Italy
Italy was the only country other than Germany to use lighter-than-air craft for bombing purposes, against targets in the Austro-Hungarian Empire. Italian airships were "semi-rigid dirigibles," they were different from the "rigid" Zeppelins in that they typically only had a keel for rigidity, though sometimes they had some further structure at the nose and/or tail, as opposed to the entire frame favoured by the Germans. Their first bombing raid was on 26 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. On 8 June 1915, the Città di Ferrara took off from an airfield in Pordenone to bomb the Whitehead torpedo factory and the oil refinery at Fiume (later Rijeka, Croatia), killing one civilian, injuring several other people, but only causing slight damage. After Città di Ferrara turned for home, it was intercepted and shot down by a Lohner L flying boat (pennant number L-48) of the Austro-Hungarian Navy, over Kvarner Gulf, near the island of Lussino. This was the first time that an airship had been destroyed in air combat.
Read more about this topic: Rigid Airship
Famous quotes containing the word italy:
“I think sometimes that it is almost a pity to enjoy Italy as much as I do, because the acuteness of my sensations makes them rather exhausting; but when I see the stupid Italians I have met here, completely insensitive to their surroundings, and ignorant of the treasures of art and history among which they have grown up, I begin to think it is better to be an American, and bring to it all a mind and eye unblunted by custom.”
—Edith Wharton (1862–1937)