A large German bomber, capable of bombing England. The plane is powered by two engines, and holds a crew of three with a pilot and front and rear gunners. The plane is likely a Gotha bomber, originally built by Gothaer Waggonfabrik, then built under license by Siemens-Schukert Werke and Luft-Verkehrs-Gesellschaft (LVG). Note the ground crew pushing on the lower wing and the men holding the tail up as the plane is moved backwards. Sanke postcard number 1040.
Deutsches Riesen-Flugzeug(Englandflieger)1040Postkartenvertrieb W. SankeBerlin No. 37Nachdruck wird gerichtlich verfolgtGerman giant aircraft(England flyer)1040Postcard distributor W. SankeBerlin No. 37Reproduction will be prosecuted
"Brandenburg and his crews were awed at the breath-taking expanse of London stretching out in all directions below them like a vast sea. The airmen could see Tower Bridge casting its shadow on the Thames, the gray-walled Tower, the majestic dome of St. Paul's—all 'sharply outlined in the flaring sunlight'. And on the Thames there were ships 'that looked like toys'. . . .Within a two-minute period, beginning at 11.40 A.M., seventy-two bombs fell within one mile of [Liverpool Street Station]."
On June 13, 1916, twenty Gotha G IV bombers of the England Geschwader, the England Squadron, under the command of Captain Ernst Brandenburg, took off from Belgium to bomb London. Unlike the Zeppelin raiders who attacked at night, the bombers flew during the day. Fourteen Gothas reached London, flying at an altitude of three miles. After the attack on Liverpool St. Station, six bombed Southwark, then Poplar in the East End, where a bomb hit the Upper North Street Schools killing sixteen children, only two of them over five years old. The raiders killed 162 and wounded 432, the most casualties of any raid on Britain during the war, and far deadlier than any Zeppelin raid.
The Sky on Fire by Raymond H. Fredette by Raymond H. Fredette, pp. 55–56, copyright © 1966, 1976, 1991 by Raymond H. Fredette, publisher: Smithsonian Institution Press, publication date: 1991
1917-06-13, 1917, June, London, air raid, bomber
