World War
I: First airship was shot down in Lussino
The War in the Air - Bombers: Italy
The frontier between Italy
and Austria was different to any other frontier in the First World War.
To the north the Alps protected the Austrian heartland. To the
east the Austrian navy sat just across the Adriatic: its chief port was
at Pola and it had major ship-building yards at Trieste.
The Italians controlled the
air throughout almost the entire war, and waged an innovative and
aggressive air campaign. It was the only county other than Germany
to use lighter-than-air craft for bombing purposes. The Italian
airships were "semi-rigid dirigibles," they were different to the
"rigid" Zeppelins in that they had a keel only, as opposed to an entire
frame as favoured by the Germans.
Their first bombing raid was
on the 26th of May, 1915, three days after
entering
the war, when they crossed the Adriatic to attack Sebenico,
which was attacked by a dirigible again the following day.
The airships were used
throughout the war, attacking railway yards and enemy encampments and
the naval base at Pola. By the end of the war they had 20
dirigibles. Their 'M' class airships could carry a 1,000 kg (2200lb)
bomb load and reach an altitude of 15,000 feet.
They were not however immune
to attack. On the 8th of June 1915 the Cittä di Ferrara
was shot down by an Austrian seaplane, and on the 5th of August the
Citta di Jesi was lost to anti-aircraft fire. Austrian
seaplanes bombed the Italian airships at their bases in Jesi and
Ferrara.
Source:
http://www.firstworldwar.com/airwar/bombers_italy.htm
(The war in the air: Bombers in Italy)
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Some history books record that
the first zeppelin (airship) ever shot down was the German Zeppelin
LZ-37, brought down by Canadian Flight Sub-lieutenant Reg Warneford
(Royal Naval Air Service) near Bruges on 9 June 1915. Warneford received
a Victoria Cross for this achievement. But there is evidence this claim
was a propaganda exercise for the Allies, designed to steal the thunder
of an aerial victory by the Central Powers one day earlier. On 8 June
1915, one day prior to Warneford’s alleged victory, the Italian airship
Città di Ferrara was shot down by Linienschiffsleutnant
Gustav Klasing (born in Trieste, 1884) of the Austro-Hungarian Naval Air
Service, flying a Lohner 2-seater flying boat number L-48. Klasing’s
victory over the Città di Ferrara
seems to have been completely forgotten by history, proving yet again
that history is written by the victors.
Città de Ferrara
(Designation: M-2) was an M-Class semi-rigid airship, one of eight built
by Forianini for Italy at the start of the war. It was commanded by
Tenente di vascello Castruccio Castracane, an old air wolf described by
his friends as "a real gentleman with a look of affable cordiality
concealing a heart of steel."
On 8 June 1915, he took off
from an airfield in Pondenone (Italy) to bomb military plants at Fiume.
Despite strong unfavourable winds, Città di Ferrara continued to
its target and dropped its bombs, killing one woman in Timme and injured
several other people, but only caused slight damage. It then turned for
home, but the Austro-Hungarian Naval Air Service scrambled Lohner flying
boat # L-48 (Klasing's seaplane) to intercept it and, over the Gulf of
Carnaro near Lussino (the Austrians called it Lussin) L-48 caught the
Italian dirigable and shot it down in flames into the sea.
The L-48 was flown by
Linienschiffsleutnant (equivalent to navy lieutenant/army captain)
Gustav Klasing and his gunner was named Fritsch. The Italian commander
of the airship, one other officer and five crew were promptly rescued by
Austro-Hungarian Torpedo Boat # 4 (launched on 31 Dec 1909, stationed at
Pola and, after the war, given to Italy for war reparations.) The
captured Italians spent the rest of the war as prisoners. Two other
Italian crew members of Città di Ferrara,
Tenente di vascello De Pisa and motorist Mantero, died ‘gloriously’ in
the crash. The wreckage of the Città di Ferrara itself was
recovered by the Austro-Hungarian navy and taken into Pola Harbour for
display.
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