Air Battle on Istrana

The Air Battle on Istrana was an air battle that took place in the sky over the town of Istrana on 26 December 1917, as part of the First World War. It was the most important air battle on the Italian front.

Background
On 25 December, an unauthorized attack on the Istrana Air Base (at the time controlled by Germans & Austro-Hungarians) was carried out by the Canadian Captain William George "Billy" Barker, the Aviator Harold Byron Hudson and by another pilot which remained unknown. The attack was carried out at night from the Gazzo Padovano hangar. The attack was a success: on the German and Austro-Hungarian losses, we have 15 pilots killed and 5 planes damaged. After the battle the British left a sign on the hangar saying: "To the austrian flying corps from english RFC wishing you a very Merry Christmas".



Course of events
To avenge the 25 December attack, the Germans and Austro-Hungarians jointly launched another attack on the base against what they thought were only British units. On the morning of 26 December, German and Austro-Hungarian planes attacked. The attack was described by Silvio Scaroni as the following : "Verso le 9 di ieri mattina, dunque, le vedette del campo, dato l'allarme, avvertivano che due forti gruppi di aeroplani nemici, dalla direzione del Montello, venivano verso il nostro campo. Con un binocolo volli dare un'occhiata verso la direzione indicata e vidi subito gli apparecchi che avanzavano serrati a una quota di 3000 metri; poco più in alto un altro gruppo di piccoli caccia: complessivamente potevano essere una quarantina di macchine..." After that, all the Italian and British planes stationed in the nearby Hangar joined the air battle. After bloody hours of fighting, the outcome was devastating for the Central Powers: they lost a total of 11 aircraft, while the Italians and British a total of 5. After the attack, the VI Airplane Group (later renamed ) received the Bronze Medal of Military Valor for the following reason: "Durante un'incursione aerea nemica, in cui ben trenta velivoli avversari bombardavano e mitragliavano il campo di aviazione del 6º Gruppo aeroplani, tutti i piloti presenti, non scossi dalle prime perdite, si levarono in volo e con un contrattacco fulmineo ed imbattibile abbattevano ben undici apparecchi nemici, costringendo gli altri alla fuga Cielo di Fossalunga nel 26 dicembre 1917."