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Mavi Boncuk | HMS Ark Royal was the first ship in history designed and built (Blyth Shipbuilding Company, Blyth, Northumberland) as a seaplane carrier. She was purchased by the Royal Navy in 1914 shortly after her keel had been laid and the ship was only in frames; this allowed the ship's design to be modified almost totally to accommodate seaplanes. In World War I, Ark Royal participated in the Gallipoli Campaign in early 1915 with her aircraft conducting aerial reconnaissance and observation missions[1]. Her aircraft later supported British troops on the Macedonian Front in 1916, before she returned to the Dardanelles to act as a depot ship for all the seaplanes operating in the area. In January 1918, several of her aircraft unsuccessfully attacked the German battle cruiser SMS Goeben when she sortied from the Dardanelles to attack Allied ships in the area. The ship left the area later in the year to support seaplanes conducting anti-submarine patrols over the southern Aegean Sea.
As the Allied landings kicked off, the Turkish aircraft squadron had only 4 aircraft, one of which was a seaplane, and it was attached to the Command of Çanakkale Fortified Zone, not to the Turkish Fifth Army. Therefore the squadron could not be used efficiently, whereas the Allies were observing the Turkish lines using a fixed balloon at an altitude of 200 meters. The balloon was attached to a British vessel anchored off Arıburnu and thanks to the intelligence it was providing, the Allied artillery was causing great damage. Although the Turkish aircraft did not manage to sink the ship, through their raids they forced the balloon to descend from time to time.
Although the capabilities of the Turkish Air Force were far behind those of the Allied forces due to the lack of aircrafts and equipment, Turkish pilots have contributed remarkably to the efforts of the land forces at various fronts.
The first aerial operation during the Gallipoli campaign was Lieutenant Fazıl Bey’s reconnaissance flight over the islands of Tenedos and Limnos on 5 September 1914. Flying for 70 minutes on his Nieuport Hydravion seaplane, Fazıl Bey discovered that British warships were patrolling outside the Dardanelles and controlling the vessels entering and leaving the straits. Others followed this initial reconnaissance flight and since one single seaplane was not enough for this task, another Nieuport Hydravion was brought from Istanbul to Çanakkale by Captain Savmi Bey.
A Turkish seaplane at Gallipoli SOURCEAs of March 1915, there were three aircrafts in Gallipoli, manned by German and Turkish pilots. These were brought together to form the Turkish 1st Air Squadron, under the command of the German Lieutenant Ludwig Preussner. On 1 March 1915, Lieutenant Cemal Bey dropped bombs on the British battleship Majestic, causing substantial damage.
[1] The Ark Royal carried two Sopwith tabloid aeroplanes[*], with one Short, two Wight and three Sopwith Seaplanes. These were found to be woefully under-powered and were severely hampered by adverse weather conditions. Early seaplanes had great difficulty in taking off in anything but the calmest seas and the Mediterranean was lamentably uncooperative particularly when it was whipped up by the prevailing westerly winds. The seaplane engines were unreliable and their lack of power was translated into a disturbingly low ceiling of operations. The Ark Royal had also brought along two of the early Sterling wireless sets. These allowed pilots and observers to transmit messages to receiving sets carried on board ships. The extra weight of the Sterling wireless sets did not help the performance of the seaplanes. On 17 February only one of the four managed to get off, a Wight A 1 Seaplane flown by Flight Lieutenant G R Bromet and Flight Commander H A Williamson. They flew across the Straits, reconnoitred the Turkish forts from about 4,000 feet and even dropped a token 20lb bomb which hit the wall of one fort. They returned with seven bullet holes and reports on the entrance forts of Sedd el Bahr and Kum Kale. MORE...
[*]The Sopwith Tabloid and Schneider were British biplanes, originally designed as sports aircraft and later adapted for military use. They were among the first types to be built by the Sopwith Aviation Company. The "Tabloid", so named because of its small size, caused a sensation when it made its first public appearance. A floatplane variant was prepared and entered for the 1914 Schneider Trophy race.
pictured The Sopwith Schneider