‘Won’ these postcards of a Zeppelin being downed somewhere over England last night on ebay, to go with my rapidly mounting collection of books/postcards etc on the German bombing campaign on the UK 1914-18. I was wondering if anyone knew how real these postcards actually were (ie are they doctored real photos, or completely fake), and if they were supposed to depict the downing of any particular Zeppelin, or, Schutte-Lanz (although to the public and media at the time, any German airship was a Zeppelin).
Cheers, Rob
By: Phantex - 12th April 2008 at 14:10
Hi Rob,
I would be very suprised if they are real photographs, although I must say before I go on that this is irrelevant in this case. They are a great example of propaganda from the time and you must be very happy to have added them to your collection.
Anyway. Why do I think they aren’t photographs?
To start with, try taking a picture of a fire with a modern camera. Difficult to get detail in the flames. Now try doing it at night, with a plate camera using glass negs. Ouch….
Also, if you look at the angle, the photographer is either in a plane, or far away, both of which would add to the difficulties. Or he could be on a hill; too much of a handy coincidence for me.
I tend to agree with Mondariz. Best effort tarted up for public consumption.
Fantastic however you look at it though.
Why not pop next door to the RAF Museum and see if they can help.
Iain
By: WJ244 - 12th April 2008 at 10:24
I have also got a set of these cards which belonged to my grandparents. I can’t remember what the caption said but my understanding was that they were photos (which wwere then hand coloured) of the first Zeppelin shot down over England.
I don’t know how much you paid for the set but I have seen the individual cards for quite high prices at postcard fairs.
By: Mondariz - 12th April 2008 at 06:29
What a nice and dramatic series of post cards.
Photography around the time of WWI was mostly done on individual plates, not sure if it would have been possible to capture the fall by rapidly changing plates. But there could have been more than one camera trailing the airship.
There might also have been a problem with exposure time, which was quite long, particular for night time photos.
On the other hand, the photo “doctoring” was not really great at that time either, so a completely fake photo would stand out. Its hard to judge on the small pictuers here.
My guess it that its a combination of both. A best effort night photo, then doctored a bit for details that didn’t make the plate.
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April 12, 2008 at 2:10 am