Tondern raid

Tondern raid

The Tondern raid, known officially as Operation F7, was a British bombing raid in the First World War, it was also the first ever air raid conducted by carrier based aircraft. British Sopwith Camels, launched from HMS Furious flew 160 kilometres to bomb and destroy two German Zeppelin hangers at Tondern, Denmark, burning the Zeppelins L.54 and L.60 inside. [cite book
author=Humble Richard
title=Fraser of North Cape: The Life of Admiral of the Fleet, Lord Fraser, 1888-1981
year=1983
publisher=Routledge
pages=54-55
isbn=0710095554
] [cite book
author=Burr Lawrence, Bryan Tony
title=British Battlecruisers 1914-18
publisher=Osprey
year=2006
page=54
isbn=1846030080
] [cite book
author=Roger Chesneau
title=Aircraft Carriers of the World
year=2004
publisher=Brockhampton Press
pages=288
isbn=1860198759
] [ [http://www.royal-navy.mod.uk/server/show/nav.3919 "HMS Furious"] Royal Navy]

Background

After numerous Zeppelin attacks on Britain in 1916, HMS Furious was modified to carry, launch, and recover aircraft. Edwin Harris Dunning performed the first trial landing, in a Sopwith Pup, at Scapa Flow 2 August 1917, then died in a crash during a subsequent attempt five days later. Furious was further refitted over the winter and recommissioned 15 March 1918. [cite book
title=World War I: Encyclopedia
author=Spencer Tucker, Priscilla Mary Roberts
year=2005
publisher=ABC-CLIO
pages=1661
isbn=1851094202
]

Plan

The plan called for two flights (seven aircraft) of Camels to take off from "Furious", navigate to Tondern on the Danish coast and there attack the sheds. At extreme range for the fighters, engagement with any other aircraft along the way was prohibited but Zeppelins were to be attacked no matter the amount of fuel remaining. Once they had made their return, they were to ditch in the sea and the pilots picked up by destroyers escorting "Furious".

Smart, a member of the RNAS before its amalgamation, had shot down a Zeppelin after being launched from the cruiser "Yarmouth". He was given command of the second flight made up of himself and two Sub-lieutenants.

Raid

On 19 July 1918, the seven Camels launched and carried out the attack plan. The initial strike was misdirected. Hitting a storage shed, the subsequent fire illuminated two Zepplin hangers, which were subsequently struck and destroyed by the ensuing hydrogen fire. The first shed was destroyed by Captain Dixon, the second by Captain Bernard Smart. Three pilots crash-landed in Denmark and were interned, three made it back to "Furious", and the last never returned. King George awarded Dixon the DSO, whilst Smart received the bar to his previously awarded DSO.

References

Further reading

* [http://www.casey.tgis.co.uk/web/dfc/tonder.htm "The Raid on Tondern: July 19th, 1918" Accessed 2008-03-08]
* [http://query.nytimes.com/mem/archive-free/pdf?_r=1&res=9B01E0D9143EE433A25756C2A9619C946996D6CF&oref=slogin "KING GEORGE VISITS THE MYSTERY SHIP; Goes Aboard Airplane Carrier Which Figured in Raid on Zeppelin Hangars."] "New York Times" 1918-07-25


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