A century later, history repeats itself

I noted a report in the Daily Mail today about air raids by forces loyal to Colonel Gaddafi of Libya against the rebels trying to depose him. The article showed several photographs of exploding bombs and insurgents trying to return fire, and included a video report (embedded below) about a Libyan Air Force jet that was shot down by the rebels.

This is supremely ironic, from an historical point of view: because it was in Libya, a century ago this year, in 1911, that the first air raids in the world took place! I wrote about them in Weekend Wings #32, more than two years ago. Here's what I said about them:

The first aerial bombardment by powered aircraft recorded in history was conducted during the Italo-Turkish War of 1911-12. Italy sent nine aircraft of four different types to Libya as part of its invasion force, under the command of Captain Carlo Piazza, a well-known racing pilot. Piazza flew a Blériot XI (the same type used by Louis Blériot to fly the English Channel for the first time in 1909) on the first military reconnaissance flight by an airplane in history on October 23rd, 1911.

Replica of Blériot XI

On November 1st, 1911, Lieutenant Giulio Gavotti took aloft with him four small 4½-pound grenades. Flying his Rumpler Taube monoplane at an altitude of 600 feet over Turkish positions at Ain Zara in Libya, he took the grenades from a leather pouch, screwed in the detonators, and dropped them over the side of the aircraft. No-one was killed or injured, and little damage done: but Lt. Gavotti had earned his place in history as the first person to drop bombs on an enemy in wartime from an aircraft.

Rumpler Taube

Italian airships were used for military reconnaissance West of Tripoli, behind Turkish lines, on March 5th, 1912, and in doing so became the first dirigibles ever used for a military purpose. They also bombarded Turkish positions near Tripoli later that same month - once again with little to show for it apart from some spectacular plumes of sand.






Of course, in both cases there were no means to aim the bombs. The pilots simply tried to determine ‘by eye’ when they were over their targets, then physically manhandled the tiny ‘bombs’ over the side of their cockpits, hoping for the best. They weren't even able to determine their true airspeed, in the absence of any reliable instruments. Needless to say, the results weren’t very satisfactory. Nevertheless, these first primitive aerial bombardments were a portent of the far more lethal and damaging techniques to come.

Plus ça change, plus c'est la même chose . . .

Peter