medal code J2093

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SCHÜTTE-LANZ AIRSHIP SOUVENIR PIECE FROM THE WRECKAGE OF SL11 BROUGHT DOWN IN SEPTEMBER 1916 BY LIEUTENANT WILLIAM LEEFE ROBINSON VC

A small envelope with a red printed guarantee reading;

Very attractive piece in excellent condition. Signs of thread etc from being removed from tunic.

‘This is a piece of wire of the first Zeppelin brought down at Cuffley’, Herts. The wire having been given to the British Red Cross Society is being sold to help the wounded at the front’.

With a short 2.8 cm section of wire enclosed.

On the night of 2nd/3rd September 1916, a fleet of sixteen airships embarked on the biggest raid so far. Among the pilots scrambled to counter this was Lieutenant William Leefe Robinson. Flying an obsolete B.E.2c, Lieutenant Robinson encountered a Schütte-Lanz airship, the SL 11, over north London and engaged it in a David and Goliath encounter. Attacking from beneath, Robinson strafed the ship with machine-gun fire. The SL 11 burst into flames and crashed in a field behind the Plough Inn, Cuffley, killing all sixteen men on board. This was the first Zeppelin/Airship brought down by the British in WW1 and for his heroics, Leefe Robinson was Awarded the Victoria Cross.

Envelope measures 8 x 4.7 cm.

Code J2093        Price £