Giulio Gavotti

Genoa, 1882-Rome, 1939

The Libya wars (1911-1931)

After studying engineering, in 1910 he obtains his pilot’s licence on a Farman aircraft at Centocelle (Rome). As a lieutenant of the Aviators’ Battalion, he participates in the war in Libya. In November 1911, from his Etrich Taube he launches a hand bomb on Ain Zara and three others on the oasis of Tripoli: this is the first aerial bombing in history. D’Annunzio celebrates his ‘feats’ in Canzone della Diana. In 1914 he is assigned to the seaplane station on Lake Trasimeno as instructor and tester. After the end of the war, he is nominated section head for the HQ of the Superior engineering and aviation construction corps with the rank of colonel, and later becomes a member of the BoD of Ala Littoria (the Italian national airline).