The T.1 was the first landplane specifically designed for carrier operations, but it was completed too late for service in the First World War.

[5] Official trials commenced in July 1917 and the Admiralty issued production orders for 100 aircraft in August.

[2] Contractors Fairfield Engineering and Pegler & Company had no experience as aircraft manufacturers, however, resulting in substantial production delays.

Training took place in the Firth of Forth, where Cuckoos launched practice torpedoes at targets towed by destroyers.

185 Squadron embarked on HMS Argus in November 1918, but hostilities ended before the aircraft could conduct any combat operations.

[1] In service, the aircraft was generally popular with pilots because the airframe was strong and water landings were safe.

Throughout 1917, Commodore Sueter proposed plans for an aerial torpedo attack on the German High Seas Fleet at its base in Germany.

[6] The carriers Argus, Furious, and Campania and the converted cruisers Courageous and Glorious, were to have launched 100 Cuckoos from the North Sea.

[6] In September 1917, Admiral Sir David Beatty, commander of the Grand Fleet, proposed a similar plan involving 120 Cuckoos launched from eight converted merchant vessels.