Giulio Gavotti (17 October 1882 inGenoa – 6 October 1939) was anItalianlieutenant and pilot who fought in theItalo-Turkish War where he dropped the world's first aerial bomb from hisTaube monoplane over theAin Zara oasis in Libya.
On 1 November 1911, he flew his early modelEtrich Taube monoplane against theOttoman military inLibya.[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 theTajuraoasis and one more onto amilitary camp atAin Zara.[2] This event is the first recordedairstrike launched from an airplane.[4][3]
After this and further missions, theOttoman Empire issued a protest. The dropping of bombs fromballoons had been outlawed by theHague Convention of 1899, but Italy argued that this ban did not extend to heavier-than-air craft.[1]
The oldest known preserved Etrich Taube, inVienna Technical Museum, 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]
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