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Leefe Robinson
William Leefe Robinson VC (14 July 1895 – 31 December 1918) was the first British pilot to shoot down a German airship over Britain during the First World War. For this, he was awarded the Victoria Cross (VC), the highest award for gallantry in the face of the enemy that can be awarded to British and Commonwealth forces. He was the first person to be awarded the VC for action in the UK.
His action marked a turning point in the war against the airship menace, and caused the German airship bombing campaign to falter. In the three months afterwards, five more airships were shot down using the combat techniques he had proven.
Robinson was born in Coorg, India, on 14 July 1895, the youngest son of Horace Robinson and Elizabeth Leefe. Raised on his parents' coffee estate, Kaima Betta Estate, at Pollibetta in Coorg, he attended Bishop Cotton Boys' School, Bangalore, and the Dragon School, Oxford, before following his elder brother Harold to St Bees School, Cumberland, in September, 1909. While there, he succeeded his brother as Head of Eaglesfield House in 1913, played in the Rugby 1st XV and became a sergeant in the school Officer Training Corps.
In August, 1914, he entered the Royal Military College, Sandhurst, and was gazetted into the Worcestershire Regiment in December. In March, 1915, he went to France as an observer with the Royal Flying Corps, to which he had transferred. After being wounded over Lille, he underwent pilot training in Britain, before being attached to No. 39 (Home Defence) Squadron, a night-flying squadron at Sutton's Farm airfield near Hornchurch in Essex.
On the night of 2/3 September 1916 over Cuffley, in what was then Essex, now Hertfordshire[citation needed] Lieutenant Robinson, flying a converted B.E.2c night fighter No. 2693, sighted a German airship – one of 16 which had left bases in Germany for the largest airship raid of the war over England. The airship he encountered was the wooden-framed Schütte-Lanz SL 11, although at the time and for many years after, it was misidentified as the Zeppelin L 21. Robinson was in the air for several hours. After initially spotting the airship, he lost it in clouds. Later, he again made contact and attacked at an altitude of 11,500 ft (3,500 m), approaching from below and closing to within 500 ft (150 m) raking the airship from below with machine-gun fire of incendiary and explosive bullets (alternate "New Brock" and "Pomeroy" rounds). However, these two runs were unsuccessful. He then tried his third and last ammunition drum by concentrating on a single location, and the airship burst into flames and crashed in a field behind the Plough Inn at Cuffley . Commander Hauptmann Wilhelm Schramm and his 15-man crew were killed.
In his combat report to his commanding officer, Leefe Robinson wrote:
September 1916
From: Lieutenant Leefe Robinson, Sutton's Farm.
To: The Officer Commanding No. 39 H. D. Squadron.
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Leefe Robinson
William Leefe Robinson VC (14 July 1895 – 31 December 1918) was the first British pilot to shoot down a German airship over Britain during the First World War. For this, he was awarded the Victoria Cross (VC), the highest award for gallantry in the face of the enemy that can be awarded to British and Commonwealth forces. He was the first person to be awarded the VC for action in the UK.
His action marked a turning point in the war against the airship menace, and caused the German airship bombing campaign to falter. In the three months afterwards, five more airships were shot down using the combat techniques he had proven.
Robinson was born in Coorg, India, on 14 July 1895, the youngest son of Horace Robinson and Elizabeth Leefe. Raised on his parents' coffee estate, Kaima Betta Estate, at Pollibetta in Coorg, he attended Bishop Cotton Boys' School, Bangalore, and the Dragon School, Oxford, before following his elder brother Harold to St Bees School, Cumberland, in September, 1909. While there, he succeeded his brother as Head of Eaglesfield House in 1913, played in the Rugby 1st XV and became a sergeant in the school Officer Training Corps.
In August, 1914, he entered the Royal Military College, Sandhurst, and was gazetted into the Worcestershire Regiment in December. In March, 1915, he went to France as an observer with the Royal Flying Corps, to which he had transferred. After being wounded over Lille, he underwent pilot training in Britain, before being attached to No. 39 (Home Defence) Squadron, a night-flying squadron at Sutton's Farm airfield near Hornchurch in Essex.
On the night of 2/3 September 1916 over Cuffley, in what was then Essex, now Hertfordshire[citation needed] Lieutenant Robinson, flying a converted B.E.2c night fighter No. 2693, sighted a German airship – one of 16 which had left bases in Germany for the largest airship raid of the war over England. The airship he encountered was the wooden-framed Schütte-Lanz SL 11, although at the time and for many years after, it was misidentified as the Zeppelin L 21. Robinson was in the air for several hours. After initially spotting the airship, he lost it in clouds. Later, he again made contact and attacked at an altitude of 11,500 ft (3,500 m), approaching from below and closing to within 500 ft (150 m) raking the airship from below with machine-gun fire of incendiary and explosive bullets (alternate "New Brock" and "Pomeroy" rounds). However, these two runs were unsuccessful. He then tried his third and last ammunition drum by concentrating on a single location, and the airship burst into flames and crashed in a field behind the Plough Inn at Cuffley . Commander Hauptmann Wilhelm Schramm and his 15-man crew were killed.
In his combat report to his commanding officer, Leefe Robinson wrote:
September 1916
From: Lieutenant Leefe Robinson, Sutton's Farm.
To: The Officer Commanding No. 39 H. D. Squadron.
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