5. AIRSHIP BASE JAMBOLI
From WOLFGANG MEIGHÖNER-SCHARDT, Pioneer of Intercontinental Aviation by Chance. The History of Zeppelin Airship Type W, Zeppelin-Museum Friedrichshaven 1992, pp. 37-41
It is time to study the Bulgarian airship base in detail - as this base was one of the most fundamental prerequisites for this mission to succeed.
This airship base had been an installation of the Army, creating a starting point for bomb raids of' the Ploesti oilfields in Rumania, and for scouting flights over the Black Sea region extending even to the city of Sevastopol. It had become possible to install an air base when in September 1915 he empire of the Bulgarian Czar had joined the Axis Powers [sic!].
The order to erect a single airship shed of type „VIa" was placed on the experienced hangar construction company Seibert of Saarbrücken. This shed was 240 metres [787 ft] long, 40 metres [131 ft] wide, and 34 metres [111.5 ft] high. It extended to the south-west, following the predominant direction of the wind. The Army used the shed for Army airships SL X (Schütte-Lanz) and for LZ 101, until by February 1917 all Army airship operations were stopped.
The hangar design was as a standardized construction with wooden roof. The assembling of each section of arched steel supports was performed flat on the ground. The wooden roof sections, with two layers of roofing felt, complete with windows and raingutters, were finished on the ground also. Completed sections were hoisted to a vertical position and installed in place with the help of a wheeled scaffolding travelling along the centreline of the hangar under construction. Hangar gates were a pair of sliding doors on either end of the shed.
The hangar was not the only building of importance:
,,Alongside the hangar, various buildings, housing flight crew quarters, small storehouses, and repairshops were located. Safety depots for bombs and fuel were positioned further off. The airbase personnel lived in special barracks away from the hangar. Their quarters had been moved into a remote corner of the field in order to limit interference to the least possible degree. Every base had its own radio- and weather stations, communications centre, a beacon, a captive balloon to mark the base in fog, and was meeting every modern requirement.”
There was also a hydrogen gas works for the production and distribution of the lifting gas. Gas supply was important, because returning airships had to be refilled as rapidly as possible in order to stand by, ready for the next mission.
These gas works made L 59 independent of the increasingly difficult domestic gas supply situation in Germany. Sometimes the situation was so tight, that gas had to be collected arduously from all over the country in tank wagons; the bitter shortage of transportation vehicles was exacerbating the problem even more.
Another important component of the base was a small power station, providing electrical lighting for the quarters of the flight crews, and for the accomodations of the 400 met of the ground party.
When planning missions, the radio transmitter of an airship base was of vital importance. It established communications with the outside world, but in the same way it was needed for transmitting current weather data to landing airships.
Attached to it was a direction finding station. It was part of a network of similar stations in Constantinople, Damascus, Bucarest, Constanza and Sofia, standing by for navigational assistance when airships encountered low visibility. As noted above L 59 was not in the possess of the radio facilities necessary for conducting a radii cross bearing.
The most important device when planning airship missions was the metereological station. This station was part of an extended Western European network that had evolved at the suggestion of the great protagonist of Zeppelin airships, Prof. Hergesell. Together with the weather stations of the bases, this network embraced further stations in the Allgau district, on Lake Constance, and in the Taunus Mountains.
These stations recorded data on temperature, force and direction of the wind, barometric pressure, bumpiness of the air, and cloud drift. With the help of balloons and kites, airstreams of the upper athmosphere were recorded as well. For checking on the evolution of weather situations with any noteworthy consistency, sondes were sent up into the skies, sometimes three times a day.
The compiled data were supplemented by regular weather reports coming in from weather stations of the allied nations - from Turkey, in this particular case. The discrepancy of technological development sometimes led to considerable and occasionally even comical problems, as demonstrated in the following episode:
„In the focus of any commanders interest were always the wind conditions of the altitudes he had to pass during airborne missions. Immediately before commanders went on a flight, these data were requested from stations along or close to the route. Compiling and transmitting the requested data had to be done with the greatest possible acceleration. To make sure that such telegrams would arrive in time, these cables were marked with a special cue, ‘gas flask’, for example, - and forwarded with top priority. In the realms of the Turkish weather service, where difficulties hampering accelerated transmission of any information were notorious, code word ‘Oman Pasha’ had been selected as a cue. Every postman in the Land of the Sultan had been instructed that anyone leaving an ‘Oman-Pasha-telegram’ unattended to will be executed. Not in every case was this measure a successful one though. Several of the keenest postal clerks of the Calif used to unhesitantly dispatch such telegrams back with the remark ‘Oman Pasha burdan jokdur!’(Oman Pasha does not live here)."
The chronicler concludes his essay by musing philosophically: „This is an academy example of the fact, that even death penalty is rendered inefficient when it comes to stupidity”.
Even from remote areas weather data used to come through, but due to their irregularity, they were only of limited value.
The weather service was a necessary precondition for briefing airmen on imminent metereological changes and dangers. The exchange of information between weather stations and airship commanders became a highly important element in the operational planning of airship missions.
As mentioned above, Jamboli base was - plainly said - out of action since February 1917. Preparations had to be made to ensure frictionless resumption of airship operations. In the beginning of October 1917, the „Naval Special Command Jambol” was dispatched to Jamboli. The Command took up its manyfold activities on October 6; the various tasks are vividly documented in the report by Lt. Comdr. von Mangelsdorff. An extended quotation may be permitted. In our opinion, the report gives a splendid illustration of the situation prevailing in the Balkans theatre of war:
„[...] unpacking the landing ropes brought from Alhorn, and making them ready for use. The Army-gear had been ordered back by telegraph and transported away. [...] Because the aft shores brought from Ahlhorn could not be taken along on the Balkans-Express, a guardsman had been detached in Berlin, who conveyed the shores and six large boxes with tools to jamboli on an express goods train. [...]”
„The doors, docking rails, trolleys and tackles [authors note: of the shed] were tried out. After the earthquake in Sofia on 18.10.17, the same checks were repeated, no negative influences were recorded.” „Substantial amounts of dirt originating from the building period had accumulated inside the shed along the side walls, serving as depositing grounds for debris collected from the shed. As there was a danger of dust blowing up, rendering engines etc. defect, the dirt was removed from the shed. After the dirt had been cleared away, portions of the walls, showing signs of rot, were renovated. The unpaved parts of the hangar floor that are not sealed with concrete are watered and treaded down every day to prevent the forming of dust by any possible degree.” „The Militärbauamt [military construction office] is engaged in loading a train with segments of the second [dismanteled] hangar. These labours are carried out by Serbian prisoners of war, who are accomodated in an open barrack, camp. This prisoners camp has now been enclosed with a wire fence of 2 1/2 metres [8.2 ft] in height, and it is guarded by Bulgarians.”
„The complete removal of the prisoners from the vicinity of the hangar was no, feasible, as they would then have to be put up in civilian quarters in the town of Jambol, with no surveillance at all, being more of a danger there than behind the fences of the camp. The entraining labours will be stopped, once the ship has arrived [...] The hangar will be guarded by Army troops until the Army moves out.”
This last sentence indicates the shortage in personnel the Command had to deal with. Next to the officer and his three petty officers, the Naval Special Command consisted of just thirty men. There was an effort made to include the personnel of the Army airship unit in the works. Until October 31, 1917, 14 sergeants with 167 troops were stationed in Jamboli, not counting the officers. However, 35 of the men were confined to the beds of the sick bay, this fact casting a telling light on the climatic and sanitary conditions of the base.
Consequently, the Army airmen were in a hurry to get away from this hostile place as quick as possible. Their endeavours were not successful, though, for two reason - one being the tight personnel situation, and secondly, the base continued to be run as an Army installation.
Despite the Army support, personnel shortage prevailed: „Guarding must be limited to the ultimate degree. Upon arrival of the airship, 3 external guard posts and 2 camp guard posts will be mounted. The external posts will guard the front and the northern side of the hangar; the camp post will keep watch over the southern internal side of the hangar, the depots for ammunition and fuel, tank wagons etc. within the camp area. City headquarters have been requested to arrange for the 3 external posts. Naval Command will arrange for the camp posts, these being the most important ones. This will keep 3 petty officers and 18 men more or less tied down.”
Frictionless airship operation calls for a holding party with sufficient training. To maintain this function, it became necessary to revert to Bulgarian manpower. The language barrier created difficulties of its own. Moreover, there was, of course, not much of an understanding for technical sequences:
„The naval and army personnel available [...] was detailed to the most important maneuvering stations and distributed in such a way that they were functioning as a backbone amongst the Bulgarian auxiliary hands. Of the promised 450 men, 100 men (speaking Turkish only, in most cases) were detailed to the blocking cordon of the landing area and the rest was used to replenish the ranks of the holding crew.” „With the assistance of interpreters, the Bulgarians and the German Army troops were introduced to airship maneovering in general; the German soldiers received special instructions on maneuvering procedures as introduced with the Navy. For the Bulgarians, a small manual was worked out, serving the Bulgarian interpreters as a reference book whenever their men were instructed.”
„At the same time, the Bulgarians received demonstrations and training of how to handle the gear. The leader of the landing, the officer of the watch of the ship and the foremen of the front and aft ground parties will be assisted by one interpreter each, to make sure orders will be passed on immediately. Primary orders are being stereotyped, and after a practical demonstration, the crews are drilled accordingly. This does not limit the freedom of action when manoevering.”
„The men have been urgently advised to copy exactly every single action they can watch the German members of their groups perform, and to support them to the best of their abilities. Almost all of the men put at our disposal are young recruits. The Bulgarians who had worked for us earlier on have in the meantime moved out to the front.”
„In the beginning, the men did not pay much attention to the instruction lectures, but now, having been thoroughly instructed and drilled, they are displaying interest and cooperative spirit.”
Providing enough to eat proved equally difficult. Food had been rationed by the Bulgarian government almost completely, and it could be obtained by the German troops only at the expense of considerable administrative labour - and sometimes even not at all.
Food purchases would have been an obvious but not a wise thing to do: „As free purchasing of food is strictly forbidden, and since the Bulgarian authorities are keeping the German troops under the constant surveillance of their spies, the Army gronp was able to provide sufficient food only by keeping its own livestock.”
Pictures :
Jamboli_1 : Airship base Jamboli: Army Airship men, their bowers and patches, about 1917
Jamboli_2 : LZ 104 / L59 being walked into the shed in Jamboli
Jamboli_3 : LZ 104 / L59 over the Jamboli shed, 1917/18
Jamboli_4 : Memorial stone for LZ 104 / L59 in Jamboli
From WOLFGANG MEIGHÖNER-SCHARDT, Pioneer of Intercontinental Aviation by Chance. The History of Zeppelin Airship Type W, Zeppelin-Museum Friedrichshaven 1992, pp. 37-41
It is time to study the Bulgarian airship base in detail - as this base was one of the most fundamental prerequisites for this mission to succeed.
This airship base had been an installation of the Army, creating a starting point for bomb raids of' the Ploesti oilfields in Rumania, and for scouting flights over the Black Sea region extending even to the city of Sevastopol. It had become possible to install an air base when in September 1915 he empire of the Bulgarian Czar had joined the Axis Powers [sic!].
The order to erect a single airship shed of type „VIa" was placed on the experienced hangar construction company Seibert of Saarbrücken. This shed was 240 metres [787 ft] long, 40 metres [131 ft] wide, and 34 metres [111.5 ft] high. It extended to the south-west, following the predominant direction of the wind. The Army used the shed for Army airships SL X (Schütte-Lanz) and for LZ 101, until by February 1917 all Army airship operations were stopped.
The hangar design was as a standardized construction with wooden roof. The assembling of each section of arched steel supports was performed flat on the ground. The wooden roof sections, with two layers of roofing felt, complete with windows and raingutters, were finished on the ground also. Completed sections were hoisted to a vertical position and installed in place with the help of a wheeled scaffolding travelling along the centreline of the hangar under construction. Hangar gates were a pair of sliding doors on either end of the shed.
The hangar was not the only building of importance:
,,Alongside the hangar, various buildings, housing flight crew quarters, small storehouses, and repairshops were located. Safety depots for bombs and fuel were positioned further off. The airbase personnel lived in special barracks away from the hangar. Their quarters had been moved into a remote corner of the field in order to limit interference to the least possible degree. Every base had its own radio- and weather stations, communications centre, a beacon, a captive balloon to mark the base in fog, and was meeting every modern requirement.”
There was also a hydrogen gas works for the production and distribution of the lifting gas. Gas supply was important, because returning airships had to be refilled as rapidly as possible in order to stand by, ready for the next mission.
These gas works made L 59 independent of the increasingly difficult domestic gas supply situation in Germany. Sometimes the situation was so tight, that gas had to be collected arduously from all over the country in tank wagons; the bitter shortage of transportation vehicles was exacerbating the problem even more.
Another important component of the base was a small power station, providing electrical lighting for the quarters of the flight crews, and for the accomodations of the 400 met of the ground party.
When planning missions, the radio transmitter of an airship base was of vital importance. It established communications with the outside world, but in the same way it was needed for transmitting current weather data to landing airships.
Attached to it was a direction finding station. It was part of a network of similar stations in Constantinople, Damascus, Bucarest, Constanza and Sofia, standing by for navigational assistance when airships encountered low visibility. As noted above L 59 was not in the possess of the radio facilities necessary for conducting a radii cross bearing.
The most important device when planning airship missions was the metereological station. This station was part of an extended Western European network that had evolved at the suggestion of the great protagonist of Zeppelin airships, Prof. Hergesell. Together with the weather stations of the bases, this network embraced further stations in the Allgau district, on Lake Constance, and in the Taunus Mountains.
These stations recorded data on temperature, force and direction of the wind, barometric pressure, bumpiness of the air, and cloud drift. With the help of balloons and kites, airstreams of the upper athmosphere were recorded as well. For checking on the evolution of weather situations with any noteworthy consistency, sondes were sent up into the skies, sometimes three times a day.
The compiled data were supplemented by regular weather reports coming in from weather stations of the allied nations - from Turkey, in this particular case. The discrepancy of technological development sometimes led to considerable and occasionally even comical problems, as demonstrated in the following episode:
„In the focus of any commanders interest were always the wind conditions of the altitudes he had to pass during airborne missions. Immediately before commanders went on a flight, these data were requested from stations along or close to the route. Compiling and transmitting the requested data had to be done with the greatest possible acceleration. To make sure that such telegrams would arrive in time, these cables were marked with a special cue, ‘gas flask’, for example, - and forwarded with top priority. In the realms of the Turkish weather service, where difficulties hampering accelerated transmission of any information were notorious, code word ‘Oman Pasha’ had been selected as a cue. Every postman in the Land of the Sultan had been instructed that anyone leaving an ‘Oman-Pasha-telegram’ unattended to will be executed. Not in every case was this measure a successful one though. Several of the keenest postal clerks of the Calif used to unhesitantly dispatch such telegrams back with the remark ‘Oman Pasha burdan jokdur!’(Oman Pasha does not live here)."
The chronicler concludes his essay by musing philosophically: „This is an academy example of the fact, that even death penalty is rendered inefficient when it comes to stupidity”.
Even from remote areas weather data used to come through, but due to their irregularity, they were only of limited value.
The weather service was a necessary precondition for briefing airmen on imminent metereological changes and dangers. The exchange of information between weather stations and airship commanders became a highly important element in the operational planning of airship missions.
As mentioned above, Jamboli base was - plainly said - out of action since February 1917. Preparations had to be made to ensure frictionless resumption of airship operations. In the beginning of October 1917, the „Naval Special Command Jambol” was dispatched to Jamboli. The Command took up its manyfold activities on October 6; the various tasks are vividly documented in the report by Lt. Comdr. von Mangelsdorff. An extended quotation may be permitted. In our opinion, the report gives a splendid illustration of the situation prevailing in the Balkans theatre of war:
„[...] unpacking the landing ropes brought from Alhorn, and making them ready for use. The Army-gear had been ordered back by telegraph and transported away. [...] Because the aft shores brought from Ahlhorn could not be taken along on the Balkans-Express, a guardsman had been detached in Berlin, who conveyed the shores and six large boxes with tools to jamboli on an express goods train. [...]”
„The doors, docking rails, trolleys and tackles [authors note: of the shed] were tried out. After the earthquake in Sofia on 18.10.17, the same checks were repeated, no negative influences were recorded.” „Substantial amounts of dirt originating from the building period had accumulated inside the shed along the side walls, serving as depositing grounds for debris collected from the shed. As there was a danger of dust blowing up, rendering engines etc. defect, the dirt was removed from the shed. After the dirt had been cleared away, portions of the walls, showing signs of rot, were renovated. The unpaved parts of the hangar floor that are not sealed with concrete are watered and treaded down every day to prevent the forming of dust by any possible degree.” „The Militärbauamt [military construction office] is engaged in loading a train with segments of the second [dismanteled] hangar. These labours are carried out by Serbian prisoners of war, who are accomodated in an open barrack, camp. This prisoners camp has now been enclosed with a wire fence of 2 1/2 metres [8.2 ft] in height, and it is guarded by Bulgarians.”
„The complete removal of the prisoners from the vicinity of the hangar was no, feasible, as they would then have to be put up in civilian quarters in the town of Jambol, with no surveillance at all, being more of a danger there than behind the fences of the camp. The entraining labours will be stopped, once the ship has arrived [...] The hangar will be guarded by Army troops until the Army moves out.”
This last sentence indicates the shortage in personnel the Command had to deal with. Next to the officer and his three petty officers, the Naval Special Command consisted of just thirty men. There was an effort made to include the personnel of the Army airship unit in the works. Until October 31, 1917, 14 sergeants with 167 troops were stationed in Jamboli, not counting the officers. However, 35 of the men were confined to the beds of the sick bay, this fact casting a telling light on the climatic and sanitary conditions of the base.
Consequently, the Army airmen were in a hurry to get away from this hostile place as quick as possible. Their endeavours were not successful, though, for two reason - one being the tight personnel situation, and secondly, the base continued to be run as an Army installation.
Despite the Army support, personnel shortage prevailed: „Guarding must be limited to the ultimate degree. Upon arrival of the airship, 3 external guard posts and 2 camp guard posts will be mounted. The external posts will guard the front and the northern side of the hangar; the camp post will keep watch over the southern internal side of the hangar, the depots for ammunition and fuel, tank wagons etc. within the camp area. City headquarters have been requested to arrange for the 3 external posts. Naval Command will arrange for the camp posts, these being the most important ones. This will keep 3 petty officers and 18 men more or less tied down.”
Frictionless airship operation calls for a holding party with sufficient training. To maintain this function, it became necessary to revert to Bulgarian manpower. The language barrier created difficulties of its own. Moreover, there was, of course, not much of an understanding for technical sequences:
„The naval and army personnel available [...] was detailed to the most important maneuvering stations and distributed in such a way that they were functioning as a backbone amongst the Bulgarian auxiliary hands. Of the promised 450 men, 100 men (speaking Turkish only, in most cases) were detailed to the blocking cordon of the landing area and the rest was used to replenish the ranks of the holding crew.” „With the assistance of interpreters, the Bulgarians and the German Army troops were introduced to airship maneovering in general; the German soldiers received special instructions on maneuvering procedures as introduced with the Navy. For the Bulgarians, a small manual was worked out, serving the Bulgarian interpreters as a reference book whenever their men were instructed.”
„At the same time, the Bulgarians received demonstrations and training of how to handle the gear. The leader of the landing, the officer of the watch of the ship and the foremen of the front and aft ground parties will be assisted by one interpreter each, to make sure orders will be passed on immediately. Primary orders are being stereotyped, and after a practical demonstration, the crews are drilled accordingly. This does not limit the freedom of action when manoevering.”
„The men have been urgently advised to copy exactly every single action they can watch the German members of their groups perform, and to support them to the best of their abilities. Almost all of the men put at our disposal are young recruits. The Bulgarians who had worked for us earlier on have in the meantime moved out to the front.”
„In the beginning, the men did not pay much attention to the instruction lectures, but now, having been thoroughly instructed and drilled, they are displaying interest and cooperative spirit.”
Providing enough to eat proved equally difficult. Food had been rationed by the Bulgarian government almost completely, and it could be obtained by the German troops only at the expense of considerable administrative labour - and sometimes even not at all.
Food purchases would have been an obvious but not a wise thing to do: „As free purchasing of food is strictly forbidden, and since the Bulgarian authorities are keeping the German troops under the constant surveillance of their spies, the Army gronp was able to provide sufficient food only by keeping its own livestock.”
Pictures :
Jamboli_1 : Airship base Jamboli: Army Airship men, their bowers and patches, about 1917
Jamboli_2 : LZ 104 / L59 being walked into the shed in Jamboli
Jamboli_3 : LZ 104 / L59 over the Jamboli shed, 1917/18
Jamboli_4 : Memorial stone for LZ 104 / L59 in Jamboli
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