HISTORY

July 2023

switched a bicycle for a train until he made it

on board of the ship headed for Sweden. From

there he continued to Norway where he boarded

the ship headed for Scotland. Fourteen days

after the raid he reported back to his base. For

his actions he was awarded the Distinguished

Flying Cross and remained on active duty. In 1919

he sailed on board of the modified cruiser HMS

Vindictive with Franco-British fleet to support

the troops fighting Bolsheviks at Petersburg.

Sadly, on September 17, 1919, the unbeatable

“Kiwi” ran out of luck. He did not return from

the patrol flight. The brave aviator was buried in

Koivisto, the former Finnish town which is now

part of Russia (Primorsk). He was 25 years old.

The Tondern base was seriously damaged, and

the attack the Germans used it only for backup.

Most importantly, the British raid clearly proved

that the future is in the aircraft carriers which

aircraft present bigger combat potential than

impressive, but technically outdated Zeppelins.

Sources

J. M. Bruce: “The Sopwith Pup”, Flight

International, reissue

V. Hynek, P. Klucina, E. Sknouril: Military ships

(3), Nase vojsko, 1988

Guttman, Jon & Illustrated by Simon Smith,

Harry Dempsey, Richard Chasemore, Peter Bull

: Sopwith Cames, Air Vanguard, 2012

www.Luftshiffe.de

Wikipedia

The author’s clip archive

BBC: Attack of the Zeppelin (movie)

Photo: archive

weather conditions continued to be less than

ideal, but the flight operations were possible, so

it was decided to launch the mission. All seven

Camels, each with two attached 49 lbs. (22.5

kilos) bombs took off from HMS Furious deck

between 03:13 and 03:21 am.

The first group was formed by three aircraft

flown by Capt. W. D. Jakson, Capt. W. F. Dickson,

and Lt. N. E. Williams. The second wave consisted

of four airplanes piloted by Capt. B. A. Smart (his

Zeppelin kill is described above), Lt. S. Dawson,

LT. W. A. Yeulett and Capt. T. K. Thyne. The lastnamed pilot was forced to return due to engine

trouble before reaching the target. At 4:35 am

the first group arrived in Tondern and caught

everyone by surprise. In the past, there was

a fighter flight deployed to Tondern consisting

of four Fokkers and four Albatrosses but in 1917

it was disbanded due to the frequent accidents

caused by the wet ground. Its duties were taken

over by a Navy hydroplane base near the island

of Sylt but in the morning of June 19, 1918, they

evaluated the weather as not suitable for flying

and cancelled the patrol flights. According

to the plan the airplanes from the first wave

focused on the hangar Tosca which was the

largest of all and at that time housed L54 (LZ 99

class U) and L-60 (LZ 10878 class V) airships.

The hangar was hit by three bombs and caused

a large fire which destroyed both airships. The

fourth bomb of the first group hit the hangar

Tobias which was consequently attacked by

the second group. It also caused the fire by

until today it is not clear what burnt in fact. No

German was killed during the attack, only four

men were wounded.

The sailors on the HMS Furious deck,

looking for their Camels returning back were

disappointed. Not even one returned. Only two of

them made emergency landings on water near

the British vessels. At 05:55 am, Dickson landed

near destroyer HMS Violet, half an hour later,

Smart landed at 6:30. Yeulett was not lucky. He

got lost over the sea and crashed. On June 24

the wreck of his Camel was washed ashore near

Havrig and the body of his unfortunate pilot was

found four days later near Holmsland. Three

aviators from the first wave calculated that due

to the insufficient fuel they will not make it back,

so they headed to the neutral Denmark. The

naval Camels (N6771, N6605 and N6823) landed

one after another and the pilots were interned.

They managed to escape later. One story for

all: FL Samuel Dawson successfully landed his

Camel N6605 despite the pierced tire on the

sand beach Holmsland Klit (Klegold) near the

village. He intended to source the gas, refuel,

and fly back to his ship. Before he could do any

of it, he was detained by police and escorted

to the hotel where he met his 2 colleagues.

The New Zealander did not want to accept the

fate of an interned soldiers. He sneaked out

of the hotel in a civil coat and hat and fled. He

The burning hangar Tosca at the Tondern base. The airships L-54 and L-60 stored inside were destroyed.

INFO Eduard

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