The Johannisthal air disaster involved the Imperial German Navy's L 2 airship manufactured by Luftschiffbau Zeppelin as LZ 18.

On 17 October 1913, at approximately 10:30 am local time, hydrogen gas which was being vented was sucked into the forward engine and ignited causing the airship to explode and burn.

The "Almanac and Year-Book for 1914" reported that the airship "was destroyed by the explosion of a gasoline tank, which occurred as the ship was making a trial trip above the city of Johannisthal, near Berlin.

Thousands of people who had been watching the evolutions of the L-2, which, if accepted, was to have been the flagship of Germany's new aerial fleet, heard a heavy detonation and saw the craft suddenly become enveloped in flames and drop to the ground from a height of 270 metres (900 ft).

The passengers of the center gondola were blown through the sides of the car by the explosion and their bodies fell a quarter of a mile away from the wreck of the dirigible.