Ansaldo A.1 Balilla

Ansaldo A.1 Balilla
Type:	Fighter plane
Design country:	Italy
Manufacturer:	Gio. Ansaldo & Co. SA
First flight:	1917
Commissioning:	1918
Production time:	1918-1925
Number of pieces:	274

The Ansaldo A.1 Balilla was the first successful Italian fighter aircraft during the First World War .

development

The design team Umberto Savoia , Rodolfo Verduzio and Celestino Rosatelli had already designed the successful Ansaldo SVA , which was not, as planned, suitable as a fighter, but rather as a long-range bomber and reconnaissance aircraft. Thus the Italian Corpo Aeronautico Militare remained dependent on French deliveries or license production of the Hanriot HD.1 , the SPAD S.VII and the SPAD S.XIII . Therefore the development of an Italian fighter type was obvious. Ansaldo commissioned its technical director Giuseppe Brezzi to build a prototype based on the Ansaldo SVA, which was already ready to fly

The wooden hull, clad with plywood, had the pentagonal cross-section typical of Ansaldo. The wings were covered with canvas and connected by single-handled struts.

The aircraft was powered by a 6-cylinder SAP in-line engine with 200 hp, which acted on a two-blade propeller made of wood with a diameter of 2.5 m. In the event of a hit, the pilot's 140-liter fuel tank could be thrown using a lever through a hatch in the floor. In this case, the pilot could switch on a small emergency tank mounted in the middle of the upper wing in order to guarantee the fuel supply for a few minutes before the emergency landing. As armament, two synchronized Vickers machine guns were mounted in a half-open position next to the engine.

The first prototype was tested from July 1917 at the Turin airfield of the Società Italiana Transarea (SIT), which had produced French models under license from Blériot and Voisin and was finally taken over by Ansaldo as Plant 3 in 1918 . In December the A.1 was presented to the acceptance committee of the Corpo Aeronautico Militare, where it competed with the Pomilio Gamma . Experienced front-line pilots, including Captain Pier Ruggero Piccio , Major Francesco Baracca and Lieutenant Fulco Ruffo di Calabria , flew the machine. According to their reports, the maneuverability was better than that of the Ansaldo SVA , but was still well behind that of the Nieuport 17 , the Hanriot HD.1 and the Spad S.XIII . The aircraft quickly lost altitude in the turns and was then difficult to pull up again. Chief engineer Brezzi revised the design: he enlarged the wingspan and tail unit and installed the machine guns under the engine cover to prevent the locks from freezing at high altitude. The compression of the engine was increased and the output of the 200 hp SPA 6A engine increased to 220 hp. The improved machine was now called Ansaldo A.1bis and was given the nickname “Balilla” after the popular Genoese national hero from the 17th century Giovan Battista Perasso .

commitment

First World War

The aircraft went to the 91a Squadriglia for front testing , which shortly before had been under the command of the fallen fighter pilot Baracca. Once again it turned out that the plane was fast, but unwieldy and difficult to control. Thus, the A.1bis was hardly suitable for the turning flight required in tactical air combat. Nevertheless, the aircraft was put into service because the now outdated Nieuports and Hanriots were clearly inferior to the new German-Austrian machines and because the chronic shortage of front-line aircraft urgently needed to be resolved. The Commissariato Generale d'Aeronautica placed an order for 1,600 copies, of which the first series of 100 aircraft was delivered to the front in July 1918. These were initially delivered to Squadriglia 91 and air defense squadrons 241 and 303 as well as to the Malpensa flight school and the Fubara aircraft shooting school. One copy was given publicly to the aviator hero Antonio Locatelli - who unfortunately had to make an emergency landing just a week later and was captured. The other successes of the A.1 remained modest: only one enemy aircraft was shot down within four months when, on October 8, 1918, Lieutenant Leopoldo Eleutari shot down an Austrian Oeffag D.III single-seater over Santa Lucia di Piave in cooperation with a Hanriot .

By the end of 1918, Ansaldo had delivered all 200 A.1s that it had ordered. At the time of the armistice, 186 aircraft were in use, with the exception of 47 aircraft required for pilot training being stored in depots.

Ansaldo tried to make the Balilla known across the country through numerous advertising flights.

Polish Air Force

Polish A.1 in Warsaw

Some A.1 entered the service of the Polish army in 1919 after a procurement team from the new Polish armed forces visited Italy in search of armaments. In January 1919 10 aircraft arrived in Warsaw for testing and impressed the pilots, mostly from the USA , with their maneuverability (sic!), Speed ​​and range. On May 25, the A.1 came together with some Albatros D.III in the famous 7th squadron ( Eskadra Kosciuszkowska ) made up of US volunteers , which was used in the Polish-Soviet War . Although these did not have to endure aerial battles, 9 balillas were lost in the ground attacks against Russian transport units and the 1st Cossack Army under General Semyon Mikhailovich Budjonny in the Ukraine . After the Polish authorities bought another 25 aircraft, they had 100 machines manufactured under license by Lubelska Wytwórnia Samolotów in Lublin. However, these were only delivered from July 1921 and thus came too late for the war effort. However, the Polish planes did not convince. Not only were they 80 kg heavier, they also suffered from engine problems and poor workmanship of the welds. After a few serious accidents, the order was shortened in 1924 to initially 80, then to the 57 that had been delivered by then. The A.1 was retired from 1925 and completely decommissioned by 1927.

Russian White Army

The White Russian Army had also ordered 30 unarmed aircraft in 1920, 18 of which were delivered by April 1922. They were first used in the civil war near Kharkov , later - e.g. Some equipped with ski runners - on the Baltic Sea and the Black Sea .

Latvian Air Force

In 1921, Latvia ordered 13 aircraft, although the test flight made in Riga ended in a serious accident. Latvian machines received an additional warming device for winter use.

America

Ansaldo presented other aircraft at promotional events in North and South America. The retail offer price was $ 6,000. US flying ace Eddie Rickenbacker set a speed record in 1920, and another Balilla with a Curtiss D-12 engine won the US Pulitzer Air Race in 1921. Four aircraft made it to Argentina and Uruguay , then Peru and Honduras , but remained unsold. Only Mexico bought an airplane in 1920 and incorporated it into its Fuerza Aérea Mexicana . Ansaldo then dropped the A.1 business; the company was soon taken over by Fiat .

Technical specifications

Parameter	Data A.1bis
Construction year	1918
Intended use	Fighter plane
length	6.84 m
span	7.68 m
height	2.53 m
Wing area	21.2 m²
Empty mass	640 kg
Takeoff mass	885 kg
liquid-cooled six - cylinder in - line engine	SPA 6A, 195 kW (265 hp)
Top speed	220 km / h
Rate of climb	2.7 m / s
Summit height	5000 m
Range	660 km
Flight time	1 h 30 min
Armament	2 MG
crew	1

Performance comparison with other types of aircraft in front service (autumn 1918)

Surname	country	Motor power	Max. speed	Takeoff mass	Armament	Summit height
Ansaldo A.1	Italy	220 hp	220 km / h	885 kg	2	5,000 m
Ansaldo SVA 5	Italy	265 hp	237 km / h	975 kg	2 and 90 kg bombs	7,000 m
Fokker D.VII	German Empire	180 hp	189 km / h	910 kg	2	6,000 m
Fokker D.VIIF	German Empire	226 hp	205 km / h	910 kg	2	7,000 m
Palatinate D.VIII	German Empire	160 hp	190 km / h	740 kg	2	7,500 m
Palatinate D.XII	German Empire	160 hp	180 km / h	902 kg	2	5,640 m
LFG Roland D.VIa	German Empire	160 hp	190 km / h	820 kg	2	5,500 m
Siemens-Schuckert D.IV	German Empire	160 hp	190 km / h	735 kg	2	8,000 m
Fokker D.VIII	German Empire	110 hp	204 km / h	605 kg	2	6,300 m
SPAD S.XIII	France	220 hp	222 km / h	820 kg	2	6,650 m
Sopwith Snipe	United Kingdom	230 hp	195 km / h	955 kg	2	6,100 m
Sopwith Dolphin	United Kingdom	200 hp	211 km / h	890 kg	2	6,100 m
Sopwith Camel	United Kingdom	130 hp	185 km / h	659 kg	2 and four 11.3 kg bombs	5,791 m
SE5a	United Kingdom	200 hp	222 km / h	880 kg	2	5,185 m

Received aircraft

A preserved A.1 Balilla is on display in the Bergamo Historical Museum .

See also

• List of aircraft types

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literature

• Enzo Angelucci, Paolo Matricardi: The planes. From the beginning to the First World War . Falken-Verlag, Wiesbaden 1976, ISBN 3-8068-0391-9 , ( Falken manual in color ).
• Heinz Nowarra: The Development of Airplanes 1914–1918 . Lehmanns, Munich 1959.
• Kenneth Muson: Warplanes, fighters and training aircraft 1914-1919 . Orell Füssli, Zurich 1968.
• Michael JH Taylor: Jane's Encyclopedia of Aviation . Studio Editions, London 1989

Web links

• [3] Description (English)
• [4] Description (English)
• [5] Description (Russian)

Individual evidence

1. ↑ [1]
2. ↑ [2]