1917: First Landing on a Moving Warship by Edwin Harris Dunning

http://todayinaviation.com/edwin-harris-dunning/

Squadron Commander Edwin Harris Dunning (Royal Naval Air Service) made aviation
history when on August 2, 1917 he became the first person to land an aircraft on
the deck of a ship underway, thus paving the path to the modern fleet carrier
force.

The central positioning of funnels, bridge and other structures on a warship
left insufficient clear deck to permit a plane to land onboard, thus, hitherto,
all aircraft launched from ships and out of range of land had to come down on
the sea beside the mother ship and be winched back onboard, a hazardous exercise
at the best of times and overly fraught with danger in conflict, when a
stationary ship presented an easy target for lurking submarines. The alternative
was to ditch the plane and at least rescue the pilot. Since airpower was even
then considered to be a potential threat to the largest ships afloat because of
its ability to launch a torpedo attack out of range of an enemy’s big guns, as
well as providing accurate spotting of enemy formations at long distance, it
became clear that a more useful mechanism was required to recover planes at the
end of their sorties.

Dunning conceived the audacious plan to fly alongside the ship, HMS Furious,
then underway in Scapa Flow, heading into wind until he came abreast of the
bridge and then side-slip his plane onto the deck cleared for the purpose
running from the bridge to the prow. As any pilot will confirm, side-slipping
requires a delicate touch on the controls and good distance judgement if the
down wing is not to hit the ground before the plane is levelled for landing.
Hard enough to do on land without a cross wind, but perilous in the extreme onto
a ship heaving on a swell and buffeted by the unpredictable gusts formed by
onrushing air hitting the vessel.

Dunning flew his Sopwith Pup with great precision and accomplished the first
ever landing of a ship underway. The Admiralty later said this of this feat:

“The Admiralty wish you to know what great service he performed for the Navy. It
was in fact a demonstration of landing an Aeroplane on the deck of a Man-of-War
whilst the latter was under way. This had never been done before, and the data
obtained was of the upmost value. It will make Aeoplanes indispensable to a
fleet and possibly revolutionise Naval Warfare. The risk taken by Squadron
Commander Dunning needed much courage.”

Dunning performed the feat twice more and insisted on a further attempt on 7
August, 1917 before other pilots were allowed to try, but as he came in for his
landing an engine malfunction caused his plane to fall onto the deck and despite
the frantic efforts of deck crew to halt the runaway plane, a gust of wind
carried it over the edge, plunging the Pup into the sea. Dunning was knocked
unconscious and drowned in his cockpit.



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Sopwith Pup

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sopwith_Pup

The Sopwith Pup was a British single-seater biplane fighter aircraft built by
the Sopwith Aviation Company. It entered service with the Royal Flying Corps and
the Royal Naval Air Service in the autumn of 1916. With pleasant flying
characteristics and good manoeuvrability, the aircraft proved very successful.
The Pup was eventually outclassed by newer German fighters, but it was not
completely replaced on the Western Front until the end of 1917. Remaining Pups
were relegated to Home Defence and training units. The Pup's docile flying
characteristics also made it ideal for use in aircraft carrier deck landing and
takeoff experiments.

Role
Biplane fighter

Manufacturer
Sopwith Aviation Company

Designer
Herbert Smith

First flight
9 February 1916

Introduction
October 1916

Primary users
Royal Flying Corps
Royal Air Force
Royal Naval Air Service

Produced
1916–1918

Number built
1,770

Variants
Beardmore W.B.III

Shipboard use?

Sopwith Pups were also used in many pioneering carrier experiments. On 2 August
1917, a Pup flown by Sqn Cdr Edwin Dunning became the first aircraft to land
aboard a moving ship, HMS Furious. Dunning was killed on his third landing when
the Pup fell over the side of the ship. The Pup began operations on the carriers
in early 1917; the first aircraft were fitted with skid undercarriages in place
of the standard landing gear. Landings utilised a system of deck wires to "trap"
the aircraft. Later versions reverted to the normal undercarriage. Pups were
used as ship-based fighters on three carriers: HMS Campania, Furious and
Manxman. A number of other Pups were deployed to cruisers and battleships where
they were launched from platforms attached to gun turrets. A Pup flown from a
platform on the cruiser HMS Yarmouth shot down the German Zeppelin L 23 off the
Danish coast on 21 August 1917.

The U.S. Navy also employed the Sopwith Pup with famed Australian/British test
pilot Edgar Percival testing the use of carrier-borne fighters. In 1926,
Percival was catapulted in a Pup off the battleship USS Idaho at Guantánamo Bay,
Cuba.