Johannisthal Air Disaster

Johannisthal Air Disaster

Painting of LZ18 descending in flames after engine fire.
Occurrence summary
Date	October 17, 1913
Type	In-flight explosion
Site	near Johannisthal Air Field
Crew	28
Injuries	0
Fatalities	28 (all)
Survivors	0
Aircraft type	Airship
Aircraft name	LZ18 (manufacturer designation)
Operator	Imperial German Navy
Tail number	L 2 (navy designation)

The Johannisthal Air Disaster involved one of the first multiple-fatality air disasters in history. It involved the Imperial German Navy's L-2 airship manufactured by Zeppelin as the LZ 18. It's test flight resulted in the death of all 28 passengers and crew on board. On 17 October 1913 at approximately 10:30am local time, hydrogen gas which was being vented was sucked into the forward engine and ignited causing the airship to explode and burn. It crashed near Johannisthal Air Field about 10 miles southeast of Berlin. This accident occurred a little over a month after the Helgoland Island Air Disaster. These two incidents were a major blow to German naval aviation.