Fairey Campania
| Campania | |
|---|---|
 |
|
| Fairey F.22 Campania N1006 at Calshot, England | |
| Role | Carrier-borne patrol and reconnaissance aircraft |
| Manufacturer | Fairey Aviation |
| First flight | 16 February 1917 |
| Retired | August 1919 |
| Primary users |
Royal Naval Air Service Royal Air Force |
| Number built | 62 |
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 wings. The Campania was the first aeroplane ever designed specifically for carrier operations.
The Royal Navy was an early leader in carrier aviation and, in the autumn of 1914, purchased the liner Campania for conversion into a seaplane carrier. Operating seaplanes 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.
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