Schütte-Lanz (SL)airships were a series of rigid airships designed and built by the Luftschiffbau Schütte-Lanz company from 1909 until 1917.[1] One research and four passenger airships were planned for post-war use, but were never built. The Schütte-Lanz company was an early competitor of the more famous airships built byFerdinand von Zeppelin.[2] It is common for all rigid airships to be informally called zeppelins regardless of their manufacturer, and Schütte-Lanz airships are often referred to as such, but the Zeppelin name technically only applies tothose manufactured by the Zeppelin company.
When theZeppelin LZ 4 met with disaster atEchterdingen in 1908, ProfessorJohann Schütte [de] (1873–1940) started to consider the problems of airship design. He decided, with the co-operation of his students, to develop his own scientifically designed, high-performance airship. In partnership with DrKarl Lanz [de], an industrialist and wood products manufacturer, he started constructing theSchütte-Lanz Luftschiffbau on 22 April 1909. The airships were successful at first, and introduced a number of highly successful innovations.[3]
Wood composites had a theoretical superiority as the structural material for airships up to a certain size, after which the superior strength ofaluminum (and laterduralumin) in tension was more important than the superior strength of wood in compression. Schütte-Lanz airships until 1918 were made of wood and plywood glued together. Moisture tended to degrade the integrity of the glued joints. Schütte-Lanz airships became structurally unsound when water entered the airship's imperfectly waterproofed envelope. This tended to happen during wet weather, but also, more insidiously, in defective or damaged hangars.[citation needed] In the words ofFührer der LuftschiffePeter Strasser: "Most of the Schütte-Lanz ships are not usable under combat conditions, especially those operated by the Navy, because their wooden construction cannot cope with the damp conditions inseparable from maritime service.[3]
The decision was made to compensate the company for the unusable wooden ships, and in response the company started work on a tubular aluminum-framed ship which was probably not completed.[citation needed]
TheGerman Navy had bases closer to the sea, and thus more humid. They were reluctant to accept wooden composite craft. As a result, the primary customer for Schütte-Lanz airships was theGerman Army. The German Army decided well before the German Navy that airship operations were futile in the face of land-based heavier-than-air opposition.
Twenty-four Schütte-Lanz airships were designed before the end of the World War I, most of which the company was not paid for due to the collapse of the German monarchy. By the time the last eight ships were ready, most of them could not be operated due to the loss of trained crews.
In the postwar period, Lanz designed a series of very large airships for trans-Atlantic and trans-Pacific passenger operations, as well as submitting a proposal for theUS Navy's rigid airships ZRS-4 and ZRS-5. However, none of these was ever realised.[3]
Data from: Zeppelin: rigid airships 1893–1940[4]
The Schütte-Lanz airship SL.I was the first of 20 airships built by the company. Construction was carried out in a large hangar atRheinau nearMannheim. The ship was powered by four 125 hp (127 PS; 93 kW)Daimler-Benz engines installed in two ventral gondolas. A distinctive feature of the Schütte-Lanz ships was that the frame was constructed from special plywood which was (supposedly) waterproofed and protected from frost. The SL.I was constructed with a diamond lattice frame and had a highly streamlined shape, allowing it to achieve a record speed of 38.3 km/h (23.8 mph; 20.7 kn). The structure of the SL.I resembles the later "geodesic" structures ofBarnes Wallis atVickers orBuckminster Fuller'sdomes. It was only matched at the time by the structure of the MacMeecham airship, designed and partially built in England in the first years ofWorld War I. Fifty-three experimental flights were made between October 1911 and December 1912, the longest of over 16 hours. The ship was handed over to theGerman Army on 12 December 1912 but destroyed soon afterwards when it broke loose from its temporary mooring during a storm.
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The Schütte-Lanz airship S.L.2 surpassed the contemporary Zeppelin airships in performance. It adopted the Zeppelin ring-girder construction method, but retained the streamlined shape and plywood construction of the SL.I. The SL.2 was also the most significant airship to date in that it laid down two vital design innovations that were copied in almost all subsequent rigid airships. The first was the cruciform tail plane, with a single pair of rudders and elevators. The second was the location of the engines in separate streamlined gondolas or cars. A third innovation, for war service, was the mounting of heavy machine guns for defense against attacking aircraft in each of the engine cars.SL.2 was built between January and May 1914 and transferred to Austrian military control as theSL.II. It carried out six missions in the first year of the war overPoland andFrance. After being enlarged in summer 1915, several more missions were carried out before SL.2 was stranded atLuckenwalde on 10 January 1916 after running out of fuel and decommissioned. The SL.2 demonstrated the Schütte-Lanz wood girder's advantage in compression as opposed to tension allowed the Schütte-Lanz type of airship to be technically superior until a certain size had been reached.
Naval airship based atSeddin which flew 30 reconnaissance missions and one bombing mission overEngland. The highlight of SL.3's career was its attack on the BritishsubmarineE4 on 24 September 1915. The structure of the ship degraded because of atmospheric exposure and the ship was stranded nearRiga on 1 May 1916.
Naval airship based atSeddin. SL.4 flew 21 reconnaissance missions and two bombing raids against enemy harbours on the Eastern front. It was destroyed on 14 December 1915 after its hangar collapsed due to snow accumulation on the roof.
SL.5 was an army airship, based atDarmstadt. The structure was damaged during the first flight, but repaired after several months work. During its second flight the ship was forced down by bad weather atGiessen and stricken from service on 5 July 1915
Naval airship based atSeddin. Flew six reconnaissance missions, but exploded due to unknown causes with the loss of all hands while taking off on 10 November 1915.
Army airship based atKönigsberg. Carried out three reconnaissance missions and three bombing raids before suffering structural failure. Repaired and possibly enlarged before being decommissioned 6 March 1917 when the army terminated airship operations.
Naval airship based atSeddin. Carried out 34 reconnaissance missions and three bombing raids, carrying 4,000 kg of bombs each mission. Held the record for the greatest number of combat missions of any Schütte-Lanz airship. Decommissioned due to age 20 November 1917.
Naval airship based atSeddin. Carried out 13 reconnaissance missions and four bombing raids carrying 4,230 kg (9,330 lb) of bombs each mission. Crashed in theBaltic Sea, possibly after lightning strike on 30 March 1917.
Army airship based atYambol,Bulgaria. Carried out a 16-hour reconnaissance mission. Disappeared during a subsequent attack onSevastopol, possibly due to bad weather 28 July 1916.
Army airship based atSpich. Commanded by HauptmannWilhelm Schramm. The first German airship to be shot down over Britain; it was attacked over Hertfordshire by Lt.W.L. Robinson in aBE.2C with incendiary ammunition on 3 September 1916. It crashed atCuffley, having bombedSt Albans. The crew were buried atPotters Bar Cemetery: and in 1962 they were re-interred atCannock Chase German war cemetery.[5]
Navy airship based atAhlhorn. Obsolete in design before completion, this airship only flew reconnaissance missions. Badly damaged after hitting gas-holder near hangar and stricken 28 December 1916
Army airship based atLeipzig. Considered unfit for combat duty and used for training only. Badly damaged when hangar collapsed because of heavy snow and stricken 8 February 1917.
Navy airship based atSeerappen andWainoden. Carried out two reconnaissance missions and two bombing raids. A later attack onRiga was abandoned because of engine failure. Rebuilt February 1917 but later damaged before finally being scrapped on 18 May 1917.
Army airship based atMannheim. No active service. Decommissioned August 1917.
Intended for the Army, this ship was never officially commissioned and was laid up atSpich. Scrapped August 1917.
Intended for the Army, this ship was never officially commissioned and was laid up atAllenstein. Scrapped August 1917.
Construction completed atLeipzig base, but ship destroyed by hangar collapse on 8 February 1917.
Never built due to lack of space atLeipzig base, due to hangar collapse on 8 February 1917.
Navy ship based atAhlhorn. Burnt inhuge hangar explosion and fire with four zeppelin airships on 5 January 1918 after only two missions.
Intended for Army but never officially commissioned. Based atZeesen and used for static testing. Decommissioned February 1918.
Intended for Navy but refused acceptance on grounds of insufficient payload. Based atGegen and scrapped June 1920.
Never commissioned. First Schütte-Lanz ship with tubular aluminum frame. May have been complete at war's end but no further details are known.
Never commissioned. Second Schütte-Lanz ship with tubular aluminum frame. May have been completed after war, but no further details.
After the war, Schütte-Lanz came up with several peacetime airship projects which were never realised. Based on the metal framed SL.23 and SL.24, the first was the SL.101. This was intended for a regular transatlantic service to New York or South America.
This was intended for a regular transatlantic service to New York or South America.
This was intended for a regular transatlantic service to New York or South America, although the name indicates different aspirations.
Schütte-Lanz submitted an unsuccessful design to theU.S. Navy in 1926 in competition with the successfulGoodyear-Zeppelin designs,USSAkron andUSSMacon.
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