Carlo Maria Piazza

Busto Arsizio, 1871-Milan, 1917

The Libya wars (1911-1931)

An artillery officer, he obtains his civilian and military pilot’s licence and wins first place in the Bologna-Ferrara-Venezia air competition (1911). With the 1st aerial squadrilla, on 22 October 1911 in the war in Libya he conducts the first air raid in history at the controls of a French Blériot XI. A pioneer of aerial observation and reconnaissance, he shoots the first aerial war photographs and performs with Giulio Gavotti the first night flights (1911). Commander of the Military School of Aviano, in 1913 he performs the first mountain landing at an altitude of 2,000 m a.s.l.. He dies in 1917 due to an infection acquired on the front. Silver Medal of Military Valor (1916).

Bibliographical references
Pecchioli, Arrigo | 1986 (a cura di) L’aeronautica italiana: storia di uomini e macchine. Roma: Editalia.

Rosati, Antonio | 2000 (a cura di) Immagini delle campagne coloniali: la guerra italo-turca 1911-1912. Roma: Stato maggiore dell’esercito – Ufficio storico.