Color British Postcard Depicting the End of the “Baby Killer” Zeppelin 1916

Description: Color British postcard depicting the shooting down of the German Zeppelin SL 11 (The Baby Killer) near London in WWI. In September 1916, William Leefe Robinson was awarded a Victoria Cross for destroying the German Army airship SL11 over Cuffley. On 15 April 1916, as part of a large-scale reorganization of the country’s defenses, 19 Squadron was re-titled 39 Home Defense Squadron. After 39 raids almost without loss, the German Naval and Army Airship Commands ambitiously launched their first combined operation against London. At around 11.10pm, the aircraft of 39 Squadron were “scrambled” from their airfields, with Robinson detailed to patrol between Hornchurch and Joyce Green. LZ98 had bombed the area around Dartford and Tilbury, when, shortly afterwards, it was sighted by Robinson. Moments later, he attacked the SL11 head-on and brought it down. Eventually he was shot down and served out the war as a prisoner and was whipped to the point of collapse for disobeying orders. He died soon after the war ended. No stamp box. Modern descriptive text on the back. Clean front with discoloration on the back from the red/yellow inks of the next card. See scans.

Price: 31.5 USD

Location: Tempe, Arizona

End Time: 2024-08-31T02:13:29.000Z

Shipping Cost: 0 USD