Flight over Vienna

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The Flight over Vienna was an epic action performed by Italian poet and nationalist patriot Gabriele D'Annunzio on 9 August 1918. With 11 Ansaldo S.V.A. from his team, the 87ma squadriglia (squadron) called "La Serenissima", he flew for over 1,200 km in a roundtrip to Vienna to drop some thousands of propaganda leaflets.

The action was planned the year before but technical problems, such as the fuel capacity of the planes, delayed it.

The first trial was attempted on the 2 August 1918, but the aircraft returned due to heavy fog. The second trial, on 8 August 1918, was cancelled due to strong wind, while the last one, on 9 August, was successful.

They flew over Vienna and dropped 50,000 leaflets on a three-colored card (Green-White-Red, colors of the Italian flag). They were written by D'Annunzio himself and were untranslated in German.

They also dropped 350,000 leaflets of another type invoking the abandon of the alliance between Austria-Hungary and "Prussia". These were instead translated in German.