Chas Pears | The Humour of the Great War

These two cartoons, published in Punch on 23rd September 1914, have an aerial theme. In fact the first attacks were not until January 1915.

“The first extended campaigns of strategic bombing were carried out against England by the German Empire’s fleet of airships, which were then the only aircraft capable of such sustained activities so far from their bases. This campaign was approved on 7 January 1915 by Kaiser Wilhelm II, who forbade attacks on London, fearing that his relatives in the British royal family might be injured. These restrictions were lifted in May, after British attacks on German cities. The first attacks on England were on 9 January, and struck the Yarmouth area and King’s Lynn. In Britain, fear of the Zeppelin as a weapon of war preceded its actual use: even before the war the British public was gripped by “zeppelinitis”.” Wikipedia