Airshipmen dwelt heavily upon the subject of being in a burning zeppelin. To stay on board meant possible survival, but an overwhelming probability of burning alive. The alternative was to jump, a leap to certain, but quick, death! One of Peterson's men commented brusquely that there would be no time for deliberation, that it would all happen much too quickly. Either way, it was a personal decision which every man dwelt upon to the point of obsession. When L-31 went down in flames at Potter's Bar, her Captain, Heinrich Mathy, chose to jump. He was the only zeppelin Captain known to have done so, and also the only person to have momentarily survived the landing. When local farmers found Mathy still wrapped in his leather flight jacket, he was face up in the field near the burning wreckage of L-31. He still lived, but only for a few minutes, and one wonders whether he had decided on jumping long before, or whether he leapt to his death in a last moment of fear and decision.

"Our nerves are ruined by mistreatment. If anyone should say that he was not haunted by visions of burning airships, when he would be a braggart. But nobody makes this assertion; everyone has the courage to confess his dreams and thoughts."

Pitt Klein, German Navy Airship L-31


Karlheinz is a young man with brown hair, brown eyes, usually dressed in grease-stained mechanics coveralls and typically has an unkempt air about him. On his off-days he sometimes smells of schnapps or gin but always remains sober while working. His manners are usually quite good and he is quite presentable when cleaned up nicely. Although he has a problem with drink it only surfaces when he has a lot of time on his hands to sit and think about the war.

"Karl" is from a working-class family from Bremerhaven and worked as a clerk with a merchant shipping company before the War, learning English while working for a short time in London. He enlisted in the Imperial German Navy and served in a crewman on Zeppelins, the L-31 and then others. Most of his service in Zeppelins was spent over the North Seas and the Baltic, although he craft did participate on occasion in several high-altitude air raids on British cities. (Karlheinz still has nightmares of seeing Zeppelin L-21 burning over London, and he missed going down with L-31 in 1916 by chance.)

After the War he was at loose ends, working at Tempelhof Airport in Berlin. He met John-Marc 6 months ago in Germany when the latter flew a delivery into Tempelhof. For reasons he couldn't quite explain he decided to take up the other's offer of employment in England as a mechanic, navigator and co-pilot. JM has plans for expanding air service into the Continent and Africa and the possibility intrigues Karl. The two are friends, although JM is concerned about the other's drinking.