Tondern raid The Tondern raid , officially designated Operation F . 7 , was a British bombing raid mounted by the Royal Navy and Royal Air Force against the Imperial German Navy ' s airship base at Tønder , Denmark , then a part of Germany . It was the first attack in history made by aircraft flying from a carrier flight deck . On 19 July 1918 seven Sopwith Camels took off from the converted large cruiser " Furious " . For the loss of one man , the British destroyed two German zeppelin s , " L . 54 " and " L . 60 " and a captive balloon . Background . In March 1918 the " large light cruiser " " Furious " joined the Grand Fleet at Scapa Flow , flying the flag of the Rear - Admiral Commanding Aircraft , R . F . Phillimore . " Furious " had initially been converted for use as an aircraft carrier during her construction , with a flight deck forward of her main superstructure , and during 1917 had been equipped with the Sopwith Camel 2F . 1a navalised variant of the Sopwith Camel . These partially replaced the Sopwith 1½ Strutter . In late 1917 a second flight deck was fitted aft ( landing on which proved " almost as hazardous as ditching in the sea " ) . As part of the new Flying Squadron , " Furious " would be expected to form part of the Grand Fleet if and when a battle was fought with the German High Sea Fleet . Until such need arose however , she was dispatched on reconnaissance missions off the Heligoland Bight searching for minefield s and looking for evidence of counter - mining by the Germans . An attack on the bases of the Imperial German Navy ' s Naval Airship Division was allegedly suggested to Rear - Admiral Phillimore by his Royal Air Force staff officer Lieutenant - Colonel Robert Clark - Hall and one of his pilots , Squadron Commander Richard Bell - Davies , VC . Clark - Hall received Phillimore ' s approval and the Commander - in - Chief of the Grand Fleet David Beatty ' s permission . Operation F . 6 . It was originally planned to use Sopwith 1½ Strutters in an attack , but these were too valuable for reconnaissance purposes and Sopwith Camels substituted , whose range limitations meant an attack on the airship base at Tondern . The initial attack on Tondern , named Operation F . 6 called for two waves of four aircraft , each pilot receiving special training . One of the pilots , Major Moore , was posted away before the operation ' s scheduled date of 29 June 1918 , by which time it was too late to train a replacement . Training consisted of bombing runs on the airfield at Turnhouse , where the outlines of Tondern ' s three airship sheds were marked out . The pilots were Captains W . D . Jackson , W . F . Dickson , B . A . Smart and T . K . Thyne , and Lieutenants N . E . Williams , S . Dawson and W . A . Yeulett . On 27 June " Furious " put to sea from Rosyth , escorted by the First Light Cruiser Squadron and eight destroyers from the 13th Flotilla . On 29 June the ships reached the flying off point but with Force 6 winds prevailing flying was deemed impossible and the operation was called off . Operation F . 7 . The mission was attempted again , renamed Operation F . 7 , and " Furious " went to sea at 12 : 03 on 17 July . This time she was escorted by " Force B " , including a division of the First Battle Squadron ( all the new " Revenge " - class battleship s ) , the Seventh Light Cruiser Squadron and a destroyer screen . HMS " Resolution " s ' " Y " turret guns had been loaded with a special shrapnel shell for use against airships . During the passage the destroyer " Valentine " investigated a reported submarine contact , but nothing else untoward occurred . At 03 : 04 in the morning of 19 July " Furious " was ready to fly off her Camels when a thunderstorm struck . Rather than cancel the operation , it was decided to delay it twenty - four hours and " Furious " and her destroyer screen fell back on Force B . The combined squadron cruised out of sight off the Danish coast until the morning of 19 July , and in worsening weather conditions " Furious " flew off her Camels between 03 : 13 and 03 : 21 . The first flight consisted of Jackson , Dickson and Williams ; the second of Smart , Dawson , Yeulett and Thyne . Thyne was forced to turn around with engine trouble before reaching the target and ditched his aircraft before being recovered . The first three aircraft arrived over Tondern at 04 : 35 , taking the base by surprise . There were three airship sheds , codenamed by the Germans as " Toska " , " Tobias " and " Toni " . Toska , the largest one , was a double shed and housed the airships " L . 54 " and " L . 60 " . Tobias contained a captive balloon and Toni was in the process of being dismantled . The first wave of aircraft focussed on Toska and three bombs hit the shed and detonated the gas bags of " L . 54 " and " L . 60 " , destroying them by fire but not causing them to explode and destroy the shed . Another bomb from the first wave hit Tobias shed and damaged the balloon . The second wave destroyed the captive balloon afire and scored a number of near misses on a wagon loaded with hydrogen cylinders . Despite the loss of the two airships the Germans suffered only four men injured . During the attack ground fire was directed at both waves but the only damage was an undercarriage wheel shot off a Camel from the second wave . Williams , Jackson and Dawson , in the belief that they had insufficient fuel to reach the British squadron offshore , headed for Denmark and landed there . Dickson , Yuelett and Smart flew to sea to find the British ships . Dickson ditched at 05 : 55 and Smart , having suffered engine trouble , at 06 : 30 . Yuelett was not heard from again and presumed drowned , and it was supposed that he had been forced to ditch prematurely through fuel exhaustion . The British squadron waited for the other pilots until the allotted time period for the Camels ' fuel capacity had run - out , then after 07 : 00 the ships took cruising formation and made for home . Aftermath . The German Naval Airship Division quickly had the double hangar Toska repaired , but Tondern was abandoned as an active base , and ordered to be used only as an emergency landing site . Defences at the other bases were improved and at Nordholz a swathe of the countryside near the local airbase was burned off so as to prevent it being set alight by enemy bombs . The British conducted no other carrier raids during the war but other raids were being planned . From 1917 onwards a raid on the German High Seas Fleet was being mooted using the new torpedo - carrying Sopwith Cuckoo . The Cuckoo was not available in sufficient numbers until early 1919 and the project was still - born . The concept was revived during the Second World War and eventually resulted in the successful raid on the Italian port of Taranto in 1940 . Of the British pilots Dixon was awarded the DSO , whilst Smart received the bar to his previously awarded DSO . Yeulett ' s body was later recovered from the sea .