Airship PL 19 shot down off Libau

The British chronology of the war records under 24 January 1915 the loss of the German airship PL 19 near Libau, a Russian port in Courland, then called Libava (Libau in German). The airship bombed the town, came down in the sea on the way back, and its crew was taken prisoner. Most studies, including German ones, and the Russian documents, however, give the date as 25 January (12 January according to the Julian calendar then in use in Russia).

An airship ordered by the British

PL 19 was a non-rigid airship built to the design of August von Parseval. Unlike the Zeppelins it had no rigid frame; its shape was given by the pressurised gas filling the envelope. It was 92 metres long with a volume of 10,000 cubic metres and was driven by two Maybach engines. Paradoxically, it had been ordered by the British navy as “Parseval No. 5”. When war broke out the airship had not yet been delivered. It was taken over by the German Imperial Navy and made its first flight on 30 August 1914.

The last flight

Libau was no longer a base of the Russian fleet, and in November the Germans had blocked its harbour by sinking ships in the harbour entrances. The town nevertheless remained an important industrial centre and railway junction. According to German accounts PL 19 was to bomb the oil tanks belonging to the Nobel firm, a foundry and rolling mill and the Russian naval barracks, and, if necessary, the railway line. For so many targets the airship, which carried a load of just over 3 tonnes, was far too weak.

The flight went badly from the start. Hoarfrost settled on the envelope, weighing about 200 kilograms according to German estimates. Ice also formed on the propellers, and pieces breaking off them pierced the gas envelope. The crew nevertheless reached Libau and dropped their bombs. According to Russian documents there were nine of them, and the raid took place before noon.

Accounts of what happened next differ. According to German sources, on the way back over the sea one of the engines failed, and the damaged, ice-laden airship could not hold its height on the other and sank onto the water. The Russians attributed the success to their own fire: the airship was said to have been fired on from an observation post on the coast and to have fallen into the sea just over a kilometre from the shore, a dozen or so kilometres south of the town. Some German studies also mention damage from ground fire.

Armed tugs serving as minesweepers set out from Libau towards the airship. According to Russian documents the Germans tried to defend themselves, but surrendered after being fired on with light guns and machine guns. Seven men were taken prisoner together with their commander, Oberleutnant zur See Meier (written as Meyer in Russian documents). The wreck of the airship caught fire, according to Russian accounts from the ships’ fire, and burned out completely on the water.

The loss of PL 19 showed how difficult it was to use airships over the Baltic in winter, where frost and icing could be more dangerous than enemy fire. Libau remained in Russian hands for several more months and was taken by the Germans only in May 1915.