Impressed by the efficiency of the German Zeppelin airships during the First World War, the French general staff decided to build some in the Cuers-Pierrefeu plain, chosen in 1917 to fit out an airdrome with two large hangars. As part of the war damages, Germany then provided France with three airships. In August 1920, the second one, renamed Dixmude, joined Cuers-Pierrefeu. It was struck down by lightning on December 21, 1923, during a mission to study air navigation conditions in desert regions. A 45.9 ft (14-meter) high wing-shaped monument was erected in 1927 by the village of Pierrefeu-du-Var in memory of the fifty people who died in the crash. On the airbase, today specialized in naval aeronautics repair, a building still bears the name Dixmude, and a stele dedicated to the victims of the 1923 tragedy was inaugurated in 1993.