First Balkan War
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The First Balkan War—a conflict between the Balkan League and the Ottoman Empire in 1912—saw the second use of airplanes in warfare, following the Italo-Turkish War.
The war involved airplanes and pilots from Greece, France, Germany, Britain, Russia, Bulgaria, and Turkey.[1]
An unsuccessful Greek bombing raid on Ottoman ships is considered the first airplane attack on a navy.[2]
The Bulgarian Ministry of War was already using balloons, and acquired its first airplane in 1912. Bulgaria's pilots were trained at Louis Blériot's school in Etampes.[3] The claim the first military flights in Europe. By the end of the war they had 29 airplanes[4]
Links
- w:First Balkan War; w:it:Prima guerra balcanica
- w:Siege of Adrianople (1912–13)
- w:Farman MF.7
- w:Ottoman Aviation Squadrons
- w:Aerial bomb
- Mavi Boncuk, "[1912 | Bulgarian Aviation During Balkan War]" 14 December 2016.
- Photo of Bulgarians in airplane with grenade
References
- ↑ Hallion, 2003, p. 315. "After Libya the airplane swiftly appeared in other conflicts as well. In late 1912, after Bulgaria, Greece, Montenegro, and Serbia formed the Balkan League, the Balkans erupted in war against the Ottoman Empire. French and German airplanes figured prominently, as did new kinds of twentieth-century warriors: the mercenary airman, motivated by idealism, profit, or a judicious mixture of both; and the airman, ostensibly detached from his country's military, but actually serving it in a covert role. French and Russian military airmen delivered airplanes and flew for the Greeks, Bulgarians, and Serbs, British mercenaries flew French and German airplanes for the Montenegrans and Bulgarians, and eastern European and Turkish pilots familiarized themselves with the new aerial weapon. Bulgarian airmen bombed the Turkish fortress of Adrianople. Greek airmen bombed Turkish troops, 'creating a veritable panic.' Bulgarian pilots flew over the Black Sea coast, 'scouting, dropping bombs, and generally making themselves unpleasant.'"
- ↑ Richard C. Hall, The Balkan Wars 1912-1913: Prelude to the First World War; London: Routledge, 2000; ISBN 0-415-22946-4; p. 65.
- ↑ Nedialkov, 2001, Part 1.
- ↑ Kostadin Atanasov, "100 years since the first military flight in Europe", Radio Bulgaria, 18 October 2012.