Zeppelin LZ 85

Zeppelin LZ 85, tactical number L 45 and known to the French public as the Zeppelin of Laragne, was an R-class Zeppelin of the German Navy, built by Luftschiffbau Zeppelin at Staaken and completed on 2 April 1917. It made its first flight on 12 April 1917 under Kapitänleutnant Waldemar Kölle and carried out 27 flights, including three raids on England and 12 reconnaissance missions. In October 1917 it was ordered to bomb Sheffield, was driven off course over England, and then, short of lift, made an emergency landing in the dry bed of a river near Laragne in south-eastern France on 20 October 1917. The commander and remaining crew abandoned it and set it ablaze with a signal pistol, and the crew of 19 were taken prisoner. Interrogation reports later revealed how much the British had learned of German naval airships.