On this day 4 June 1918 Four seaplanes attack German patrol

On this day 4 June 1918 Four seaplanes attack German patrol.

A patrol of three Felixstowe F.2A and an H.12 Large America from Felixstowe and Yarmouth attacked 14 German Brandenberg WY.19 and W.29 seaplanes. In the ensuing fight the RNAS shot down six of the enemy for the loss of one Felixstowe over a 3½ hour battle.

The Felixstowe F.2A was in use at almost every flying boat station of the RNAS. It was a first-class flying machine, capable of long patrols. It carried two pilots and an armament varying from four to seven Lewis machine-guns: single or twin guns in each of the front and rear cockpits, another above the pilot's seats and sometimes a beam gun on either side. Two 230 lb (104 kg) bombs could be carried beneath the lower wings. The Felixstowe inherited the 'spider's web' patrolling of the North Sea from the Curtiss H.12, and scored numerous successes over enemy submarines and airships.

By various improvisations some Felixstowe F.2As could carry enough fuel for more than nine hours' flying, but in the spring of 1918 an alternative attempt was made to increase the combat radius, by towing the aircraft on a lighter behind a Royal Navy destroyer into the scene of action.