The ship-borne air attack was a complete surprise to the Germans, who had previously thought the base beyond reach of British aircraft. In July 1918, seven Sopwith Camels from HMS Furious launched on a daring early morning raid from the North Sea, destroying two Zeppelins at the Tondern airship base, from which Germany had also been conducting night bombing raids over Britain. “Germany’s Zeppelin fleet was causing all kinds of problems for the British in the North Sea as long-range eyes in the sky tracking their fleet movements.” “The British were reluctantly forced to take airplanes to sea to fight Zeppelins,” says USS Midway Museum historian Karl Zingheim. Upon completion of a mission, pilots would either land ashore or-if unable-ditch alongside to hopefully be fished out of the water. The Royal Navy also experimented with launching wheeled aircraft off wood platforms grafted onto warships.
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The First World War was a proving ground for naval aviation, when both British and American shore-based seaplane units were tasked with flying anti-submarine patrols. Navy’s first generation of carrier aviators. Langley showed it could be done, and then trained the U.S. The Langley was an experiment to see if aircraft could operate effectively off ships. This year, the carrier celebrates its 100th birthday, born in the form of the USS Langley, a plodding little flattop commissioned in 1922. They’ve been called “Cities at Sea.” Crewed by as many as 5,000 sailors and measuring more than 1,000 feet long, an aircraft carrier is a floating air base able to project power almost anywhere in the world, carrying as many as 90 aircraft.
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Navy commissioned the USS Langley-an ungainly new ship that would forever change military aviation.