From the Department of Quagmires

A historical footnote worthy of consideration as allied planes go after Qaddafi's ground forces, now that his air-defense system has been essentially erased from the equation and questions continue to arise about where it's all going, not to mention the effectiveness and ethics of air campaigns of this sort. About a hundred years ago, the first-ever use of an airplane for military purposes took place in Libya.

On Nov. 1, 1911, Italian reconnaissance pilot Lieutenant Giulio Gavotti flew over a camp of Turkish soldiers, unpinned four grenades and dropped them, to little discernible effect. According to Gerard J. De Groot's The Bomb, "No Turks were injured in this first instance of aerial bombardment, but they were mighty angry."