On the morning of Christmas Eve, Dover, England, experienced the first-ever aerial bombing of Britain when a German biplane seaplane dropped a single bomb in a garden near St. James's Rectory, creating a crater and shattering windows. A gardener was also thrown out of a tree, more shocked than hurt. The target was believed to have been the Dover Castle military base.
The Germans had offered, about a week earlier, a prize for the first person to drop a bomb on the British. Up to that point, all bombs dropped had landed in the sea, however, Lieutenant Alfred von Prondzynski flying in a Friedrichshafen FF29 (carrying no armaments except for the lone bomb, amazingly, between his feet) managed to get his payload to Dover and claim the prize. The bomb was dropped by opening the window, tilting the plane, pulling the safety pin, and dropping it, hopefully hitting something important.
Interesting, this happened as the famous 'Christmas truce' was taking place on the Western Front of the war. Also, years later, the grandson of the bomber became the Principal and Vice-Chancellor of Robert Gordon University, Aberdeen, Scotland.
http://www.dover-kent.com/Dover-Society1/082/082%2028-30.pdf
