WW1 Watercolour of LZ 62. By Claus Bergen, Zeppelin L30, Naval Airship Crew

Painted by Luftschiffer Claus Bergen in 1917, who, in our opinion had a very skilled artistic hand. Painted by a German Zeppelin Crew, and owned by a British WW1 POW. Maybe it was given to him by the artist.

Titled at the bottom in German "Zeppelin, flieg, Hilf uns im krieg, Flieg nach England, England wird abgebrannt, Zeppelin, flieg." Translation "Zeppelin, fly,
Help us win the war, Fly against England, England will be burned, Zeppelin, fly"?.Words from a popular Zeppelin propaganda song in Germany during WW1. Original rare German WW1 Zeppelin artwork. Signed Claus Bergen, of the German Navy, Luftschiff Crew, L30 formerly LZ62, dated 1917. Titled and also bearing the name of the Zeppelin forces commander, Peter Strasser. The painting was sent back from Danzig by a British POW who was imprisoned in Germany during WW1. The Zeppelin LZ 62 was the 69th Airship of Count Zeppelin and the 25th Airship for the Imperial Navy , where it was designated L 30 .L 30 was the type ship of the class "R" , the so-called Superzeppeline with two additional motor gondolas with pressure propellers laterally offset below the centre of the fuselage. The hull was now approaching a slender teardrop shape that had both lower air resistances well as increased carrying gas volume ensured. The new type was 20 meters longer than its predecessor, had a significantly larger diameter. The new type had an almost double payload with now 32.5 t. The construction of the larger model with significant changes led to a longer construction period; In the meantime, several Zeppelin shipyards made airships, so that not only did the numbers and identifiers differ, but they also did not exactly represent the order of completion and takeover. LZ 63 to LZ 69 had already been completed before LZ 62. In addition, the Navy decided to give the first "Superzeppelin" the ID L 30 , although she had previously lost only 24 Zeppelins. LZ 62 made its first trip on 28 May 1916 and was put into service as L 30 in July 1916. The first commander of the airship became lieutenant to the See of Buttlar , who had already commanded L 6 and L 11 . The first in the north woods stationed ship was from 21 August from Ahlhorn used from. On January 11, 1917 Lieutenant Lake Friemel new commander, who moved with the ship in early April 1917 to T?nder . There took over on April 20, 1917, the Lieutenant Lake Boedecker the command of L 30 , the airship in early May to Seerappenrelocated near K?nigsberg . There remained the airship until the autumn of 1917 together with L 37 and four army airships, which were used primarily for reconnaissance. The back bears details of commanders of Zeppelins and information of Kapitan-Leutnant Alois Bocker's crew of L33, and also of a shooting down near Potters Bar [ Kapitan Mathy's L31]. This painting had been owned after its artist by a British POW soldier, and it was sent home as war souvenir from Wurtemberg in early 1919 for a cost of 71/2 pfennigs. Unframed 26cm x 19.5 cm

Code: 22668