V.1 Città di Jesi was a semi-rigid military single-gondola airship made in 1914 by the Stabilimento Costruzioni Aeronautiche in Vigna di Valle, designed by Rodolfo Verduzio as the first aircraft of the "V-Class" airships and operated by Regia Marina (Royal Italian Navy). On 5 August 1915 it was destroyed by an Austro-Hungariananti-aircraft artillery during the bomb raid on Pula.
Development
According to the 1910 Italian law for the strengthening of the aeronautics the construction of 9 airships was ordered by the army, including three small, five medium and one large aircraft. V.1 was designed by Italian Royal Army engineer Rodolfo Verduzio,[1] who already participated on the designing of M-class airships with Gaetano Crocco, as large type of this series and build between 1913 and 1914. In October 1913, while the airship still wasn't finished, frigate captain Guido Scelsi, the head of the Royal Navy's aeronautical department, was appointed its commander with lieutenant Bruno Brivonesi as his first officer. The test trials, which started in 1914, took place first at Vigna di Valle and then at the Ferrara-San Luca airport.
Operational history
V.1 then put into service in 1915, shortly before the Kingdom of Italy entered the war on 24 May. Airship was displaced at the Jesi airport, where it was renamed Città di Jesi.
The airship was immediately used in operational missions as a part of coastal airpatrols and subsequent bombing of Austro-Hungarian ships. Its first action began on the night between 23 and 24 May, when the V.1 Città di Jesi and the other navy airship, M.2 Città di Ferrara, had the task of carrying out an incursion on the enemy's naval stronghold of Pola. Because of problems with engines cooling V.1 was then suspended out of action and got back to the service on late July 1915. Bruno Brivonesi, new commander of the ship,[2] then urged for another bomb mission on Pola, following the example of the Italian airship P.4 successfully bombing the site twice.
A new airship raid of V.1 on Pula was decided to be proceeded at night of 4 August 1915, but heavy storm delayed the attack for a day. V.1 finally took of on 5 August at 9 p.m., carrying 600 kg of explosives. After almost three hours of flight the ship reached Pula for a distance of a few kilomerers shortly before midnight. Then the aircraft was spotted by Austro-Hungarian anti-aircraft guard crews, which put the AA searchlights on and started an artillery fire. Flying in an attitude of 2700 meters the crew was blinded by the intense light and after an attempt to locate the military targets without visual contact, dropped the bombs and started to turn giving itself on retreat. During the turning manouvre rubber body of the ship was penetraded by an exploding gunshell[3] and the ship went almost out of control, at first climbing to 3000 meters and then started to take down rapidly. The crew threw of the ship all the possible features and then hided in a metal framework of the ship, which finally hit the sea surface near the Istrian island of Veruda. While the nacelle and the back of the airship were destroyed during the impact, the forward envelope, still full of gas, remained raised high up from the water level.
Crashed airship near Veruda on 6 August 1915
Captain Brivonesi and his men, including Raffaele de Courten, later Italian minister of navy, who survived the crash unharmed, then tried to sink remaining parts of the ship, but weren't successful and later on were recovered and taken prisoners of war by an Austro-Hungarian military vessel.[4] Aviators were inprisoned in Mauthausenprisoner-of-war camp in Upper Austria and eventually repatriated for Austro-Hungarian POWs in May 1917.[3]
Sokol, Anthony (1968). The Imperial and Royal Austro-Hungarian Navy. Annapolis, MD: United States Naval Institute. OCLC462208412.
Favre, Franco. La Marina nella Grande Guerra. Le operazioni navali, aeree, subacquee e terrestri in Adriatico (in Italian).{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: ref duplicates default (link)
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