Home Air Defence

sl11
SL 11

On the home front, war was brought literally to the very doorstep as German Army and Navy airship divisions began their planned bombing campaigns on the British Isles. The first raid was conducted by the Navy with bombs falling on Great Yarmouth, Sheringham and Kings Lynn during the night of 19 January. Zeppelin raids were to continue well into early 1916 with virtual impunity. The motley collection of RFC and RNAS aeroplanes available for home defence during the war’s early months were largely ineffective. Large and slow as the Zeppelins were, being potentially vulnerable with their highly-volatile hydrogen gas-filled hulls, they nevertheless maintained one unassailable advantage – height.