JF Ptak Science Books Quick Post
I am not an historian of aviation, though the item I just found grazing through a volume of the Illustrated London News for 1911 may be one of the asterixed poor Roger Maris footnotes in the history of military flight. The title of the series of pictures--"Its First Use Under War Conditions--an Aeroplane on Scout Duty" appeared in the ILN issue for 15 April, and referred to flights being made over the U.S./Mexican border during the Border War of 1910-1919, (Poncho Villa, Mexican Revolution, J.J. Pershing, and all that). The writer didn't want to go so far as to state that these were actual war conditions in which the plane was being flown, remarking that they were “Taken under what might be described fairly as war conditions”. So, it seems as though the title is accurate in a restricted way.
I am not sure when the first use of a plane was as a scout vehicle during wartime, though certainly the first use of an airplane to deliver a bomb in a battle during actual wartime occurred seven months later. “During fighting in November 1911 between Italy and forces loyal to the Turkish, Ottoman Empire, Lieutenant Giulio Gavotti wrote in a letter to his father: 'Today I have decided to try to throw bombs from the aeroplane. 'It is the first time that we will try this and if I succeed, I will be really pleased to be the first person to do it.' “--Alan Johnston, BBC News, “Libya 1911: How an Italian pilot began the air war era”
And indeed he did, and he was.
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