The Leefe Robinson memorial

In the early hours of 3 September 1916, sixteen German airships set out on the largest raid of the war. Over Hertfordshire, 21-year-old Lieutenant William Leefe Robinson climbed his B.E.2c fighter beneath the airship SL11 and, on his third pass, set it ablaze. It fell burning into a field behind The Plough at Cuffley, watched by crowds for miles around.

SL11 was the first German airship destroyed on British soil. Robinson became a national hero and received the Victoria Cross from King George V within days.

The memorial

A granite obelisk, paid for by readers of the Daily Express, was unveiled on 9 June 1921 on East Ridgeway, Cuffley, close to the crash site. Its land was given by Mrs Kidston of Nyn Park, Northaw. The memorial is now listed Grade II.

Read the full story in The night the sky caught fire.