Skeleton of a huge German bomber which tried to break through our aerial defences

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Image Id: 476 Contributor: The Jordan/Ference Collection Theatre: Western Front Subject: Aircraft Location: Unknown Regiment: Unknown Service Arm: Air Force Battle: Unknown Date: Unknown Combatants: German Publisher: Realistic Travels Source: British Directory: Set of 600 201-300

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Paul B

Sun, 25/07/2021 21:32

After careful study I believe this to be the remains of the five engine Zeppelin-Staaken R.XIV 44/17 rather than the more common Gotha bomber (this frequently photographed wreck is often incorrectly assigned as a Gotha). This observation is based on the slightly swept wings and the additional diagonal bracing at the front. This was a very large aircraft with no power-assisted controls. Very few of these R.XIV planes entered service before the end of the war (first flown in May 1918). No fewer than eight of the eighteen of the similar R.VIs are known to have crashed for reasons other than enemy action. Only three were confirmed as combat losses. An old album which belonged to Captain Percival Ernest Thomas , who served as a pilot with 103 squadron has a photo, taken in 1919, of this exact same wreckage with the caption ‘Hun 5 engine machine destroyed at Bickendorf’ (near Cologne) The suggestion is that this was destroyed on the ground – particularly as there is no obvious crash damage