Cuffley

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Sir,

The inscription on the memorial stone at Cuffley is, as you suggest, inaccurate. However, there is no doubt of the actual identity of the airship destroyed by Lt. Leefe Robinson. It was not a Zeppelin, but a Schutte-Lanz, numbered SL.11 Schutte-Lanz airships had a wood framework, wire braced. This is why so little metalwork was found in the debris at Cuffley.

SL.11 was a German army airship, whereas L.21, erroneously named on the memorial, was a navy ship. L.21 was destroyed three months later by R.N.A.S. pilots off Lowestoft, the coup-degrace being administered by Flight Sub-Lieutenant Pulling.

East Sheen.
L. E. Shelley.