Zeppelin LZ 64
The Imperial German Navy Zeppelin LZ 64, given the tactical number L 22, was a Q-class / L20-class World War I zeppelin of the Imperial German Navy.
Operational history
LZ 64 carried out thirty reconnaissance missions, including 8 attacks on Britain, dropping of bombs.Last mission
of the Royal Naval Air Service, was sent on a mission on 14 May 1917, as pilot of Curtiss Model H-12 Large America 8666, under the command of Flight Lieutenant Christopher John Galpin. The aircraft left Great Yarmouth on patrol at 03.30 a.m. in poor weather, with heavy rain and low cloud. The weather cleared as they approached Texel, and at 4:45 a.m. they spotted Brandaris,, and a few minutes later LZ 64 about away. The Curtiss increased speed and gained height, with Leckie at the controls as Galpin manned the twin Lewis guns mounted in the bow.The Curtiss managed to approach to within before she was spotted, and the Zeppelin attempted to evade, but by then it was too late. The aircraft dived down alongside and Galpin fired an entire drum of incendiary bullets at a range of about. Zeppelin L 64 rapidly caught fire, and crashed into the sea. The Curtiss returned to Great Yarmouth by 7:50 a.m., and they found only two bullet holes, in the left upper wing and the hull amidships, where the Germans had returned fire. Leckie was also credited in the downing of LZ 112.
All 21 crew members were killed in action 40 nautical miles northwest of Terschelling, among them commandant Kapitänleutnant Ulrich Lehmann and Leutnant zur See Hans-Ewald Heinrich Otto August von Knobelsdorff, a younger brother of Otto von Knobelsdorff.