Zeppelin LZ 74

Zeppelin LZ 74, with the Navy designation L 32, was an R-class super-Zeppelin of the Imperial German Navy. It took part in three attacks on England, dropping 6,860 kilograms of bombs. On its final mission, commanded by Kapitänleutnant Werner Petersen, it set out with LZ 72, LZ 76 and LZ 78 in the raid of 23 September 1916. Second Lieutenant Frederick Sowrey of 39 Home Defence Squadron, flying a B.E.2c, spotted it at about 1:10 in the morning and fired three drums of incendiary ammunition into its belly until it exploded in flames. The burning wreckage fell on fields at Great Burstead in Essex and drew enormous crowds. There were no survivors; the 22 crew were buried at Great Burstead church and in 1966 reburied at the German military cemetery at Cannock Chase.