Giulio Gavotti (17 October 1882 in Genoa – 6 October 1939) was an Italian lieutenant and pilot who fought in the Italo-Turkish War.
On 1 November 1911, he flew his early model Etrich Taube monoplane against 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 Tagiura ( Jagiura) oasis and one more onto 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, Austria, 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.
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]