Editing Torpedo bomber (section)

=== First World War ===
[[File:Sopwith Cuckoo.jpg|thumb|A [[Sopwith Cuckoo]] dropping an [[aerial torpedo]] during World War I|alt=|left]]

On 12 August 1915, a [[Royal Naval Air Service]] [[Short 184]] floatplane torpedo bomber sank a Turkish merchantman in the [[Sea of Marmara]]. It was operating from {{HMS|Ben-my-Chree}}, a [[seaplane carrier]] converted from a ferry. Fitted with an aircraft hangar, ''Ben-my-Chree'' was used to carry up to six biplanes with their wings folded back to reduce carrying space.

This was the first ship sunk by air-launched torpedo. Five days later, another ship supplying Turkish forces in the [[Gallipoli campaign]] against British, Australian and New Zealand troops was also sunk.

Production of the Short 184 continued until after the [[Armistice with Germany|Armistice of 11 November 1918]], with a total of 936 built by several manufacturers. It served in eight navies, including the [[Imperial Japanese Navy]], which built them under licence.<ref>Bruce J.M.  The Short 184 Profile Publications, Leatherhead, England, 2001.</ref>

The first torpedo bomber designed for operation from aircraft carriers was the [[Sopwith Cuckoo]]. First flown in June 1917, it was designed to take off from the Royal Navy's new aircraft carriers, but had to land on an airfield as [[arresting gear|arrester wires]], needed to stop an aircraft during landing on a ship, had not yet been perfected. The Admiralty planned to use five carriers and 100-120 Cuckoos to attack the German [[High Seas Fleet]], which had been sheltering in Kiel since the [[Battle of Jutland]] in 1916 but when the war ended only 90 Cuckoos had been completed.<ref>Layman R.D. Naval aviation in the First World War: Its impact and influence. Caxton. London 2002. {{ISBN|1-84067-314-1}}</ref>

The [[Vickers Vimy]] twin-engine heavy bomber was designed to bomb German cities in retribution for German air attacks on England. It reached squadrons in France too late to play a role in the First World War. Had the war continued, it would have been deployed as a torpedo bomber.