Photograph of a Schütte-Lanz (SL-11) airship caught in beams of searchlights. The Schütte-Lanz appears luminous against the night sky.

On the night of 2nd/3rd September 1916, after a bombing raid on St Albans, SL11 was shot down by Lieutenant William Leefe Robinson of the Royal Flying Corps. The airship landed in Cuffley, a village in Hertfordshire (not Essex as the card suggests); although commonly called a Zeppelin, the SL type airships were manufactured by the Schütte-Lanze company. Leefe Robinson was awarded a Victoria Cross for his action, the first person to be awarded the VC for action in Britain during the First World War. The following day brought the madness of 'Zepp Sunday'; news of the victory quickly spread and over the next two days ten thousand people travelled to Cuffley to see the fallen airship. Images of the airship being shot down were also sold as souvenirs.