To Dover goes the dubious honour of being the place where the first bomb fell on British soil. It was Christmas Eve 1914, the weather bright sunny, when at around midday a German plane was spotted over the town. Its pilot Lieutenant von Prondzynski leaned over the side of his plane and saw Dover Castle and the great naval harbour some 5,000 feet below him. He lifted his bomb in both hands as his knees held his “joy stick”, heaving the bomb over the side of the plane he let it fall. The bomb dropped towards the Castle but Lt. Prondzynski was about 400 yards short of his target, no mean achievement in days when bomb-aiming instruments were unknown. The tiny bomb landed in the garden adjoining St James’ Rectory and made a crater about four or five feet deep. The blast smashed some windows in the Rectory and knocked the gardener, Mr James Banks, out of a tree he was pruning. Does anybody know this pilot Lieutenant von Prondzynski ??
He was Oberleutnant-zur-See Stephan Prondzynski of See Flieger Abteilung 1. On 25 December 1914 he was flying Friedrichshafen FF29 Nr 203, with Fähnrich-zur-See von Frankenburg as observer when he attempted to bomb the London dock area. He attacked England again on the night of 21/22 February 1915, again flying Nr 203, but with Fähnrich-zur-See Heyn as observer. Bombs were dropped near Coggeshall and Colchester, but there was no significant damage. Prondzynski isn't listed in Casualties of the German Air Services, so presumably he survived the War. Gareth
Thanks Gareth ! I can't find anything else on him at all ! .... was the Friedrichshafen FF 29 - a seaplane ? is that what he was flying over Dover etc ?? Annie
The FF29 was a pre-war small patrol floatplane. Aside from the occasional small bombload, it was unarmed. Gareth
It's just that I found this picture on another site where it was taking off from a submarine ?? and it looked too flimsy to me ..... to be dropping bombs on the London Docks !!
They were very small bombs. The Dover raid on Christmas Day was actually Nr 203's second attempt to bomb England; it appeared off Dover at 13:00 on 21 December and dropped two bombs in the sea off Admiralty Pier. Unfortunately, I can't find the names of the crew but, of course, the pilot may have been Oblt z S Stephan Prondzynski. On the other hand, it may not. Gareth
