Zeppelin LZ 52

Zeppelin LZ 52, tactical designation L 18, was the 52nd Zeppelin constructed and the 18th operated by the Imperial German Navy, a P-class military airship built by Luftschiffbau Zeppelin at its Löwental facility. It had the shortest service life of any Navy Zeppelin, completing only four flights under naval reserve Lieutenant Commander Max Dietrich, one of them a transfer of over 1,000 kilometres from Lake Constance to the airbase at Tønder with a stopover at Hanover. On 17 November 1915, while its hydrogen was being refilled in the Toska hangar at Tønder, a leaking pipe started a fire that spread to the airship and destroyed it completely, killing one crew member and six workers and injuring seven others. It was the first of five Zeppelins destroyed by fire in that twin hangar. The article gives two different dates for its first flight, 3 April and 3 November 1915.