(excerpt from an ATL history book)
The Persian-Ottoman War of 1934 was sparked by a small disagreement over borders. The war lasted three days officially. It is noteworthy as the only war in which German-built airships were used extensively by both sides in a single battle.
The first and last battle of the War took place one hundred fifty kilometres ENE of Baghdad. Trench lines were dug, kilometre-long tunnels in the sand, many of which are still visible today [1978]. Flamme-panzers, fueled by oil from wells near the conflict, were used by the Ottomans in an early attempt to gain and hold ground. However, Persian zeppelins rained small bombs on Ottoman lines from above, forcing them to pull back.
The Persian air superiority was short-lived, however. Ottoman Fokker triplanes, of First Colonial War vintage, were soon in the air. The Ottoman airship fleet arrived soon after, bringing a much-needed morale boost to the Turk soldiers on the ground. However, the Persian airships were much more numerous, and with their own aeroplanes in the air soon afterwards, dozens of airships on either side were shot down.
After a few hours, the remaining aeroplanes were forced to land for fuel, but the surviving zeppelins did not. The 125 remaining Ottoman airships and the 221 Persian airships began a pitched battle for the skies that would not be equaled until the Russo-Germanic war thirty years later. In one spectacular incident, an Ottoman airship deliberately rammed a Persian, crushing it into two of its fellows and bringing all four down in a pile of burning, twisted metal, canvas, and fuel.
The day was won for the Ottomans thanks to the bravery of her airship crews; the battle in the air allowed the ground forces to regroup and counterattack. Persian forces were forced to retreat. Though her air forces suffered great losses, the war assured Ottoman dominance of Middle Eastern affairs for another twenty years.
(excerpt over)
So. Hundreds of Ottoman airships fighting hundreds of Persian airships, all the while dropping bombs over the desert, with dozens of Fokker DR.1 triplanes wheeling and diving amongst them, must have been an awesome sight to behold. Why couldn't I have been born in that timeline?