iv BIRTH OF NAVAL AVIATION SUPPLEMENT, NAVY NEWS, OCTOBER 2009
Submarine Scout Zero class
Crew: 3
Length: 143ft
Diameter: 30ft
Volume: 70,000 ft³
Useful lift: 1,334 lb
(605 kg)
Powerplant: 1 x
Rolls-Royce Hawk
generating 75 HP
Speed: 53 mph
Rate of climb: 1,200ft/
min
Armament: 1 x Lewis Gun, 2 x
110lb or 1 x 250lb bomb
Cost: £5,000
Introduced: April 1917
SSZ 37 operated from RNAS
Pembroke in Wales from April
1918 until the war’s end, clocking
up more than 675 hours on
anti-submarine patrols. It was
decommissioned – or defl ated –
in January 1919.
Service than it was elsewhere. They
marina Continued from page iii
declared Richard Bell-Davies, the
already worked hand-in-hand with
second naval airman to earn the VC.
the RFC. “We very soon got over
Through the spring of 1918, pilots
our regrets,” naval aviator Flt Lt
in Sopwith Camels practised low-
Aubrey Ellwood, one of Raymond
level approaches at Turnhouse in
Collishaw’s Naval Three aces,
Edinburgh – today the site of the
recalled six decades later. “None
city’s international airport.
of us in the RNAS wanted to be
As with the attack on Cuxhaven,
amalgamated. Nor do I expect did
three and a half years before, bad
the RFC want to be amalgamated.”
weather twice thwarted the strike at
Differences were put aside. After all,
Tondern, but on the morning of July
Ellwood observed, “we were exactly
19, seven Camels, each carrying two
the same as them except we wore
50lb bombs, lifted off from Furious’
different uniforms”.
launching deck before dawn and
Squadrons were renumbered
headed east.
– 200 was added to every RNAS
It was light by the time the
formation on the Western Front.
unmissable sight of the giant Tondern
Raymond Collishaw, now a squadron
sheds came into view. William
commander in charge of No.3
Dickson watched as his comrade
Squadron, found himself a major
W D Jackson dived towards the
commanding No.203 Squadron.
largest of the three structures,
Flight commanders became captains,
dropping two bombs. One landed to
petty officers were now known as
the side, the other struck the centre
sergeants. Henry Allingham’s service
of the shed. It was followed by a
number F8317 became RAF 208317.
50-pounder from Dickson and two
He exchanged the rank of mechanic
from Flt Lt Norman Williams.
first class for aircraftman.
“The shed then burst into flames
Despite the new rank, the new
and enormous conflagration took
number, the new uniform – pale
place, rising to at least 1,000ft,
blue – Henry Allingham always
the whole shed being completely
considered himself “a Royal Navy
engulfed,” Dickson wrote in his
man”. In time, he would become our
official report. Zeppelins L54 and
last link with these pioneers of naval
L60 had been destroyed, although
aviation. He would come to write
the shed itself surprisingly remained
their epitaph:
intact.
I’m extremely proud of the
There was uneven ground fire
achievements made by the
from a handful of anti-aircraft guns
RNAS. We certainly made an
and rather more accurate machine-
impact both at sea and, of
gun and rifle fire, but it could not
course, on the Western Front.
stop Bernard Smart, killer of L23,
Without those early days and
dropping one bomb on Tobias. A
our scrappy little biplanes,
cloud of smoke and dust was thrown
World War 1 couldn’t have
up, but Smart could not tell whether
been won.
there had been an explosion as in
Toska.
“The whole surroundings were
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
thick with mechanics or soldiers
Compiled by Richard Hargreaves.
armed with rifles and machine-guns,
With thanks especially to naval
which gave so disconcerting a fire
● ‘It will make aeroplanes indispensable to the Fleet and possibly revolutionise naval warfare’... Shipmates try to catch Sqn Cdr Edwin aviation historian Alan Key for
that I dived with a full engine to 50
Dunning as he touches down on a ship under way – HMS Furious at Scapa Flow – for the first time in the history of aviation providing most of the images, the
feet and skimmed over the ground
Department of Documents at the
in a zigzag course to avoid it,” he
aviation and surrendered the air wing
Imperial War Museum, and the Fleet
recalled.
END OF THE RNAS
to “the guardianship of an unknown Air Arm Museum.
The airship inside Tobias did
AMALGAMATION
and alien stepmother”. The following books and journals
not explode, neither did a truck
Hallam paused. He and his have also been consulted:
carrying hydrogen cylinders, but
fellow aviators had nothing to feel
otherwise the Tondern raid – the first AN ERA PASSES
ashamed of. “It was a small service
Allingham, Henry, Kitchener’s Last
successful carrier strike in history –
that had done great things,” he
Volunteer
had achieved its aims. Two airships
By the time Argus appeared, the
declared proudly. For the last time
Bell Davies, Richard, Sailor in the
had been reduced to twisted heaps
Royal Naval Air Service was no
his comrades joined him in a toast
Sky
of metal and never again would the
more. The domain of the aviator
to the king in the surroundings of
Cooksley, Peter, The RFC/RNAS
base be used to launch attacks on the
belonged to a new, independent
their mess. At midnight, their service
Handbook 1914-1918
British mainland.
armed force, the RAF.
ceased to be.
Flight, 1914-1918
Yet Tondern was not an unqualified
In fairness, by the summer of
“Blow this khaki!” fumed Hallam.
Franks, Norman, Sopwith Triplane
success. Only Dickson and Smart
1917 Britain’s aerial forces needed
“I feel hardly human. “
Aces of World War 1
found the fleet and were picked up
shaking up. Naval airmen were
Fürbringer, Werner, Fips: Legendary
after ditching in the North Sea. One
far more likely to find themselves
U-boat Commander
Camel and its pilot simply vanished.
attacking Zeppelins over London or A KEY TO VICTORY
Gardiner, Ian, The Flatpack
Four more landed in Denmark. Their
wrestling with the Red Baron above
Bombers
crews took no more part in the war.
the trenches. Even David Beatty,
‘COMPLETE HOTCH-POTCH’
Grant, Robert, U-Boats Destroyed
It was a loss rate of men and
Commander-in-Chief of the Grand
Hallam, Douglas, The Spider Web
machines that naval aviation could
Fleet, conceded that the number of
● Small and slow, but the progenitor of carrier aviation, HMS Argus
– the world’s fi rst true aircraft carrier
At the stroke of midnight on Monday
Halpern, Paul, A Naval History of
not bear, but back in the UK the
naval aviators employed on strictly April 1 1918, the Royal Naval Air
World War 1
solution was at hand: the world’s first naval tasks was “a very small
course, “from time to time”, the Bernard Isaac appreciated
Service passed into history and the
Hobbs, David, A Century of Carrier
true aircraft carrier. proportion”.
Army or Navy might wish to use what the Royal Navy was losing.
Royal Air Force was born.
Aviation
HMS Argus embodied all the South African general and
aircraft. The Air Staff would naturally Indeed, almost to a man, the
Four years before it had numbered
King, Brad, The Royal Naval Air
experience, all the knowledge of politican Jan Smuts was the man
“attach them” for the duration of any RNAS appreciated the Royal Navy
barely 700 men operating fewer than
Service 1912-1918
shipbuilding and handling aircraft at charged with overhauling Britain’s
operation. rather more than the Royal Navy
100 aircraft. Today it possessed just
Layman, R D, The Cuxhaven Raid
sea that Britain possessed in 1918. aerial policy. He set about his task
Within two months, Smuts’ appreciated it. On the last day of
short of 3,000 aircraft and more than
Levine, Joshua, On a Wing and a
Pictures of Argus – a converted with vigour – and alacrity. Five
recommendations had been approved March 1918, they bade farewell to
55,000 personnel assigned to around
Prayer
Italian liner – with her zebra-esque weeks after being given the task, he
by the powers that be. Within four, their service.
100 air stations and air bases in
Mowthorpe, C E S, Battlebags:
dazzle paint convey the impression of reported his findings: Britain needed
they were enshrined in law. The In Harwich, Rear Admiral Cuthbert Britain and abroad. British Airships of the First World
a large vessel. She was not. Her flight one, not two, aerial forces, under the
Admiralty didn’t put up too much Cayley was stepping down as the The transition from RNAS to RAF War
deck was short – 550ft – and narrow direction of a single organisation, an
of a fight – although it did argue ranking officer. His farewell seemed was far from smooth. It was, recalled Mowthorpe, C E S, Sky Sailors
– 85ft. But it was a continuous deck, air ministry.
that new force or not, the Royal the perfect moment to pay tribute to Thomas Thomson of No.17 Squadron Neumann, G P, The German Air
unimpeded, no funnels, no masts, Smuts’ report, whose wordy title
Navy needed its own air branch. Its the Royal Naval Air Service as well. on the Western Front, “a complete Force in the Great War
indeed no superstructure at all (the – Air Organisation. Second Report
arguments fell on deaf ears. Among the attendees, Douglas hotch-potch”. He continued: Popham, Hugh, Into Wind
bridge was actually under the flight of the Prime Minister’s Committee
Lt Bernard Isaac, who had Hallam, who feared the opening Robinson, Douglas, The Zeppelin in
deck). Pilots liked her. The turbulence on Air Organisation and Home
The ex-RNAS rating would
sailed to France with the RNAS at months of the Royal Air Force Combat
which bedevilled their landings on Defence Against Air Raids – belied
take off his hat to receive
the beginning of the war, wasn’t might be dogged by in-fighting and Roskill, Stephen, Documents
Furious was gone. its significance, was the genesis of
his pay, the Army man would
surprised. The Fleet was dominated petty squabbles “at a time when all Relating to the Royal Naval Air
It was the autumn of 1918 before the Royal Air Force.
by men who idolised the ‘big gun’. hands should be busy mopping up
keep his hat on. The ex-RNAS
Service 1908-1918
HMS Argus joined the Fleet and her
An Air Ministry, the equivalent of There was even one in charge of the the Hun”. After all, the RNAS had
man would double across the
Samson, Charles, Fights and Flights
days were devoured by trial take-offs
the Admiralty and the War Office, RNAS, Isaac fumed, Rear Admiral demonstrated a can-do attitude in its
parade ground, the ex-RFC
Shores, Christoper, 100 Years of
and landings. She would take no part
would “control and administer all Charles Vaughan-Lee. He was a “a brief life. “It had never been noted
man would march across it.
British Naval Aviation
in the war, despite grandiose plans
matters in connection with aerial naval man who cares nothing for for its red-tape methods, its ingenuity
Naval squadrons still sat down
Steel, Nigel and Hart, Peter, Tumult
for her to launch a dawn strike by
warfare of all kinds whatsoever”. the Air Service, has no knowledge in creating forms to be filled in,
to toast the king, whereas the
in the Clouds
torpedo bombers against the German
It would wage its own war. Smuts of aviation, nor had he taken any or the number of ground personnel
army people got up. It was
Terraine, John, Business in Great
Fleet in harbour – a plan realised by
dreamed of a day “not far off” when interest in the subject before his required to administer it,” he wrote.
absolutely ludicrous – Fred
Waters
the Japanese two decades later at
air forces would lay waste to “enemy appointment.” It was not unknown The flier felt betrayed by the rest of
Karno’s Army!
Thompson, Julian, The Imperial War
Pearl Harbor.
lands”, cities, industries, centres of for Vaughan-Lee to refer to the the Fleet which had seemingly quite It was easier for fliers on the Museum Book of the War at Sea
● ●
◆ population “on a vast scale”. Of RNAS as ‘the circus’. happily washed its hands of naval Western Front to attune to the new 1914-1918
Birth of Naval Aviation2.indd 4 11/9/09 10:45:32
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