Orders, Decorations, Medals and Militaria

Wreckage from Zeppelin L31

Three pieces of wreckage of the German Zeppelin L31, that was brought down over Potters Bar by Second Lieutenant W. J. Tempest, Royal Flying Corps, the first Canadian to shoot down a Zeppelin from the air, on 2 October 1916, comprising fragment of the airship’s outer duralumin lattice, and two pieces of the airship’s engine (?), with R.C.M.I. accession numbers in ink to first and second, all in relic condition (lot) £300-£500

Zeppelin L31 was an R-Class Imperial German Navy super Zeppelin commanded by Heinrich Mathy. 198m in length with a crew of 19 and a maximum speed of 64mph, it took part in several raids over London during the Great War. It was shot down over Potter’s Bar by Second Lieutenant Wulstan J. Tempest, a Canadian serving with the Royal Flying Corps, shortly after midnight on 2 October 1916 with the loss of the entire crew. Tempest’s own report is a vivid account of how the L31 met her end:
‘There was a heavy ground fog on and it was bitterly cold, otherwise the night was beautiful and starlit at the altitude at which I was flying. I was gazing over towards the NE of London, where the fog was not quite so heavy, when I noticed all the searchlights in that quarter concentrated in an enormous pyramid. Following them up to the apex, I saw a small cigar-shaped object, which I at once recognised as a Zeppelin, about 15 miles away, and heading straight for London. Previous to this I had chased many imaginary Zepps only to find they were clouds on nearing them. At first I drew near to my objective very rapidly (as I was on one side of London and it was on the other and both heading for the centre of the town): all the time I was having an extremely unpleasant time, as to get to the Zepp I had to pass through a very inferno of bursting shells from the A.A. guns below. All at once, it appeared to me that the Zeppelin must have sighted me, for she dropped all her bombs in one volley, swung around, tilted up her nose and proceeded to race away northwards climbing rapidly as she went. At the time of dropping her bombs, I judged her to be at an altitude of about 11,500 feet. I made after her at all speed at about 15,000 feet altitude, gradually overhauling her. At this time the A.A. fire was intense, and I, being about five miles behind the Zeppelin, had an extremely uncomfortable time. At this point my mechanical pressure pump went wrong, and I had to use my hand-pump to keep up the pressure in my petrol tank. This exercise at so high an altitude was very exhausting, besides occupying an arm, this giving me one hand less to operate with when I commenced to fire. As I drew up with the Zeppelin, to my relief I found that I was free from A.A. fire, for the nearest shells were bursting quite three miles away. The Zeppelin was now nearly 15,000 feet high, and mounting rapidly, I therefore decided to dive at her, for though I held a slight advantage in speed, she was climbing like a rocket and leaving me standing. I accordingly gave a tremendous pump at my petrol tank, and dived straight at her, firing a burst straight into her as I came. I let her have another burst as I passed under her and then banking my machine over, sat under her tail, and flying along underneath her, pumped lead into her for all I was worth. I could see tracer bullets flying from her in all directions, but I was too close under her for her to concentrate on me. As I was firing, I noticed her begin to go red inside like an enormous Chinese lantern and then a flame shot out of the front part of her and I realised she was on fire. She then shot up about 200 feet, paused, and came roaring down straight on to me before I had time to get out of the way. I nose-dived for all I was worth, with the Zepp tearing after me, and expected every minute to be engulfed in the flames. I put my machine into a spin and just managed to corkscrew out of the way as she shot past me, roaring like a furnace. I righted my machine and watched her hit the ground with a shower of sparks. I then proceeded to fire off dozens of green Very's lights in the exuberance of my feelings. I glanced at my watch and saw it was about ten minutes past twelve. I then commenced to feel very sick and giddy and exhausted, and had considerable difficulty in finding my way to ground through the fog and landing, in doing which I crashed and cut my head on my machine-gun.’

For his gallantry that night Tempest, the first Canadian to shoot down a Zeppelin from the air, was awarded the D.S.O. ‘in recognition of conspicuous gallantry and devotion to duty in connection with the destruction of an Enemy Airship’ (London Gazette 13 October 1916). Subsequently awarded the Military Cross and advanced Major, he is commemorated in the names of two streets in Potters Bar, ‘Tempest Avenue’ and ‘Wulstan Park’, close to where the L31 crashed.

Sold with copied research, including numerous photographic images of the wreckage, one of which is annotated: ‘Despite the presence of the military [standing guard], many souvenir hunters managed to sneak off with fragments of the wreckage.’