Sopwith Cuckoo The Sopwith T . 1 Cuckoo was a British biplane torpedo bomber used by the Royal Naval Air Service ( RNAS ) , and its successor organization , the Royal Air Force ( RAF ) . The T . 1 was the first landplane specifically designed for carrier operations , but it was completed too late for service in the First World War . After the Armistice , the T . 1 was named the Cuckoo . Design and development . In October 1916 , Commodore Murray Sueter , the Air Department ' s Superintendent of Aircraft Construction , solicited Sopwith for a single - seat aircraft capable of carrying a 1 , 000 lb torpedo and sufficient fuel to provide an endurance of four hours . The resulting aircraft , designated T . 1 by Sopwith , was a large , three - bay biplane . Because the T . 1 was designed to operate from carrier decks , its wings were hinged to fold backwards . The T . 1 could take off from a carrier deck in four seconds , but it was not capable of making a carrier landing and no arresting gear was fitted . A split - axle undercarriage allowed the aircraft to carry a 1 , 000 lb Mk . IX torpedo beneath the fuselage . The prototype T . 1 first flew in June 1917 , powered by a 200 hp Hispano - Suiza 8 Ba engine . Official trials commenced in July 1917 and the Admiralty issued production orders for 100 aircraft in August . Contractors Fairfield Engineering and Pegler & Company had no experience as aircraft manufacturers , however , resulting in substantial production delays . Moreover , the S . E . 5a had priority for the limited supplies of the Hispano - Suiza 8 . Redesign of the T . 1 airframe to accommodate the heavier Sunbeam Arab incurred further delays . In February 1918 , the Admiralty issued a production order to Blackburn Aircraft , an experienced aircraft manufacturer . Blackburn delivered its first T . 1 in May 1918 . The aircraft immediately experienced undercarriage and tailskid failures , requiring redesign of those components . The T . 1 also required an enlarged rudder and offset vertical stabilizer to combat its tendency to swing to the right . Fairfield and Pegler finally began production in August and October , respectively . A total of 300 T . 1s were ordered , but only 90 aircraft had been delivered by the Armistice . A total of 232 aircraft had been completed by the time production ended in 1919 . Blackburn Aircraft produced 162 aircraft , while Fairfield Engineering completed 50 and Pegler & Company completed another 20 . After the Armistice , many T . 1s were delivered directly to storage depots at Renfrew and Newcastle . Operational history . After undergoing service trials at RAF East Fortune , the T . 1 was recommended for squadron service . Deliveries to the Torpedo Aeroplane School at East Fortune commenced in early August 1918 . Training took place in the Firth of Forth , where Cuckoos launched practice torpedoes at targets towed by destroyers . Cuckoos of No . 185 Squadron embarked on HMS " Argus " in November 1918 , but hostilities ended before the aircraft could conduct any combat operations . In service , the aircraft was generally popular with pilots because the airframe was strong and water landings were safe . The T . 1 was easy to control and was fully aerobatic without a torpedo payload . The Arab engine proved unsatisfactory , however , and approximately 20 T . 1s were converted to use Wolseley Viper engines . These aircraft , later designated Cuckoo Mk . II , could be distinguished by the Viper ' s lower thrust line . The Arab - engined variant was designated Cuckoo Mk . I . The Cuckoo ' s operational career ended when the last unit to use the type , No . 210 Squadron , disbanded at Gosport on 1 April 1923 . The Cuckoo was replaced in service by the Blackburn Dart . Today , no complete Cuckoo airframe survives , but a set of Cuckoo Mk . I wings are preserved at the National Museum of Flight in Scotland . Planned use . Throughout 1917 , Commodore Sueter proposed plans for an aerial torpedo attack on the German High Seas Fleet at its base in Germany . The carriers , , and HMS " Campania " , and the converted cruisers HMS " Courageous " and HMS " Glorious " , would have launched 100 Cuckoos from the North Sea . In September 1917 , Admiral Sir David Beatty , commander of the Grand Fleet , proposed a similar plan involving 120 Cuckoos launched from eight converted merchant vessels .