During the Interwar period of 1924-1936, the Mediterranean sea was plagued by Sky Pirates from Italy, France, Yugoslavia, Spain and Greece.
At the beginning, these incidents were small and often went unnoticed. Not until the great depression hit Europe in 1929. Many out-of-work pilots turned to this form of piracy, as it at least promised payment, and even formed small squadrons. Leading to the "Golden age of sky piracy".
In order to successfully plunder ships on the high seas, the pirates would use flying boats such as the Ikarus IO, Macchi M.18 and Farman F.168.
They would then land beside freight and cruise ships and threaten them with small conventional weapons and their gun turrets.
They would steal and plunder as much as their plane allowed whilst also taking the occasional hostage.
My question is however: if this scenario were actually part of our history, how would Countries with Mediterranean coasts react to this new threat during the time period?
Please leave your thoughts and theories below.