Ahmet Ali Çelikten

Ahmet Ali Çelikten

Ahmet Ali
Birth name İzmirli Alioğlu Ahmed
Nickname(s) Arap Ahmet Ali
İzmirli Ahmet Ali
Born 1883
İzmir, Aidin Vilayet, Ottoman Empire
Died 1969 (aged 85–86)
Allegiance  Ottoman Empire
 Turkey
Service/branch  Ottoman Navy[1]
 Ottoman Air Force
 Turkish Navy
 Turkish Air Force
Years of service Ottoman Empire: 1908–1920
Turkey: 1920–1949
Rank Captain
Battles/wars World War I
Turkish War of Independence

Ahmet Ali Çelikten[1][2][3] (born İzmirli Alioğlu Ahmed; 1883–1969), also known as Arap Ahmet Ali[2] or İzmirli Ahmet Ali,[1] was an Ottoman aviator who may have been the first Black pilot in aviation history[4] and was one of the few Black pilots in World War I, like Eugene Jacques Bullard. His grandmother came from Bornu (now in Nigeria) to the Ottoman Empire as a slave.[4][5]

Biography

Ahmet was born in 1883 in İzmir, in the Aidin Vilayet of the Ottoman Empire[6] to his mother Zenciye Emine Hanım and father Ali Bey, of African Turkish descent.[7] He aimed to become a sailor and entered the Naval Technical School named Haddehâne Mektebi (literally "School of the Blooming Mill") in 1904.[7] In 1908, he graduated from this school as a First Lieutenant (Mülâzım-ı evvel).[7] And then he went to aviation courses in the Naval Flight School (Deniz Tayyare Mektebi) that was formed on 25 June 1914 at Yeşilköy.[1] He was then a member of the Ottoman Air Force.

During World War I, he married Hatice Hanım (1897–1991) who was an immigrant from Preveza.[3] He became the first Black military pilot in aviation history when he started serving in November 1916. On 18 December 1917, Captain (Yüzbaşı) Ahmed Ali was sent to Berlin to complete aviation courses.[5]

He died in 1969.

Legacy

To quote David Nicolle's book, The Ottoman Army 1914–1918, "Most Ottoman aircrew were recruited from the Turkish heartland ... others came from the Arab provinces of the Ottoman Empire as far south as Yemen, or even from neutral Iran. Captain Ahmet was of Arab-African origin and may have been the first 'Black' Air Force pilot in aviation history, having received his 'wings' in 1914-15." The book features a photo of Ahmet in front of a Bleriot XI-2 trainer at the Yeşilköy flying school. The same photo is featured in "Over the Front", Volume 9, No. 3, Fall 1994. Ahmet's "wings" would seem to have been earned prior to Bullard's earning his brevet No. 6259 on 20 July 1917, though Bullard is often cited as history's first Black aviator.[4]

References

Ottoman naval aviators of the Naval Flight School (Deniz Tayyare Mektebi) at Aya Stefanos; left to right: pilot Ahmet Ali (Çelikten), Sami (Uçan), İhsan and observer Hüseyin Kâmil (Görgün).
  1. 1 2 3 4 "Türk Deniz Havacılık Tarihi" in the official website of the Naval Air Base Command of the Turkish Naval Forces. (Turkish)
  2. 1 2 Ajun Kurter, Türk Hava Kuvvetleri Tarihi, Cilt 5, Hava Kuvvetleri Komutanlığı, 2009, p. 299. (Turkish)
  3. 1 2 Dünyanın ilk siyahi pilotu: ARAP AHMET -4 "Pilotlarla Dolu Bir Aile", Posta, 20 March 2011. (Turkish)
  4. 1 2 3 NTV History Magazine Issue:26, March 2011
  5. 1 2 DÜNYANIN İLK SİYAH PİLOTU: ARAP AHMET, Havervitrin, 8 March 2011. (Turkish)
  6. ↑ Dünyanın ilk siyahi pilotu: ARAP AHMET -1, Posta, 20 March 2011. (Turkish)
  7. 1 2 3 Dünyanın ilk siyahi pilotu: ARAP AHMET -2, Posta, 20 March 2011. (Turkish)

Further reading

External links

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