Tondern: The First Carrier Strike

Over Tondern: 19 July 1918

 By Adrian Roberts

The use of carrier-borne aircraft to attack land targets is associated with World War II and later. However, the first such attack using land planes was the raid on the airship sheds at Tondern on 19 July 1918, which was then in Schleswig-Holstein, North Germany, but is now in Denmark. (Seaplanes launched from seaplane carriers had been used even earlier, starting with the ineffectual but bold Cuxhaven raid on Christmas Day 1914).

The Instrument of Destruction

A Post-Mission View of Lt. Williams's Sopwith 2F1 Camel

Eugene Ely had taken off and landed on temporary platforms on warships at anchor in 1910, and other flights had subsequently been made taking off from platforms on moving ships, but landing on moving ships proved problematic. HMS Furious was the first serious attempt at adapting a large warship for this purpose. She was laid down as a “Large Light Cruiser,” but her forward armament was never fitted and was replaced by a permanent flat deck forward of the superstructure. Taking off from this was not too difficult: but landing while the ship was moving was another matter due to having to crab across the front of the superstructure in the turbulent air. Squadron Commander Edwin Dunning achieved a landing in a Sopwith Pup on 2 August 1917 but was killed five days later attempting to repeat the feat. A similar deck was then fitted in place of the aft gun turret to develop landing techniques, but the superstructure still crossed the width of the ship, creating turbulence that was too much for the Pups used in the trials. There were no more fatalities but many smashed aeroplanes and broken noses. Therefore, in practice the ship could only be used for launching aeroplanes from the forward deck, and the pilots would have to ditch near a ship, hoping to be picked up. (After the war, Furious was rebuilt with a full-length flight deck, and survived WWII).

The Carrier

HMS Furious, July 1918

Flight Deck Ready for Launch

Since early in the war, German airships (mainly zeppelins) had been terrifying the British public, who were unprepared for aerial bombardment; around 560 people had been killed. By mid-1917, airships had become vulnerable to improved Home Defence and largely been replaced by Gotha aeroplane bombers, but there were fatalities from a zeppelin raid as late as 11 April 1918, so it was considered that an attack on a major base was worthwhile. A raid on the Tondern base was planned, and it was considered feasible to launch seven Sopwith 2F1 Camels (the Naval version) from the foredeck of Furious. The deck would be very cramped, but with the ship steaming into the wind at around 25 knots, the Camels could be airborne in only a few yards. Historians are not clear as to the bomb load, but it is believed to have been two 50 lb bombs.

The commander of the seven pilots was Captain Bernard Smart DSO (the RAF were still using Army ranks). He was the only one with combat experience; he had shot down zeppelin L23 after flying from a platform on the cruiser Yarmouth. He was 27; only one of the others was over 21. Furious, accompanied by the cruisers and destroyers of her task force, approached the Danish coast before dawn on 19 July 1918. The first three Camels, flown by Jackson, Dickson, and Williams, launched at 0312; the remaining four 15 minutes later flown by Smart, Thyne, Dawson, and Yeulett. Thyne’s Camel suffered engine failure soon after launching; he ditched and was picked up. 

Approach and Targets

Approach Route (Note Danish/German Border)

Three Zeppelin Sheds at Tondern

The first three Camels approached the zeppelin base unopposed; Jackson dropped his bombs on the main shed, “Toska,” and zeppelins L54 and L60 that were inside immediately burst into flames. Williams bombed the smaller shed “Tobias,” but there were no zeppelins inside. Dickson dropped his first bomb on a cow-shed, then saw where the others were bombing and dropped his other bomb there. The second flight of Camels appeared, in the face of some resistance by Flak gunners still in their pyjamas, and bombed the smoke, but it seems that Jackson had done the real damage; some infrastructure was damaged by the second section. It is not thought that there were any fatalities among the Germans, but losing two of the latest type of zeppelin was a serious blow.

Mission Accomplished

One of the Destroyed Zeppelins

Smart and Dickson managed to return to the task force, ditched and were picked up; at least one Camel was also salvaged. Jackson, Dawson, and Williams, being low on fuel, elected to land in neutral Denmark where they were interned, though all managed to return home before the war ended. Sadly, 19 year-old Toby Yeulett did not return. His body was washed up and he was buried in a Danish churchyard where he still lies. His aircraft was thought to have struck power lines during the raid; he kept going but a photograph of the wreckage on a sandbank suggests that he had gone straight into the sea rather than ditching so possibly it had been damaged and he lost control.

The Aviators

In Mufti: Lt. Williams and Capt. Jackson, Who Were Temporarily Interned in Denmark;
Inset: Mission Leader Capt. Smart

On the Left: Lt. Yeulett's Grave in Denmark

Dickson was the only one of the seven who remained in the RAF after 1919. He became chief of the Air Staff in the 1950s and retired in five-star rank as Marshal of the Royal Air Force Sir William Dickson GCB DSO, dying in 1988. Bernard Smart returned to his family’s hat-making business in Luton. He became a successful businessman and died in 1979. 

Dawson volunteered for service with the North Russia Expeditionary Force against the Bolsheviks. On 17 September 1919, his Camel developed engine trouble soon after take-off from the carrier Vindictive and came down in the Baltic. This time he did not survive.

Little is known of the others; presumably they led normal lives, which in the end is the best outcome of war.

Adrian Roberts, August 2025