The Italians similarly received their Hanriot HD.1s and, like the Belgians, scored well against the opposition when utilizing the aircraft as a primary frontline mount. Some 16 of the 18 available Italian fighter squadrons of the Corpo Aeronautico Militaire were composed of HD.1s by November of 1918 - the war's final month. The Italians favored the HD.1 over the Nieuport and SPADs then available and took to license-production of the French aircraft through the firm of Nieuport-Macchi out of Varese, Italy. Some 831 examples of the 1,200 total available were HD.1s produced in Italian factories which showcased its value to the Italian Air Service.
In practice the Hanriot HD.1 gave a proper account of itself. The type stocked no fewer than three Belgian squadrons (9th, 10th and 11th Escadrilles). HD.1s were used in all manner of ways including interception, scouting, reconnaissance, balloon-busting and ground attack. The Italians began fielding the aircraft in the summer of 1917 and 100 were initially delivered before localized license production began. The Belgians began operations with the HD-1 in August of 1917 where it quickly became the mount of choice for ace Willy Coppens. Coppens also earned the title of "Balloon Buster" for his ability to destroy flammable enemy observation balloons during the war while flying his blue Hanriot aircraft. The Italians fared quite well for themselves for, on December 26th, 1917, 11 German reconnaissance aircraft were shot down with no loss to the Italians flying their HD.1s.
The French Navy eventually stocked a few HD.1s while the United States Navy also took service of the type but only in the post-war years (as did the Swiss Air Force). Ecuador and Paraguay were the only other notable operators of this fine aircraft but these only amounted to a handful of the hundreds ultimately seeing service. The Belgians held the Hanriot HD.1 in such regard that they kept it a frontline fighting until 1926.
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