AEROPLANE TO AEROPLANO

Cyrenaica: A two-seat SVA in air-cooperation with a Squadriglia of Italian Royal Army's armored cars.   The Italian Royal Army was the first armed force in the world to employ aircraft in combat, during the 1911-12 Italo-Turkish War for the control of the territory that became modern Libya. After the end of WWI the Italian airplanes were back in force on their Fourth Shore (as the Italians called Libya), and it was there, where airplanes had fought for the first time in history, that the European colonial forces grew their wings and learned to fly. The following is a translation of an excerpt of an Italian "Storia dell'Aviazione," written by various authors and published in weekly installments in Italy by Fratelli Fabbri Editori S.p.A. beginning in 1973 (this comes from issue N. 42). After the Libyan chapter I added a page about what the Spanish airmen were facing in Morocco at about the same time. I hope you will find it interesting, and your c...

              This a mainly photographic post, but it is significant because these pictures are relatively rare and they were probably never published in the Unites States. T he article appeared on the No. 113 issue of   Ali Antiche ,  the magazine of G.A.V.S., the Italian organization for the preservation of historical aircraft, and it was published here with their permission. When Italy Exported Airplanes By Giancarlo Polidori   (Translated by L. Pavese) The period between the two world wars was a time of great achievements for the Italian aviation industry. The long distance cruises in formation and the record-setting flights were followed by a considerable activity of export.           More than 1,500 aircraft were sold throughout the world, more than 100 of which went to the Austrian Republic.  For Italy that was a great economic boost, but it was also...