BULLET::::- 6 August – The first airship lost in combat is the Imperial German Army Zeppelin "Z VI". Badly damaged by artillery and infantry gunfire on her first combat mission while bombing Liège, Belgium, at low altitude, she limps back into Germany and is wrecked in a crash-landing in a forest near Bonn.
   Section::::History.:World War I.
   BULLET::::- LZ 60A: (military serial no. - LZ 90) Imperial German Army - converted from LZ 60
  
  BULLET::::- LZ 63: (military serial no. - LZ 93 ) Imperial German Army
  
  BULLET::::- LZ 63A: (military serial no. - LZ 93) Imperial German Army - converted from LZ 63
  
  Section::::References.
  
  BULLET::::- Cole, Christopher and Cheesman, E. F. "The Air Defence of Great Britain 1914–1918". London: Putnam, 1984. .
  
  BULLET::::- Robinson, Douglas H., "Giants in the Sky" Henley-on Thames: Foulis, 1973
  
  BULLET::::- Robinson, Douglas H., "The Zeppelin in Combat" Henley-on Thames: Foulis, 1971 (3rd ed)
   BULLET::::- October 7 – "L 57", a German Navy Zeppelin modified to be able to make a long-distance flight from Yambol, Bulgaria, to Mahenge, German East Africa, to deliver medical supplies and munitions to German ground forces there, and as such the largest airship ever built at the time at 743 feet (226.5 meters) and carrying 2,418,700 cubic feet (68,490 cubic meters) of hydrogen gas, is wrecked and destroyed by fire while attempting to take off for a test flight in poor weather.
   Zeppelin (disambiguation)
  
  Zeppelin is a type of rigid airship.
  
  Zeppelin may also refer to:
  
  Section::::Arts and entertainment.
  
  BULLET::::- "Zeppelin" (film), a 1971 British film
  
  BULLET::::- Zeppelin (video game)
  
  BULLET::::- Led Zeppelin, British rock band
  
  BULLET::::- "The Zeppelin Record", a 1998 album by Dogbowl
  
  Section::::Businesses and organisations.
  
  BULLET::::- Zeppelin Foundation, a philanthropic organisation
  
  BULLET::::- Luftschiffbau Zeppelin ('building of airships'), a former German airship manufacturer
  
  BULLET::::- Zeppelin-Staaken, a former German aircraft manufacturer
  
  BULLET::::- Zeppelin Games, former name of Eutechnyx, a British video game developer
  
  Section::::People.
  
  BULLET::::- Count Ferdinand von Zeppelin (1838–1917), German officer, inventor of the Zeppelin rigid airship
   Section::::Service history.:Operation Albion: Bombing raids on Livonia and Ösel.
   BULLET::::- April 7 – The German submarine "UB-53" sees an airship catch fire accidentally and crash into the sea near the Strait of Otranto with the loss of all hands. It apparently is the German Navy Zeppelin "L 59", modified for long-range flights, on the outbound leg of a flight from Yambol, Bulgaria, in an attempt to bomb the Royal Navy base at Malta.
   Zeppelins are often featured in alternate history and parallel universe fiction. In the American science fiction series, "Fringe", Zeppelins are a notable historical idiosyncrasy that helps differentiate the series' two parallel universes, also used in "Doctor Who" in the episodes "The Rise of the Cybermen" and "The Age of Steel" when the TARDIS crashes in an alternate reality where Britain is a 'People's Republic' and Pete Tyler, Rose Tyler's father, is alive and is a wealthy inventor. They are also seen in the alternate reality 1939 plot line in the film "Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow", and have an iconic association with the steampunk subcultural movement in broader terms. In 1989, Japanese animator Miyazaki released "Kiki's Delivery Service", which features a Zeppelin as a plot element. A Zeppelin was used in Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade, when Jones and his father try to escape from Germany in a Zeppelin.
   BULLET::::- Zeppelin
  
  BULLET::::- List of Zeppelins
  
  BULLET::::- Ferdinand von Zeppelin
  
  BULLET::::- Hybla Valley Airport
  
  Section::::References.
  
  BULLET::::- - select English-language bibliographic list on the Zeppelin
  