[asheshouse]

Rather than going down the fictional path why not focus on WWI in the northern Adriatic. During WWI small seaplanes were involved in numerous aerial combats and were considered to be effective fighters since the lack of an undercarriage greatly reduced drag.

The beginnings of a map exists already if you look at the Canvas Knights development section.

This is from http://worldatwar.net/chandelle/v1/v1n2/adriatic.html

Naval Aviation

In support of these varied surface craft, Italy developed an extraordinary range of water-based, high-performance fighters, bombers, and reconnaissance airplanes. Along the Adriatic, Austria-Hungary and Italy faced each other across 75-100 miles of water along a front stretching 400-500 miles. Aircraft could attack almost any point along the enemy coast, provided that airbases could be found close to the water. This was frequently a problem for landplanes, however, particularly in Italy. To the south of Venice, the malarial swamps, mudflats, dunes, and drainage canals of the Maremma provided few suitable fields reasonably close to the coast. Much of the land further west was, in any case, rice paddy, subject to periodic inundations by the Po and its tributaries. This same area was, however, amply supplied with small anchorages, sheltered canals, and fishing ports that could support marine aircraft.



FBA Type C

Italian industrial capacity was still modest when war commenced. Italy could not supply sufficient numbers of indigenous warplanes. So Italy relied heavily on imported and license-built foreign types. Obtaining adequate numbers of coastal patrol and convoy escort aircraft posed a particular problem given Italy's long coastline. Accordingly, the Regia Marina imported large numbers of French FBA flying boats. These were somewhat small for use in the North Sea and the Bay of Biscay, so they were not used extensively by the French and British, who preferred longer legged Curtiss, Felixstowe, and Tellier boats. Over the short ranges typical of the Adriatic, FBAs were entirely satisfactory, however. FBAs were used extensively for antisubmarine patrol, convoy escort, and general, maritime reconnaissance.



The Lohner L

The first successful indigenous type, the Macchi Type L general-purpose flying boat, was a direct copy of a captured Lohner Type L, made at the express request of the Italian authorities. Some batches of the aircraft introduced a semi-enclosed cabin for the crew or a different, rounded fin and rudder, but all were essentially similar to their Austrian originals. An Isotta-Fraschini V4B (shown below) substituted for the Austro-Daimler of the captured machine. Bombs, depth charges, and 6.5-mm Revelli machineguns were the usual armament. But many carried a 25-mm, quick-firing Revelli cannon instead, often supplemented by a twin-barreled, 9-mm Vilar-Perosa submachinegun.


The Macchi L

By combining its experience reverse engineering the Lohner with that gained from license manufacturer of Nieuport scouts, Macchi went on to produce the most successful flying boat fighter of all time, the Macchi M.5. This combined the L