"Air War"
Heinmüller, Lukas (1969): All the things that Fly. Aviation in Austria, Graz: Stocker
From the perspective of the Regia Aeronautica the war happened just too early. A lot of their inventory was still made up by Great War planes, or those built in the immediate aftermath. Meanwhile several other promising designs were on the horizon or even slowly coming into service, but as it was they were too late.
The way they operated didn't help. The first few days the Regia Aeronautica seemed to have been all but dazed, before starting small scale raids against both the Austrian offensive advance into South Tyrol as well as strategic targets within Austria. Nearly all of those early raids were quickly pounced on by the defenders and only did negligible damage while aircraft and even more damning, aircrew losses were high.
After this initial showing, Balbo who'd been Secretary of State before becoming Duce, took a personal hand in the matter. Strategic bombing raids were planned, bombers massed together, even fighter escorts were added, something not envisioned by many pre-war planners. Still those raids ran into stronger than expected resistance as well, often failing to make it to their target. Two raids, one on Brixen, one on Klagenfurt were widely reported on as successes. However losses on the diversionary raids that screened them were devastating, and despite impressive photos, damage on the ground was negligible.
After it was concluded that further raids of that kind would quickly destroy an already devastated Regia Aeronautica completely, a shift towards tactical bombing happened. While still taking significant losses to enemy fighters and ground fire, they seemed to have more of effect.
At the same time as Balbo took control of the air battle, he also started leaning on the Italian aviation industry. Several companies managed to keep to his demands, ramping up production in record time and supplying several new aircraft types.
Both the Fiat CR.30 and the Breda Ba.24 fighter were considered excellent and some of the best aircraft to fly at that time. Their bomber counterparts, mostly made up by the Caproni Ca.95, the Fiat BRG, the Breda CC.20 and the Savoia-Marchetti S.68 however received less praise.
Often criticised, but in retrospective probably not fatal, those new constructions, often flown by green crews, were fed to the front lines as they were constructed. Breda production ironically suffered from several pinpoint air strikes against their factory, and, as with production from Caproni and Savoia-Marchetti, nearly ceased completely as their factories in Milan came into range of Austrian artillery. Fiat held on a bit longer, French air raids against Turin proving mostly useless, until the city fell to advancing ground troops.
Austria on the other hand started the war with cutting edge aircraft. Their F-S 28 was excellent, and with the help of voice radio, intelligence tip-offs and a rapidly expanding coverage via Funkmeß-Peilung they could be just where they needed to be in time to intercept enemy raids. It wasn't just better aircraft, far more it was better doctrine. Having fought for their right to operate fighter aircraft again at Geneva, a core of veterans of the Great War had drilled a large number of pilots exceeding the number of airframes restlessly and it showed. Fast deliveries of additional F-S 28 allowed them to to keep aerial dominance all through the war.
The bomber aircraft however were officially at least new to service. It is now known that several "Drache" conversions of the AR.2 existed before the war, back then they came as a surprise to all observers. Bomber crews therefore were trained to a lesser standard than their fighter counterparts, but technological innovations allowed them to perform brilliantly anyway. Strategic bombing took second string even for the bombers. Their priority were supporting the army, be it with direct battlefield assistance or through strikes on transport links and moving Regio Esercito units. The few deep raids, that were without exception done as low level pin point bombing, however received most of the public attention.
The Avis Libelle was the rarest of the Austrian aircraft and as a heavy fighter bridged the gap between the two others. Mostly used in similar ways, the resilient twin boom fighter was faster than any other aircraft in the sky. Feared by bomber pilots, ground troops and especially train drivers, it's relative long loiter times caused the few Libellen in service to gain an outsized reputation.
Incidently, Avis could only produce what they did during the war, by stockpiling what were officially spares for their prototypes, in defiance of international treaties.
Among the Austrian Air Force a number of foreign aircraft also participated in the war. With a few exceptions, those were very few per type, or even one off. Mostly lacking the equipment to properly coordinate, flown by pilots who just got the most superficial training in Austrian doctrine, their effect was negligible. They did however lead to several manufacturers and Air Forces to take a close look at what was in their inventory.
From the perspective of the Regia Aeronautica the war happened just too early. A lot of their inventory was still made up by Great War planes, or those built in the immediate aftermath. Meanwhile several other promising designs were on the horizon or even slowly coming into service, but as it was they were too late.
The way they operated didn't help. The first few days the Regia Aeronautica seemed to have been all but dazed, before starting small scale raids against both the Austrian offensive advance into South Tyrol as well as strategic targets within Austria. Nearly all of those early raids were quickly pounced on by the defenders and only did negligible damage while aircraft and even more damning, aircrew losses were high.
After this initial showing, Balbo who'd been Secretary of State before becoming Duce, took a personal hand in the matter. Strategic bombing raids were planned, bombers massed together, even fighter escorts were added, something not envisioned by many pre-war planners. Still those raids ran into stronger than expected resistance as well, often failing to make it to their target. Two raids, one on Brixen, one on Klagenfurt were widely reported on as successes. However losses on the diversionary raids that screened them were devastating, and despite impressive photos, damage on the ground was negligible.
After it was concluded that further raids of that kind would quickly destroy an already devastated Regia Aeronautica completely, a shift towards tactical bombing happened. While still taking significant losses to enemy fighters and ground fire, they seemed to have more of effect.
At the same time as Balbo took control of the air battle, he also started leaning on the Italian aviation industry. Several companies managed to keep to his demands, ramping up production in record time and supplying several new aircraft types.
Both the Fiat CR.30 and the Breda Ba.24 fighter were considered excellent and some of the best aircraft to fly at that time. Their bomber counterparts, mostly made up by the Caproni Ca.95, the Fiat BRG, the Breda CC.20 and the Savoia-Marchetti S.68 however received less praise.
Often criticised, but in retrospective probably not fatal, those new constructions, often flown by green crews, were fed to the front lines as they were constructed. Breda production ironically suffered from several pinpoint air strikes against their factory, and, as with production from Caproni and Savoia-Marchetti, nearly ceased completely as their factories in Milan came into range of Austrian artillery. Fiat held on a bit longer, French air raids against Turin proving mostly useless, until the city fell to advancing ground troops.
Austria on the other hand started the war with cutting edge aircraft. Their F-S 28 was excellent, and with the help of voice radio, intelligence tip-offs and a rapidly expanding coverage via Funkmeß-Peilung they could be just where they needed to be in time to intercept enemy raids. It wasn't just better aircraft, far more it was better doctrine. Having fought for their right to operate fighter aircraft again at Geneva, a core of veterans of the Great War had drilled a large number of pilots exceeding the number of airframes restlessly and it showed. Fast deliveries of additional F-S 28 allowed them to to keep aerial dominance all through the war.
The bomber aircraft however were officially at least new to service. It is now known that several "Drache" conversions of the AR.2 existed before the war, back then they came as a surprise to all observers. Bomber crews therefore were trained to a lesser standard than their fighter counterparts, but technological innovations allowed them to perform brilliantly anyway. Strategic bombing took second string even for the bombers. Their priority were supporting the army, be it with direct battlefield assistance or through strikes on transport links and moving Regio Esercito units. The few deep raids, that were without exception done as low level pin point bombing, however received most of the public attention.
The Avis Libelle was the rarest of the Austrian aircraft and as a heavy fighter bridged the gap between the two others. Mostly used in similar ways, the resilient twin boom fighter was faster than any other aircraft in the sky. Feared by bomber pilots, ground troops and especially train drivers, it's relative long loiter times caused the few Libellen in service to gain an outsized reputation.
Incidently, Avis could only produce what they did during the war, by stockpiling what were officially spares for their prototypes, in defiance of international treaties.
Among the Austrian Air Force a number of foreign aircraft also participated in the war. With a few exceptions, those were very few per type, or even one off. Mostly lacking the equipment to properly coordinate, flown by pilots who just got the most superficial training in Austrian doctrine, their effect was negligible. They did however lead to several manufacturers and Air Forces to take a close look at what was in their inventory.
Not entirely happy with this. Might be because I had more chance to proofread and disimprove.
Currently considering dropping another couple pieces later today - that'd be more information on the CR.30 (that resembles the CR.32 more than the OTL CR.30) and Ba.24 (inspired by the OTL Ba.27)
Currently considering dropping another couple pieces later today - that'd be more information on the CR.30 (that resembles the CR.32 more than the OTL CR.30) and Ba.24 (inspired by the OTL Ba.27)