Hi all,
I'm waiting for the display case to complete my model of the Nieuport 28C.1.
Therefore I thought I'd start on a model that's been in my stash since it was first released.
The resin model kit is one of the best made and presented 1:32nd scale WW1 aircraft kits around and is available from Richard at 'Aviattic'.
This model will represent the Ansaldo A.1 ‘Balilla’, Serial No:16538 of pilot Tenente Leopoldo Eleuteri of No:70a Squadriglia, operating from Caccia, Padovano, during the October of 1918.
He was the only pilot to shoot down one enemy aircraft whilst flying the 'Balilla'.
'Balilla' (little boy) was the nickname of Giovanni Battista Perasso, a Genoese boy who started the revolt of 1746 against the Habsburg forces that occupied the city in the War of the Austrian Succession.
The legend is that while some Austrian soldiers were dragging an artillery piece along a muddy road in the Portoria neighbourhood of Genoa, the artillery piece got stuck in a moat.
The soldiers forced onlookers and passers-by to dislodge it.
Disgusted by the scene, Perasso allegedly grabbed a stone from the road and threw it at the Austrian patrol, calling on those around to join him.
This act set in motion a sequence of events that eventually caused the Austrian garrison to be evicted from the city.
Mike
