lz18

Not the Hindenburg, as one might think... There's been zeppelins that caught fire before. This one is likely LZ18: The German Army and Navy purchased 14 Zeppelins, who labeled their aircraft Z 1/2/... and L 1/2/..., respectively. During the war, the Army changed their scheme twice: following Z XII, they switched to using LZ numbers, later adding 30 to obscure the total production. When World War I broke out, the military also took over the three remaining DELAG ships. By this time, it had already decommissioned three other Zeppelins (LZ3 "Z1" included). Five more had been lost in accidents, in which two people had died; a storm forced Navy Zeppelin LZ14 or "L1" down into the North Sea, drowning 14; LZ18 or "L2" burst into flames following an engine explosion, killing the entire crew. (Wikipedia) It also looks like the image is at least rotated 90 degrees, if not upside-down.

17th October 1913, the L 2 was due to have an altitude test. Because there was a delay in starting one of her engines she remained in the sun and this caused the hydrogen lifting gas to warm too much. She rose fast to "pressure hight" where gas was vented from valves at the base of the gas cells. The released gas mixed with the air in the enclosed keel to form an explosive mixture. The navy had insisted on fitting windscreens to the engine gondolas which meant that the explosive gas mix reached the hot engines and duly exploded. This ignited the main gas cells, one by one, as the airship fell. Before she hit the ground, another gas/air mixture exploded, scattering debris. Three badly burned men crawled out of the wreckage but none survived the night. Paraphrased from "Airshipwreck" Len Deighton and Arnold Schwartzman, Jonathan Cape Ltd, 1978. And I agree with Trialsanderrors, it does appear to be upside down.

it is the L2, already seen in this stream: [http://www.flickr.com/photos/library_of_congress/4445102811/sizes/m/ ] destroyed by an exploding engine on October 17, 1913 during a test flight; the entire crew was killed. This photo was with the L2 name, but due to name changing schemes, it is also known as LZ 18 wkikpedia showsthis image of it going down, but as noted, rotated 180 degrees, labeled as L2 just like here en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Crash_Zeppelin_LZ18_(LII).jpg

Looks like a photo of the drawing linked on wikipedia above.

this image is upside down

September 9, 1913destroyed by an exploding engine on October 17, 1913 during a test flight; the entire crew was killed. This photo was with the L2 name, but due to name changing schemes, it is also known as LZ 18 wkikpedia shows a historical card of it going down, labeled as L2 just like here en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Crash_Zeppelin_LZ18_(LII).jpg

The NYT of Oct 18, 1913 reported on the explosion of L-II the day before query.nytimes.com/gst/abstract.html?res=9807EFDC133FE633A...

LOC -- Spelling is "Zeppelin" -- not "Zeppellen"

Thanks, Wystan. Does seem that the proper spelling should appear somewhere in the record so that it might come up on a search for Zeppelins.

Upside-down Bain/LOC photo of the exploding L-II: [Numbered L-2 on the side of the airship.]

Bain's copy photo of the burning airship "L-2":