Talk:First air-dropped bomb

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This page states that the first air-dropped bomb was used in the Balkan War in 1912.

However, according to page 59 of Flight - 100 Years of Aviation (ISBN 1-4053-0575-4), edited by R.G. Grant, the first bombing from an aeroplane occurred a year before then, in Italy's war against the Ottoman Empire in Libya. They credit Lt. Giulio Gavotti with dropping four grenades on a Turkish military encampment at the Taguira oasis on 1 November 1911.

Furthermore, experiments with dropping bombs from balloons must have been conducted before the 1899 Hague Convention banned such developments.

Respectfully, SamBlob 02:12, 26 October 2006 (UTC)[reply]

That was my understanding as well. Does anyone have a reference for the Balkan attack being first? I'm afraid I'd never heard of it before reading this article. My understanding was that it was an Italian attack that lead to the formation of the RFC amongst others. Cjrother 03:41, 22 November 2006 (UTC)[reply]

"The first bombing from an aircraft" claim is popular in Bulgaria, but:

as you pointed out, it seems that the Italians were actually the first;
according to the article about Radul Milkov, Milkov and Tarakchiev made up their claim years after the actual event. Their flight was documented in the combat log as reconnaissance flight, and the first documented bombing mission of the Bulgarian Air Force was carried out by the Italian volunteer pilot Giovanni Sabelli and Major Vasil Zlatarov on 17 November 1912. Unfortunately, the sources cited in the article are in Bulgarian and on paper.

I don't know if Simeon Petrov designed a bomb, and whether it was the first of its kind, but it seems that no bombs were used on that date (16 Oct 1912). --Daggerstab 07:41, 16 May 2007 (UTC)[reply]

The sources confirm the use of specially designed air-dropped bombs (shown on photographs too) by the Bulgarian Air Force in 1912. There is no dispute that the Italians were the first to use aircraft in bombing missions, using however hand grenades for the purpose. Apcbg 13:24, 22 October 2007 (UTC)[reply]