Torpedo Trials at Belhaven Bay, 5th September 1918
Sopwith Cuckoo aeroplanes flew from East Fortune and landed at Belhaven Sands where their torpedoes were loaded on to the planes. It was too dangerous to fly from East Fortune loaded with the torpedoes. This is the start of what is known as the Fleet Air Arm.
The above weblink shows a trial torpedo attack against a British destroyer by Sopwith Cuckoo aircraft of the Royal Air Force at East Fortune
Torpedo Dropping School (Belhaven Sands), Scotland, 5th September 1918.
The Torpedo Dropping School was used to train pilots before they were attached to their squadrons. A stretch of hard sand on the beach at Belhaven Sands is used as a runway. An 18-inch torpedo is fitted to one of the Sopwith Cuckoos and it takes off, followed by the rest of a flight of eight. For the attacks the camera is on the target ship, which is steaming at 20 knots, and tries to pick out the Cuckoos as they make their torpedo runs. The pilots are named in the captions, along with the height of the aircraft when the torpedo was dropped and the airspeed. The first attack of the first wave is not shown. The second attack is from very close, only 800 yards, and hits the ship. Of the remaining ten attacks for which data are shown four were launched from too long a range and the torpedo came up short; three passed astern of the ship; one was a near miss, passing 20 yards ahead of the ship and two hit the bottom. One of the torpedoes which hit the bottom is shown being recovered, its nose badly crushed. A number of other attacks are shown without data. The aircraft come back to land at Belhaven Sands. At the end of the film is an added scene of a Cuckoo with a box-type engine, possibly a prototype.
The Torpedo Dropping School was used to train pilots before they were attached to their squadrons. A stretch of hard sand on the beach at Belhaven Sands is used as a runway. An 18-inch torpedo is fitted to one of the Sopwith Cuckoos and it takes off, followed by the rest of a flight of eight. For the attacks the camera is on the target ship, which is steaming at 20 knots, and tries to pick out the Cuckoos as they make their torpedo runs. The pilots are named in the captions, along with the height of the aircraft when the torpedo was dropped and the airspeed. The first attack of the first wave is not shown. The second attack is from very close, only 800 yards, and hits the ship. Of the remaining ten attacks for which data are shown four were launched from too long a range and the torpedo came up short; three passed astern of the ship; one was a near miss, passing 20 yards ahead of the ship and two hit the bottom. One of the torpedoes which hit the bottom is shown being recovered, its nose badly crushed. A number of other attacks are shown without data. The aircraft come back to land at Belhaven Sands. At the end of the film is an added scene of a Cuckoo with a box-type engine, possibly a prototype.