Fairey IIIA

While the Fairey III (F.128) started as a seaplane, it was re-purposed with conventional wheels and aimed at replacing the venerable Sopwith Strutter as a ship-borne two-seater. Deployed in the latter half of 1918, it came too late to see much action before the Armistice.

Fifty had been ordered for shipboard use, with deliveries to trials beginning in May 1918. After trials had concluded, they saw no use on ships, but they were planned replacements for the submarine patrols out of Luce Bay, Machrihanish, and Dublin which had been getting by with aged D.H.6s, but only N2850 had arrived before the Armistice forced a change in plans.