Along the same lines as Daves pill boxes and east coast defences in WWII . I was watching a programme on the WW1 Zeppelin raids on Great Yarmouth and London . It quickly showed a map of raids during the war and one was in the NW. Googling it I found out it was on my home town of Wigan ! The site shows the zeppelin captain and the bombs dropped. I never thought they would venture over to the west coast , they must have been incredibly brave. They actually thought that they were bombing Sheffield over 70 miles away. So navigation at night was not a strong point in 1918.
Blimey, I suppose you wouldn't have wanted to shoot down a great big bag of hydrogen in case it fell on you
I think the zeppelin item was on Coast . Apparently they were very difficult to shoot down , the flew at 17000 feet which was at the limit of the WW1 fighters . Phosphorous and exploding shells were developed ,and in 1918 one of the Cadburys shot one down. This put an end to the zeppelin as an instrument of war. I think the british airship assembly hangers still exist in the home counties ? Huge buildings..........
Still not great even by WW2, when the germans wasted a loads of bombs and aviation fuel bombing Saltburn woods, which contained nothing at all of strategic interest. That was even a daylight raid. My dad's older mate was in the woods at the time and said he'd never ran so fast in his life. I don't think there was ever an official reason for that raid, but there are two theories. One is that at the edge of Saltburn woods is Rushpool Hall, where it was later revealed that no less than Winston Churchill had spent some time hiding out. The other theory, and one that I think is more plausible, is that they mistook it for Sunderland, where a lot of the ships were being built. Both are on the north east coast, both feature a wooded valley, and being within a few miles of each other you wouldn't have to be too far out on your compass bearings as you cross the north sea, with a bit of cloud cover, to make a false identification.
In the 1980s I worked for a company that had previously made barrage balloons, years before. They still had a massive balloon shed that had stood empty for years. Zigs may remember them; RFD / GQ at Godalming, it was a very big factory - long since knocked down.
