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Fairey Campania

1917 WORLD WAR 1

The Story of Fairey Campania

During the First World War, the British became great supporters and pioneers of naval aviation. In the summer of 1914, a war broke out in Europe, and old alliances and treaties came into play, pitting centers of colonial power against those of colonial power. Britain eventually declared war on the German Empire and became part of the Triple Entente, along with France and Russia, against allied powers such as Germany, Austria-Hungary, Bulgaria and the Ottoman Empire. As with any war economy, commerce began to rise rapidly and technology raced to provide solutions to the problems of war.

World War I culminated in chemical warfare, flamethrowers, fighter jets, bombers, and aircraft carriers, among other particularly deadly developments. Before the advent of aircraft carriers, however, there were "seaplane tenders" - vessels that typically converted existing hulls into seaplanes. The plane was lowered to the surface by a crane for takeoff and collected again in a similar fashion on return.

While this approach was justified to a certain extent, it left the main ship very vulnerable in the process - which eventually led to the development of purpose-built aircraft carriers.

The Royal Navy's first seaplane tender became the experimental HMS Hermes in 1913, which was based on an existing cruiser-type naval battleship from 1898. The ship was destroyed by enemy torpedoes in October 1914.

HMS Ark Royal commissioned in December The Royal Navy claims to have its first "true" aircraft carrier. Since then, the Royal Navy has provided a steady stream of ships converted to serve various types of aircraft, ultimately ensuring long-range attacks against the enemy in whatever area they are called upon.

In the early stages of the war, seaplane suppliers HMS Engadine (1911), HMS Empress (1914) and HMS Rivera were used in combat with their fleet of small seaplanes. The first naval air raid was recorded on December 25, 1914, when Royal Navy aircraft bombed zeppelins outside Cuxhaven. HMS Engadine also participated in the later naval battle of Jutland near Denmark. HMS Vindex was responsible for the first launch of a land-based fighter when a Bristol Scout C biplane was launched forward from her deck. A Type 184 biplane seaplane bomber from HMS Ben-My-Chree (former passenger ferry) participated in the first successful aircraft torpedo test flight.

In 1914, the Royal Navy acquired HMS Campania, an aging ocean liner that was later converted into a seaplane and served that way until 1916.

In 1916, the Royal Navy refitted HMS Campania to accommodate a 200-foot flight deck and ordered a purpose-built naval aircraft for patrol and reconnaissance. This fell to the Fairey Group, which was founded in 1915 and has so far been mainly engaged in contract manufacturing of various aircraft. Fairey responded with the F.16 prototype, a two-seater single-engine biplane powered by a 250-horsepower Rolls-Royce Eagle IV engine. The building is traditional, with a solid wooden substructure covered with a canvas skin.

The landing gear consisted of two seaplanes for take-off and landing on water, but a throwable trolley was developed for deck launches of equipped ships. Defense was carried out by a 7.7mm Lewis machine gun mounted on a flexible ring mount in the rear cockpit, while carrying a bomb load of up to 6 x 116 lb bombs. The F.16 was followed by the F.17 prototype with a 275 hp Rolls-Royce Eagle V engine.

Both aircraft were in limited operational service prior to Royal Navy type certification. The final production brand thus became the F.22 with the 260 hp Sunbeam Maori II engine.

170 of these models were ordered, with production split between Fairey, Barclay Curie and Company and Frederick Sage and Company/Sunbeam Motor Car Company.

When HMS Campania was completed, she received her new Fairey plane, the name "Campania" is associated with the genre. Since then, Fairey Campania has alternately stowed HMS Nairana and HMS Pegasus (although HMS Campania is the only boat of the three to have a flight deck - the others have normal aircraft winch control).

The RAF also operates the aircraft through the 240th, 241st and 253rd Squadrons.

The Faire Campanias was used as a reconnaissance plane for the remainder of the war when the armistice ended in November 1918. In the years that followed, Fairey Campania was used by the British to identify mines off the British coast, and her service career was rather uneventful.

Some British Fairey Campanias also served in the war with the Bolsheviks during the Russian Revolution, although by August 1919 the aircraft had reached its technical limits and was officially retired. In November 1918, the HMS Campania was lost in a storm on April 5, which also ended her career.

Although 170 Fairey Campanias were ordered, only 62 were completed in total, 42 of which were available at armistice.