Giulio Gavotti

Giulio Gavotti on a Farman biplane in Rome (1910)

Giulio Gavotti (17 October 1882 in Genoa – 6 October 1939) was an Italian lieutenant and pilot who fought in the Italo-Turkish War where he dropped the world's first aerial bomb from his Taube monoplane over the Ain Zara oasis in Libya.

Aerial bombardment

On 1 November 1911, he flew his early model Etrich Taube monoplane against the Ottoman military in Libya.[1][2][3] He took four grenades ("Cipelli"[3]) in a leather pouch, each of a size of grapefruit and weighing about four pounds.[2] Flying at an altitude of 600 feet, Gavotti screwed in the detonators and tossed each munition over the side[1]—three onto the Tajura oasis and one more onto a military camp at Ain Zara.[2] This event is the first recorded airstrike launched from an airplane.[4][3]

After this and further missions, the Ottoman Empire issued a protest. The dropping of bombs from balloons had been outlawed by the Hague Convention of 1899, but Italy argued that this ban did not extend to heavier-than-air craft.[1]

The oldest known preserved Etrich Taube, in Vienna Technical Museum, is possibly a near-twin to the aircraft Gavotti flew in 1911, as both are said to have been powered with inline four-cylinder liquid-cooled powerplants.

Night mission

Gavotti performed the historically first night mission of a heavier-than-air aircraft. It took place as part of the same campaign in Libya on 4 March 1912.[5]

See also

• 1911 in aviation
• Aerial bomb
• Bomber
• Tactical bombing

Notes

1. Grant, R.G. (2004). Flight - 100 Years of Aviation. Dorling-Kindersley Limited. p. 59. ISBN 1-4053-0575-4.
2. The influence of air power upon history by Walter J. Boyne, p.38
3. Chant, Christopher (2002). Austro-Hungarian aces of World War 1. Oxford: Osprey. pp. 38–39. ISBN 1-84176-376-4.
4. Lindqvist, Sven (2001). A history of bombing. New York: New Press. ISBN 1-56584-625-7. OCLC 44794868.
5. "Libya 1911: How an Italian pilot began the air war era". BBC News Website. May 10, 2011. Retrieved May 10, 2011.