In the predawn of August 18, 1918, on an airfield near Padua, Italy, one man didn’t belong. He was Lieutenant Willis Fitch, one of 20 American pilots stationed with the Royal Italian Air Force.

Fitch had persuaded an Italian pilot to give up his part in one of the most dangerous bombing missions of the war: the attack, in broad daylight, on Pola—the largest naval base in Austria, and the one most strongly defended from both land and air.

A nearly equal hazard of the raid was the plane Fitch would fly—the Caproni Ca. 36 Night Bomber. This three-engine plane, which flew slow and low, was not built for daylight raids, except with superior fighter escort. No gas gauge. Three readings on the instrument panel. Individual fuel and ignition levers controlled each of the three engines, which had to be perfectly synched at takeoff. If either side engine were fed too much gas, the Caproni would angle off and ground loop.

It was a wobbly take-off, but Fitch made it. He was flying second in a formation of 60 planes. At Pola there were no enemy planes to meet the raiders. The Austrians were completely surprised. Fitch dropped his bombs and turned for home. The sky was black with smoke. Austrian planes had climbed to the city’s defense, but two squadrons of Allied escort planes kept them busy while 60 tons of bombs were dropped on hapless Pola.