Friday 11 March 2016

Ansaldo A.1 Balilla - Polish users, part two

Today we finish with the Polish users for this Italian airplane.

We are centering in the Polish-built Lublin A.1 Balillas.

The Lublin A.1 was a license-built version of the Ansaldo A.1 Balilla manufactured by the Lublin factory, in the Polish city of Lublin.

They were heavier than their Italian counterparts, around 80 Kg heavier and showed frequent problems with the engine and the quality of the welds. That leaded to various accidents, many of them fatal. Because of that bad reputation, in 1924, in spite of the Ansaldos' effort to convince that the type was reliable, the production was reduced from 100 to 80, and eventually only 57 of them were built. In 1925 their armament was completely retired and in 20th September 1927 the last of the Balillas was written-off from Polish service because they had been gradually replaced with Blériot-SPAD S.51, Blériot-SPAD S.61 and Potez 25.









Sources:
1. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ansaldo_A.1_Balilla
2. Salamander Books - The Complete Book of Fighters
3. Windsock Datafile 88 - Ansaldo A.1 Balilla

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