Fairey Campania The Fairey Campania was a British ship - borne , patrol and reconnaissance aircraft of the First World War and Russian Civil War . It was a single - engine , two - seat biplane with twin main floats and backward - folding wing s . The Campania was the first aeroplane ever designed specifically for carrier operations . Development . The Royal Navy was an early leader in carrier aviation and , in the autumn of 1914 , purchased the liner for conversion into a seaplane carrier . Operating seaplane s required the carrier to stop to hoist the aircraft out - and in - board by crane , leaving the ship exceedingly vulnerable to U - Boat attacks ; this technique fell into disfavour with the Admiralty , who began to seek alternatives . By the middle of 1916 , " Campania " had been fitted with a 200 ft ( 61 m ) flight deck forward and experiments were being carried out in launching aircraft from this . Against this background , the Admiralty issued a specification for a purpose - built , two - seat patrol and reconnaissance aircraft . The aircraft that Fairey Aviation designed in response first flew on 16 February 1917 . It was a single - engined tractor biplane of fabric - covered wooden construction . The two - bay wings folded rearwards for storage . The crew of two sat in separate cockpits , with the observer ' s cockpit provided with a single Lewis gun on a Scarff ring This was the first of two prototypes , designated F . 16 and powered by a 250 hp ( 190 kW ) Rolls - Royce Eagle IV . The second , powered by an Eagle V of 275 hp ( 205 kW ) , was designated F . 17 . Both prototypes would later see active service operating from Scapa Flow . Operational history . Trials proving satisfactory , the type went into production and service . Most of the F . 17s shipped aboard the carriers HMS " Campania " , and ; the first aircraft joined " Campania " and the type took its name from her . Only " Campania " possessed a flight deck ; Campanias operated from this using jettisonable , wheeled bogie s fitted to the floats . The aircraft in the other ships took off from the water in the normal way . The 27 F . 22s operated from Royal Naval Air Service air stations . The Campania had an undistinguished career , but performed useful work as a spotter aeroplane . In all , 100 aircraft were ordered , but only 62 were completed . On 1 August 1918 , during the North Russia Campaign in support of the British intervention in the Russian Civil War , Campanias from " Nairana " participated in what was probably the first fully combined air , sea , and land military operation in history , joining Allied ground forces and ships in driving Bolsheviks out of their fortifications on Modyugski Island at the mouth of the Northern Dvina River in Russia , then scouting ahead of the Allied force as it proceeded up the channel to Arkhangelsk . The appearance of one of the Campanias over Arkhangelsk induced the Bolshevik leaders there to panic and flee . Campanias from " Nairana " then operated against the Bolsheviks from Arkhangelsk , as well as against the White Finnish defensive positions in Uhtua in the autumn of 1918 from Kem . The Campania was declared obsolete in August 1919 .