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BIRTH OF NAVAL AVIATION SUPPLEMENT, NAVY NEWS, OCTOBER 2009 iii
● ‘A good day was a rarity...’ (Left) Coastal-class airship C23A on convoy duty in the North Sea
and (above) a Curtiss H16 fl ying boat, N4060, outside its hangar. The fl ying boats and airships were
mainstays in a sustained anti-submarine effort in the fi nal 18 months of the war. Despite few kills,
these dreary, unending patrols ensured that few U-boats dared attack shipping
landed so close “that the whole The kill was credited to the ideal battlewagon. Offloading the Ensign, a warship in transition and replace it with a landing deck;
boat trembled like a struck gong”. Christiansen (and he also credited it aircraft was slow – and impossible between two eras, the head of a constructors left Furious’ funnel and
Belatedly the guns of the German to himself in his post-war memoirs): if the sea was rough. The same went carrier, the body of a dreadnought. superstructure intact, however.
batteries along the Flanders coastline “One of our naval aircraft, under the for recovery. Furious’ forward 18in turret was Instead of men dashing out to stop
opened up. Too late: the aircraft were command of Oberleutnant zur See The ship itself offered a more removed and a flight deck and hangar landing aircraft, a new method was
heading back to base. Christiansen, destroyed the English stable platform – but it needed a put in its place. The aft gun, however, tried to ‘catch’ planes setting down:
airship C27 during a reconnaissance flat, uncluttered deck, a ‘launching was left in situ. wires were strung lengthwise along
flight over the Broad Fourteens on platform’. So, one was created. One Fliers were given a flight deck the deck. They would trap hooks
THE ZEP KILLERS
the morning of December 11. The was built on HMS Vindex, another 228ft long and 50ft wide at its fitted to skids on the aircraft – which
THE HUN RESPOND
airship fell into the sea in flames.” on HMS Campania. broadest (it narrowed substantially replaced traditional wheels.
Christiansen earned Germany’s Campania was a former Cunard towards the bow) from which to If the wires failed to stop aircraft
highest decoration, Pour le mérite – liner and veteran of the North launch and recover. on the 200ft landing deck, there
A COLD FISH
the Blue Max – for his “considerable Atlantic crossings. In the first months Between the aft and forward of was a device of last resort: a huge
It wasn’t merely submarines which
number of victories” and for attacking of war she was snapped up by the this strange hybrid was Furious’ net stretched across the deck behind
the Curtiss seaplanes hunted. In a
“many enemy ships and Dover with Admiralty, who began to convert her superstructure. There was no thought the funnel to finally bring any errant
war where technology and innovation
bombs.” into a seaplane carrier. of flying over the length of the ship aeroplane to a halt.
was rapidly becoming the key to
His tally of kills would rise to Over her bow and forecastle a before touching down on deck. No, Landing remained a hazardous
victory, wireless gave the British an
13 by the war’s end; he also almost ramp was constructed, 165ft long landing was more akin to setting a business. Minus wheels, aircraft hit
edge over the Germans. Zeppelins
added submarine HMS C25 to his in all, sloping gently towards the Harrier down 60 years later, as Maj Furious’ deck hard, damaging the
dispatched over the North Sea on
list of victories. The German and bridge, a ‘launch deck’. A seaplane Geoffrey Moore recalled: “We had undercarriage – and more often than
reconnaissance flights sent back
four comrades found the boat on with detachable wheels would sit on to fly alongside the ship, then slip not, the pilot as well. And leaving the
● Everything Raymond
regular radio reports to base – radio
the surface off Harwich one day in this tiny ‘runway’, the ship turned in sideways, centre ourselves over superstructure in place caused severe
Collishaw was not... Germany’s
reports which were intercepted by
July 1918 and immediately attacked, into the wind, the aircraft engine the fo’c’sle and alight.” Deck hands problems for incoming pilots. The
leading naval aviator Friedrich
the Admiralty. At dawn on May 14,
strafing the submarine with machine- revved up and then launched. As it would crouch down, waiting for the hot exhaust gases from the funnel
Christiansen – wearing the Pour
Flt Lt Christopher Galpin took a Large
gun fire which killed the CO Lt lifted away from the deck, the wheels aircraft’s wheels to touch the deck, were the least of the fliers’ troubles:
le Mérite, his nation’s highest
America towards the Terschelling
David Bell and three lookouts. The fell into the sea, where they were then dash out, jump up and grab the funnel, bridge and mast affected
decoration, around his neck
Bank where intelligence reported a
body of one of the dead men was picked up by a motor boat crew. hold of the plane. Furious’ captain, the airflow so severely, recalled
German airship was on patrol.
jammed in the hatch. His shipmates It was impossible to land on the Wilmot Nicholson, dismissed the pilot Geoffrey Moore, that “we
And it wasn’t merely Large
L22 had taken to the skies before
had to hack his legs off before they deck of Campania, or the even shorter whole affair. “You might as well just dropped on the deck like shot
Americas which took the fight to
dawn, conducting a routine patrol
could toss it over the side and the ‘launch platform’ on the Vindex. The take a revolver and blow your brains partridges”.
the foe. Fighters launched from tiny
of the waters off the West Frisian
hatch could be closed. Bombs and aircraft would either return to base out.” Put simply, it was too dangerous
‘runways’ built over the barrels of
Islands. The weather was poor –
bullets pierced the pressure hull – the on land, or set down in the sea for Sqn Cdr Edwin Harris Dunning to land on Furious. So pilots didn’t
guns were also being sent into North
heavy clouds and a stiff breeze.
gaps were plugged with the men’s recovery by crane. (pictured below) was determined to – they reverted to ditching in the sea
Sea skies. On the morning of August
Kapitänleutnant Martin Dietrich-
clothes – before the boat could be If it sounds rudimentary, it was prove Nicholson wrong. At 11.10am or putting down on terra firma. It
17 1917, Flt S/Lt Bernard Smart
towed back to harbour. – but not as basic as the launch was a far from an ideal solution, but
Bielefeld had no reason to suspect
on August 2 1917, with Furious
climbed into his Sopwith Pup aboard
Like the Red Baron, British had platforms built on top of turrets and undeterred, the Admiralty committed
today’s search of the North Sea
ploughing through Scapa Flow at
HMS Yarmouth and set off in pursuit
a begrudging respect for Friedrich gun barrels on cruisers and capital Furious and seven Sopwith Camels
minefields would be any different
26kts, he slipped his Sopwith Pup
of L23 off the coast of Jutland.
Christiansen – “a consummate ships of the Grand Fleet. At most into battle.
from previous tedious patrols.
over the forward deck, bounced once,
It took Smart a dozen minutes to
airman, an excellent shot and the pilot could hope for a runway of
At the end of one run through his
then came to rest as his shipmates
climb to 9,000ft before he closed in
sportsman” – but he was no 80ft. As the aircraft continued on its
allocated sector, Dietrich-Bielefeld
grabbed the aircraft.
on the Zeppelin from the stern. He
AT DAWN WE STRIKE
gentleman like Raymond Collishaw, downward trajectory swooping down
turned the leviathan about when,
Five days later Dunning tried
came within 20 yards of the airship,
not least because he would claim his “like a swallow”, Lt Victor Goddard
out of a cloud bank at 5,000ft, came
again – in more blustery conditions.
peppering her with incendiaries,
wingmen’s victories. recalled. With skill, and perhaps a bit
THE TONDERN RAID
Galpin in his Curtiss. He had left
He made one landing but was
before pulling away as flames broke
Both Christiansen and Collishaw of luck, it could gain sufficient speed
his position in the cockpit behind to
unhappy with his performance and
out. First the stern burned, then the
would serve in the second global to remain airborne. Without skill
THE FIRST CARRIER
man the forward gun while a senior
took his Pup up again. He made three
forward part. Like L22 before it,
conflagration a generation later. or good fortune, the aircraft would
rating stood by on the aft machine-
attempts before touching down – but
L23 crumpled, crashing into the sea,
The Canadian would command stall and crash into the sea. Even a
Eight miles inland from the North
gun. From 50 yards, he peppered the
too far forward. He tried to power
sending a column of thick black
RAF formations in North Africa successful take-off “would only miss
Sea, close to the base of the
Zeppelin with incendiary bullets. The
away, the engine choked, the Pup
smoke skywards. Smart saw at least
and Scotland before settling down the crest of the waves by a couple
Jutland peninsula, three huge sheds
gun jammed. He grabbed the second
stalled and began to fall over the
one crewman jump out and descend
to retirement and happily answering of feet,” Goddard recalled. “It was
dominated the low-lying terrain of
side. Photographs famously show his
machine-gun and almost emptied its by parachute. He was never found.
questions from historians and an extremely hazardous operation
Schleswig-Holstein. The Germans
shipmates trying to grab it, but the
magazine. All 18 men aboard L23 perished.
enthusiasts about his days in the and I used to watch these pilots with
gave all three names – Toska, an
aircraft fell into Scapa. Dunning was
L22 did not respond. Nor did she The Germans responded to this
cockpit. great admiration for their courage
enormous double shed which could
knocked unconscious as the Sopwith
burst into flames. The flying boat threat with flying boats of their
Friedrich Christensen resumed his and skill.”
house two airships, the smaller
struck the water. He drowned before
began to turn to make a second pass, own to intercept British seaplanes
career as a merchant sailor until The admiration for these pilots
Tobias which held a training balloon,
the aircraft could be recovered.
when suddenly Galpin noticed “a and airships. The Huns’ weapon of
the Nazis called on him to join the grows with the realisation there was
and Toni, in the process of being
In a war where ‘cannon fodder’
slight glow inside the envelope”. By choice was the Hansa-Brandenburg
nascent Luftwaffe. He served eagerly, little, if any, hope of recovering the
dismantled. From here Zeppelins
has so often been used to describe the
the time the seaplane had completed W12, smaller, faster, more agile than
heading the National Socialist aircraft. At the end of their missions,
L54 and L60 had both taken part in
victims whose names filled column
its turn, the stern of the Zeppelin its foe – but then it was a fighter.
Fliers’ Corps, an organisation the planes would have to ditch,
raids against the British Isles.
upon column of the newspapers,
was alight and the craft was at a No-one mastered the W12
which ostensibly promoted gliding their pilots hope for rescue. Even
Despite the successes of aviators
for once the powers that be
45˚ angle, plunging towards the better than Oberleutnant Friedrich
but in reality provided the air the Admiralty conceded that it was
in British skies or over the North Sea,
acknowledged that an individual had
sea. Another five seconds, and the Christiansen.
force with men who were already “inhuman” to ask pilots to set their
hunting the German airships in flight
made an inestimable contribution
leviathan was falling vertically. The Christiansen was not a typical
partially-trained. Christiansen would aircraft down among the waves.
was still a largely unrewarding affair.
to the national effort. It told his
rear gunner could clearly make out aviator – he was in his mid-30s
ultimately become the senior military They had little chance of survival.
As it had been in the very first days
parents:
‘L22’ painted near the nose before when he trained as a pilot after
figure in occupied Holland, ordering The Sopwith Camel, the standard
of the war, when naval fliers had
the flames consumed the envelope. serving in motor torpedo boats
brutal reprisal actions against the fighter by the beginning of 1918,
struck at Düsseldorf, “the place to
The Admiralty wish you to
He then watched as two men jumped and as a merchant mariner. As the Dutch civilian population. When one always tipped forward sharply when
attack Zeppelins was at their bases,”
know what great service he
out of the burning monster – without fourth year of the Great War began, German was killed by partisans near it ditched and the pilot was thrown
marina Continued on page ivperformed for the Navyy. It
parachutes; death by falling was Christiansen already had 400 flights the village of Putten, he told his men: against the machine-gun and killed
was in fact a demonstration of monstration of
preferable to death by conflagration. and 1,100 hours under his belt and “Das ganze Nest muss angesteckt or severely wounded.
landing an aeroplane on the plane on the
“When the airship had fallen to was regarded as Germany’s “best and werden und die ganze Bande an die
deck of a man-of-warof-war whilst whilst
about 1,000 feet, four large columns most successful naval aviator.” Wand gestellt” – the entire nest must
the latter was underder way way. . TThis his
‘MUCH COURAGE’
of water went up in quick succession He arrived to take charge of the be set on fire and all the bandits must
had never been done befordone beforee; ;
– either from bombs or engines air station at Zeebrugge on the first be put up against a wall. Putten was
GENESIS OF THE CARRIER
and the data obtained was of tained was of
becoming detached,” Galpin wrote. day of September 1917 and, in the razed and more than 650 men sent to
the utmost value. It will make . It will make
“After 45 seconds, the envelope was words of his biographer, “maintained labour camps; most never returned.
The only solution was to land on
aeroplanes indispensiblendispensible
burned off and the bare skeleton German air superiority along the So much for chivalry and knights
a ship. For that, the Navy needed
to the Fleet and and possibly possibly
plunged into the sea, leaving a mass Flanders coast until the end of the of the sky.
something fast – and something with
revolutionise naval warfarval warfare. e.
of black ash on the surface from war” – as the ill-fated crew of C27 a flight deck.
The risk taken by Squadrby Squadron
which a column of brown smoke which a found on the morning of December The former it possessed in
Commander Dunning needed nning needed
SHIPS WITH WINGS
about 1,500ft high sprang up and about 1,5 11 1917. abundance. The latter it did not.
much courage. He had alre had already eady
stood.”stood.” About to turn for home,
‘LAUNCH PLATFORMS’ The covetous eyes of naval aviators
made two successful landings sful landings
Galpin’Galpiin s rear gunner grabbed a Christiansen’s flight of three fell upon HMS Furious, a super
but expressed a wish wish to to lanland d
notepad and wrote a note for his notepaad seaplanes spied a blimp and pounced Ever since the Admiralty had decided battle-cruiser in the final stages of
again himself, beforefore othere other
flight commander: “Do you flighh on it from above. The Coastal-class to invest in heavier-than-air craft, it completion.
pilots did so and in this last last
think he ever saw us?” L22 thi airship was already ablaze by the time had sought to take them to sea. Furious would have been one
run he was killed.d.
had not, but within a month, h Christiansen arrived on the scene and But how to take aircraft to sea of the most potent weapons in the Dunning’s death was not was not
the Germans realised their th joined in the unequal battle. was the question – it would take the Grand Fleet’s armoury, her 18in guns the end of carrier aviation aviation
airships were in danger C27 plunged into the North Sea, Admiralty most of the war to find able to strike targets 20 miles away. but the beginning. ning.
from enemy aircraft its nose still intact as it struck the the answer. The Commander-in-Chief, David Furious returned to the the he
over the Noro th Sea: L40 water, killing all five crewmen. The Cuxhaven had shown what aircraft Beatty, was loathe to lose her. dockyard for yet more ore
(attacked (a twice), L46 (badly whole tragedy was filmed by C27’s launched from the sea could achieve – The result was one of the most alterations – this time me
damaged), L43 (destroyed). da comrades in her sister ship, C17. but the seaplane carrier was far from bizarre ships ever to hoist the White to remove her aft gun gun
Birth of Naval Aviation2.indd 3 11/9/09 10:44:34
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