medal code j2096

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WW1 SCHÜTTE-LANZ AIRSHIP SOUVENIR FROM THE WRECKAGE OF SL11 BROUGHT DOWN IN SEPTEMBER 1916 BY LIEUTENANT WILLIAM LEEFE ROBINSON VC

A 13cm section of the tubing or strut, possibly part of a radiator or such. With old label attached;

‘Part of first German Zeppelin to fall in England, Major Healey Seymore’.

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.

Code J2096        Price £