Rob J M Mulder (www.elta1919.nl)

Between the 1 August and 14 September 1919 the Eerste Luchtverkeer Tentoonstelling Amsterdam – ELTA (First Aviation Exhibition Amsterdam) was held. It was hailed as a great success: more than 100 aircraft participated and more than 500,000 spectators (some sources take about as many as 1,000,000) passed the gates. The French Captain Hirschauer wrote about the exhibition ’…since the air exhibition of Reims of 1909…never has an air show been as impressive as the ELTA’. After 90 years it is time to reflect and have a look at the Italian participation.

Once the guns of the Great War fell silent the world could focus on the rebuilding of their nation. Great Britain, Italy and France were particularly hard hit, but the Netherlands had remained neutral and in many ways benefited from the war trade. But already during the Great War plans emerged in many nations to start up air services once practically possible. In the Netherlands Lieutenant M L J Hofstee and R J Castendijk (officers in the Luchtvaartafdeeling – LVA, the Dutch Army Air Corps) had written an essay about the possibilities for civilian aviation in the future. The essay was read by their colleague Lieutenant Albert Plesman, who thought about how can we find interest in the Netherlands for such plans? The Dutch population had not seen many aircraft during the Great War as the country had been neutral. The only flying activity taking place was by the military. The LVA and the Marine Luchtvaartdienst – MLD (Dutch Naval Air Corps) used mainly confiscated aircraft and had a mix of German, English and French aircraft at their disposal. They also operated some locally built aircraft like the Spijker V.2.

The Lieutenants Plesman and Hofstee came together and decided to form an organising committee that would set up an aviation exhibition with the main focus on the civilian site of aviation. It was important to show what the modern aircraft could mean for civilians. They found government support and a guarantee fund was formed to make sure that the idea could be realised and not became a financial disaster. In the spring of 1919 the plans for the Eerste Luchtverkeer Tentoonstelling Amsterdam – ELTA (First Aviation Exhibition Amsterdam – ELTA) were put into life. The exhibition opened on 1 August and lasted for six weeks until 14 September 1919. On a newly developed site in Amsterdam an exhibition hall and an air field (670 m x 750 m) were constructed. Invitations were send out to the Entente members as well as Denmark, Sweden, Germany and Austria. Under pressure of the Entente members Great Britain and France the German and Austrian invitation were withdrawn. It was too early after the Great War for them to compete at this event and also Allied pilots were not too keen to meet their former rivals in the air. Nevertheless, the ELTA was to become one of the finest exhibitions the world had ever seen. During the six weeks the ELTA lasted the committee had organised numerous activities, including night flights, air races, display flights, joy rides and much more. There was even an informal flying display with a lady jury present.

CHECK OUT FILM FOOTAGE:
Opening of the ELTA and the arrival of the Handley Page V/1500

In the exhibition hall numerous exhibitors displayed their products and in a cinema on the site lectures were held by people like Anthony Fokker, H B Pratt (Technical Manager of the Airship Department of the Naval Construction Work at Barrow-in-Furness, the airship department of Vickers Ltd) and the well-known French professor L Marchis.

During the six weeks more than 100 aircraft (both land- and seaplanes) came to the ELTA. In the beginning mainly civilian aircraft, but more and more military and converted military aircraft arrived. Not many pure civilian aircraft existed yet. The four countries represented (Great Britain, France, the Netherlands and Italy) displayed a beautiful mix of aircraft:

Great Britain: Airco D.H.4A, D.H.9B, D.H.9R, D.H.10; Handley Page V/1500 and O/7, British Aerial Transport Co Ltd B.A.T. F.K.23 Bantam, F.K.26 Commercial (the world’s first aircraft designed and built for commercial use) and F.K.28 Crow; Avro 504K, 504L, 534 Baby and the 536; Vickers Ltd showed the bomber F.B.27 Vimy and the civilian version F.B.28 Vimy Commercial; Blackburn R.T.1 Kangaroo; and Gosport Aircraft Co with the Gosport Flying Boat FBA, the F.5 and the F.2A. In addition came five Felixstowe F.5As and two rigid airships (HMA R.32 and R.33).

Check out: The British Aircraft on the ELTA of 1919

France: Caudron G.III, Spad XV/5, SEA-4, Breguet 14T2 Salon, Breguet 17C.2, Breguet 14A.2, Morane-Saulnier MoS.30bis, Morane-Saulnier MoS.35, Nieuport 29C.1, Farman F.50P and F.46 and fly-over of a Farman F.60 Goliath.

The Netherlands: Fokker D VII, Fokker D VIII, LVG B III, Fokker C I, Fokker V33, Fokker V39, Fokker M17E (all these were former German aircraft, but displayed by Fokker’s new Dutch company NV Nederlandsche Vliegtuigenfabriek). Also present he Carley S.1, the Spijker V.2 (trainer) and V.3 (fighter), Rumpler C VIII (from the LVA), Van Berkel W-A (MLD) and Friedrichshafen FF 49C (MLD). Finally the LVA bomber Vreeburg A.2M was on display in the hall.

The Italian contingent
The Italian participants decided to have a special section in the exhibition hall, where they could display randomly the aircraft they wanted to display. The “Sezione Italian” covered quite some space and most of the time 1-2 aircraft were on display. Most of the time the Ansaldo SVA.10 and the Caproni Ca.58 made occasionally the Fiat B.R. were placed on the stand. But the Italians were much more active on the airfield and in the air.

The participators of the Italians arrived throughout the ELTA lasted. The first to arrive was Tenente Umberto Guglielmotti, known in the Netherlands simply as ‘Motti’. He flew one of the three Ansaldo SVA.10s (military serial number 12222) that arrived on 1 August in Amsterdam. One week later the next Ansaldo SVA.10 (12974) arrived, followed by a third aircraft (12714) on 22 August. Latter was to remain in the Netherlands. In addition to these three fighters, Tenente Arturo Ferrarin was commanded to fly an Ansaldo A.1 Balillas (16550) from Paris to Amsterdam. He was to have a great time in the Netherlands with a lot of flying. Finally SA Italiana Gio Ansaldo & C transferred the prototype Ansaldo A300/2 to Amsterdam. The pilot was chief pilot Mario Stoppani and he carried with him the chief designer Giuseppe Brezzi.

Another impressive Italian participant was the Società di Aviazione Ing Caproni that transferred three aircraft to Amsterdam. The first to arrive was the Caproni Ca.450 (23170) for two crew and six passengers. It landed without any problems on 6 August and stayed only for a short while in Amsterdam. This aircraft was succeeded by the Caproni Ca.57 (12042) and this one had an enclosed cabin for six. It was on display in the exhibition hall and was used a little bit for joy rides. The largest aircraft to arrive after the Handley Page V/1500 was the three-engine triplane Caproni Ca.48 with looked very much like a flying omnibus. Captain Giulio Laureati had flown the aircraft non-stop from Milano/Taliedo across the Alps to Lyon and Paris/Orly. He was grounded by bad weather, but on 25 August it could proceed to Amsterdam, where it arrived after a flight marked by headwinds. But it was impressive sight once the triplane landed on the airfield. Once its roaring 380hp Liberty engines stopped it became pretty silent on the airfield. On board were also two Belgian officers, as well as two engineers and the co-pilot Baldi. In addition a detachment of the Italian Flying Corps dismounted from the aircraft!

The Fiat Società Anonima was represented by a very nice aircraft: The Fiat B.R. It had flown in the middle of July to London and on its way back it flew to Amsterdam, where it arrived on 2 August. The pilot was the famous Italian Tenente Francesco Brack Papa. His aircraft was powered by a 700hp Fiat engine – an impressive engine.

The remainder of the Italian participants were all flying boats from both the Società Idrovolanti Alta Italia and the Società Anonima Nieuport-Macchi. The first company send the Savoia S.9 and S.13 to Amsterdam, while latter flew the Macchi M.8 (13611) to Amsterdam and transported by train two M.7s to the Netherlands. They were assembled at the naval workshop De Mok on the island of Texel and were flown on demand to Amsterdam, where they moored either at the naval base Schellingwoude or at the Hoofdkanaal-West near the ELTA exhibition area.

As mentioned before, on