Ansaldo A.1 Balilla
| A.1 Balilla | |
|---|---|
| General information | |
| Type | Fighter |
| Manufacturer | Gio. Ansaldo & C. |
| Designer | Umberto Savoia, Rodolfo Verduzio, and Giuseppe Brezzi |
| Status | Retired |
| Primary users | Italian Air Force |
| Number built | ~250 by Ansaldo, 57 by Lublin under licence |
| History | |
| Manufactured | 1917-1924 |
| Introduction date | 1918 |
| First flight | March 1917 |
The Ansaldo A.1, nicknamed "Balilla" after the Genoan folk-hero, was Italy's only domestically-designed fighter aircraft of World War I to be produced in Italy. Arriving too late to see any real action, it was however used by both Poland and the Soviet Union in the Polish-Soviet War of 1919–1921.