Ottoman Aviation Squadrons

The Aviation Squadrons of the Ottoman Empire were military aviation units of the Ottoman Army and Navy.[1] The history of
Ottoman military aviation dates back to June 1909[dn 1] or July 1911.[2][3][dn 2] The organisation is sometimes referred to as the
Ottoman Air Force.[dn 3][dn 4] The fleet size reached its apex in December 1916, when the Ottoman aviation squadrons had 90
airplanes.[4] The Aviation Squadrons were reorganized as the General Inspectorate of Air Forces (Kuva-yı Havaiye Müfettiş-i
Umumiliği) on 29 July 1918.[5] With the signing of the Armistice of Mudros on 30 October 1918, the Ottoman military aviation
effectively came to an end. At the time of the armistice, the Ottoman military aviation had around 100 pilots; 17 land-based airplane
companies (4 planes each); and 3seaplane companies (4 planes each); totalling 80 aircraft.[5]

Contents
Establishment of the flying school and war units
Italo-Turkish War
Balkan Wars
Pre-World War I
Istanbul–Cairo expedition of 1914
World War I
Structure and organization
Operations
See also
Footnotes
References
Bibliography
External links

Establishment of the flying school and war units

On 2 December 1909, Louis Blériot and the Belgian pilot Baron Pierre de Caters performed the first flight demonstration in the
Ottoman Empire.

After witnessing the growing importance of an air combat support branch, the Ottoman government decided to organize its own
military aviation program. For this purpose officers were sent to Europe by the end of 1910 for pilot training. However, due to
financial difficulties, the student program was aborted and the trainees returned to the Ottoman Empire in the spring of 191
1.

Although left without any governmental guidelines for establishing an air force, the Ottoman Minister of War of the time, Mahmud
Shevket Pasha, continued to encourage the idea of a military aviation program. On 28 June 1911, a written examination was held and
on 4 July, Cavalry Captain Mehmet Fesa (Evrensev) and Engineer Lieutenant Yusuf Kenan were selected. Mehmet Fesa was sent to
France and Yusuf Kenan was sent to Germany. But because the German school wanted an excessively high fee, both of them were
enrolled in the Blériot School at Étampes near Paris in July 1911.[6]

In late 1911 Staff Lieutenant Colonel Süreyya (İlmen) was entrusted with founding the Aircraft Committee (Tayyare Komisyonu)
with members from the Inspectorate of Technical and Fortified Formations (Kıtaât-ı Fenniyye ve Mevâki-i Müstahkeme
Müfettişligi).[7] Two tent hangars for the Aircraft School (Tayyare Mektebi) were erected in January 1912 at Yeşilköy, west of
Constantinople[8] (which is the Atatürk International Airporttoday.)
 On 21 February 1912, Mehmet Fesa and
Yusuf Kenan completed their flight training
at the Blériot School and returned home
with the 780th and 797th French Aero Club
certificates.[6] In the same year, eight more
Ottoman officers were sent to France for
flight training. Fesa Bey and Yusuf Kenan
Bey flew over Constantinople on 27 April
1912.
Ottoman pilots in early 1912
The Ottoman Empire started preparing its
first pilots and aircraft, and with the
founding of the Aircraft School (Tayyare Mektebi) in Yeşilköy (current Istanbul Ataturk
Airport in Yeşilköy) on 3 July 1912, the empire began to train its own flight officers. The
founding of the Aircraft School quickened advancement in the military aviation program,
increased the number of enlisted persons within it, and gave the new pilots an active role in Mahmud Shevket Pashawas
the Ottoman forces. instrumental in founding the
Ottoman Aviation Squadrons
The same year a single-seat and a two-seater Deperdussin were purchased from France and
brought to Constantinople in March 1912. Two of the two-seater version of Bleriot
XI-b were also acquired, the first of which was presented by Supreme Commander
Rıza Paşa. Three of a different two-seat model named XI-2 and three of the single-
seat ground trainer Pingouin were also used by the Ottoman Army.

The REP (Robert Esnault-Pelterie) was also one of the first planes to be deployed by
the Ottoman Empire. This aircraft was designed by Robert Esnault-Pelterie and its
first flight took place in 1912; they entered service during the same year in France.
In accordance with an agreement reached between the producer and the Ottoman
Ministry of War, seven REP planes were purchased and the first one was planned to
join the Ottoman Army on 15 March 1912. In late April 1912, the military aircraft
was shown to the public for the first time when a large military parade was held for
the honor of Sultan Mehmed V Reshad.[8] Five of the seven purchased were single-
seaters and the remaining two were two-seaters. One of the single-seaters were
planned only for ground practicing. The last plane was confiscated by the Serbians
while being brought to Istanbul by train. These aircraft were already out of service Yeşilköy Air Base in 1911
by 1914.

By the end of 1912, the Ottoman Army had a total of 15 airplanes, acquired mostly
through private donations.

Italo-Turkish War
In 1911, the Kingdom of Italy invaded the Tripolitania Vilayet (modern day Libya)
of the Ottoman Empire, using aircraft for reconnaissance and bombing missions for
the first time in aviation history (on 23 October 1911, an Italian pilot flew over
Ottoman lines for reconnaissance; and the next day Italian dirigibles dropped bombs
Mehmet Fesa Evrensev (Fesa Bey)
on ground targets, both of which represented the first effective use of aircraft in
combat.)
Ottoman troops opened fire on an Italian aircraft on 15 December 1911. The first aircraft to be brought down in a war was that of
Lieutenant Manzini, shot down on 25 August 1912; and the first aircraft to be captured was that of Captain Moizo, on 10 September
1912.

When Italy invaded the Tripolitania Vilayet, the Ottoman Army was not ready to use its few new aircraft in battle. The Ottomans had
very few troops in North Africa and countered the Italians mostly with organized local Arab militia (a massive Italian amphibious
assault force of 150,000 troops[9] had to be countered by 20,000 Bedouins[10] and 8,000 Turks.[10] ) The British government, which
militarily controlled the de jure Ottoman provinces of Egypt and Sudan since the Urabi Revolt in 1882, didn't allow the Ottoman
government to send additional troops to Libya through Egypt. There were attempts to purchase aircraft from France and send them to
Libya via Algeria, but they did not materialize.

Balkan Wars
The Ottoman military aircraft saw their first active combat involvement during the
First Balkan War, against the Balkan countries of Montenegro, Serbia, Bulgaria and
Greece. Seventeen Ottoman aircraft were used for reconnaissance, from September
1912 to October 1913. The Ottoman military aviation, due to the organization's
inexperience in combat, initially lost a number of airplanes. However, as the pilots
hardened with battle experience, they improved their combat skills, and many new
recruits applied to join the aviation squadrons.
Ottoman pilots during theBalkan
Wars (1912–1913)
Nevertheless, the Balkan League won the war. A short while later, Bulgaria attacked
Greece and Serbia to kick off the Second Balkan War, and the Ottoman Empire
declared war on Bulgaria, thus recovering a portion of its lost territories in Eastern Thrace,
including the major city ofAdrianople.

By the end of the Balkan Wars, the fledgling Ottoman military aviation had already been
through three wars and acoup d'état.

With the end of the Balkan Wars, a modernization process started and new planes were
purchased. With the outbreak of the First World War, the modernization process stopped
abruptly.

Pre-World War I
On 29 October 1913, Captain Salim Bey and Captain Kemal Bey flew over the Sea of Nuri Bey, one of the first
Marmara; and on 18 November 1913, Belkıs Şevket Hanım, a member of the Society for the Ottoman aviators
Defense of Women's Rights (Mudafaa-i Hukuki Nisvan Cemiyeti) flew in the aircraft piloted
by Fethi Bey, becoming the first Turkish female aircraft passenger[11] .

Istanbul–Cairo expedition of 1914

Following the Balkan Wars, the government of the Ottoman Empire launched a
prestigious expedition across the empire's holdings. A multiple-leg flight of four air
force monoplanes from Istanbul to Cairo and Alexandria in Egypt, it would cover a
distance of nearly 2,500 km (1,600 mi). The planes left Istanbul from the Aviation
School in Hagios Stefanos (modern Yeşilköy)[12] on February 8 manned by two
aviators each.[13] The monument at the crash site near
Al-Samra, the Sea of Galilee
The first team's aircraft, a Blériot XI, crashed on February 27 on the flight leg from
Damascus to Jerusalem at the Al-Samra near the Sea of Galilee, killing pilot Navy
Lieutenant (Ottoman Turkish: Bahriye Yüzbaşısı) Fethi Bey and his navigator, Artillery First Lieutenant (Ottoman Turkish: Topçu
Mülazım-ı Ula) Sadık Bey. The second team's aircraft, a Deperdussin B, crashed on March 11 into the Mediterranean Sea off Jaffa
shortly after take-off. Artillery Second Lieutenant (Ottoman Turkish: Topçu Mülazım-ı Saniye) Nuri Bey was killed while the other
aviator, İsmail Hahkı Bey, survived the accident.[13]

All three victims were interred in Damascus. A monument was erected at the crash site near the Sea of Galilee.[13] Another memorial
monument was erected in Istanbul.

World War I

Structure and organization

The Ottoman aviation squadrons began World War I under direct control of the Office of the
Supreme Military Command (Başkomutanlık Vekâleti).[1] Because of the cost of aircraft, it was a
small unit. It would remain there for the duration of the war, never becoming a separate corps as
in other World War I armies. Instead, it was parceled out in small detachments to an army or corps
which directed the tactical use of the planes. Primitive logistics kept the units small.

1914–1918
1914–1916 (used on
some aircraft of the
Naval Air Service)
office.
Meanwhile, in June 1914, the Ottoman Navy established the Naval Aircraft School (Bahriye
Tayyare Mektebi) in San Stefano.
In 1915, some German officers came to the Ottoman Empire, such as Hans Joachim Buddecke,
and some Ottoman officers went to Germany for
flight education. Buddecke himself would
achieve some success flying for the Ottoman
allies of Germany, achieving four confirmed and
seven probable victories (from late 1915 to the
summer of 1916) while flying for the Ottoman
aviation squadrons.[14]
By the end of 1915, two offices were established
to govern Ottoman military aviation. The 13th
A Halberstadt D.III of Ottoman 15th
Branch was part of the Ottoman General Staff;
Fighter Flight Squadron during the
the 9th Branch was part of the Minister of War's Gallipoli Campaign

By 1916, the growing air force had 81 pilots and observers and about 90 airplanes. Eventually, Germany would transfer 460 airplanes
to the Ottoman Empire; some 260 went to the Ottoman units and the rest remained in German units. Some 400 German aviation
personnel served in Ottoman forces.

By the war's end, the Ottoman aviation squadrons had become a potpourri of about 200 supplied, purchased, and captured aircraft
from Germany, France, Russia, and Britain. Even a general enumeration was overwhelming: seven types of Albatros; four types of
Fokkers; three types of Gotha bombers; two types each of Rumpler and Caudron; plus LVG B series, Halberstadts, Pfalzes, Voisins,
DeHavillands, Nieuports, a Bristol Bullet, a Farman, a Morane-Saulnier L Parasol, and a Grigorovich G.5.

Efforts were made to reorganize the Ottoman aviation squadrons, but this ended in 1918 with the end of the First World War and the
Occupation of Istanbulby Allied Forces on 13 November 1918.

Operations
In August 1914, the Ottoman military aviation had eight planes assigned for operations and four in the flying school in San Stefano;
[15]
of six operational planes, two were sent to eastern Anatolia, with the others retained at the flying school.

Vecihi Hürkuş was the
first civil aviator of
Turkey
Major Erich Serno arrived in January 1915,
accompanied by a staff of twelve.[15] It was Erich
Serno who convinced the Ottoman military
leadership to give the pilots a distinct uniform (a
winged crescent and star on their hats.)[16] These
men were parceled out to Ottoman detachments to
fill out shortages in trained Ottoman personnel.
Other German air personnel were later supplied. The
augmentation became so extreme that one of the 1914 Constantinople-Cairo flight,
left to right: Sadık Bey, İsmail
seven detachments formed by the end of 1915 was
Hakkı Bey, Fethi Bey and Nuri
wholly German, although they wore Ottoman
Bey
uniforms. Total Ottoman personnel in these seven
detachments were 11 observers and seven army
pilots, three navy pilots, and three civilian pilots.

The most important 1915 operation of the Ottoman aircraft

detachments was the surveillance of the Gallipoli landing. This was performed by two
detachments which was later reinforced. Ottoman airplanes from Gelibolu (Gallipoli) also
attacked Allied and Greek naval targets and bases throughout Northern Aegean.

The Ottoman aviation squadrons deployed to fronts of Gallipoli, Mesopotamia, Western

Thrace, Constantinople area andCaucasus in late 1915.[15]

The fleet size reached its apex in December 1916, when the Ottoman aviation squadrons had
90 airplanes.[4]
Ahmet Ali Çelikten, an Afro
The "Aviation Squadrons" were reorganized as the "General Inspectorate of Air Forces" Turk, was possibly the first
(Kuva-yı Havaiye Müfettiş-i Umumiliği) on 29 July 1918.[5] black aviator in history.

In the summer of 1918, thePalestine Brigade of the Royal Air Force and the Australian Flying
Corps pressured the Ottoman and German reconnaissance and combat aircraft detachments in Palestine. The Ottoman forces, lacking
the information to fend off Allenby's offensives around Megiddo, found themselves under heavy air attack while retreating from their
rout.

With the signing of the Armistice of Mudros on 30 October 1918, the Ottoman military aviation effectively came to an end. At the
time of the armistice, the Ottoman military aviation had around 100 pilots; 17 land-based airplane companies (4 planes each); and 3
seaplane companies (4 planes each); totalling 80 aircraft.[5]

See also
Turkish Air Force
Aviation Martyrs' Monument

Footnotes
1. According to Hamit Palabiyik, its formation came about after theOttoman Empire sent two pilots to the International
Aviation Conference in Paris in June 1909 (Hamit Palabiyik,Turkish Public Administration: From Tradition to the
Modern Age, USAK Books, 2008, ISBN 978-605-4030-01-9, p. 85.)
2. The Turkish Air Force regards flight trainings of Captain Fesa Bey and Lieutenant uYsuf Kenan Bey in 1911 as its
own start line and celebrates its 100th anniversary in 2011."Türk Hava Kuvvetleri 100 Yaşında" in the official website
of Turkish Air Force (http://www.hvkk.tsk.tr/TR/YuzYilIndex.aspx) Archived (https://web.archive.org/web/2011062606
0644/http://www.hvkk.tsk.tr/TR/YuzYilIndex.aspx) 26 June 2011 at the Wayback Machine. (in Turkish)
 3. According to Edward J. Erickson, the very term Ottoman Air Force is a gross exaggeration and the term Osmanlı
Hava Kuvvetleri (Ottoman Air Force) unfortunately is often repeated in contemporaryurkish
T sources. (Edward J.
Erickson, Ordered To Die: A History of the Ottoman Army in the First World War, "Appendix D The Ottoman Aviation
Inspectorate and Aviation Squadrons", ISBN 0-313-31516-7, p. 227.)
4. According to GlobalSecurity.org, the Ottoman aviation units never came under a centralised operational (as opposed
to administrative) command, and never matured into an independent arm or corps as it did in other countries. Flying
detachments (Tayyare Bölüğü) and fighter squadrons (Av Bölüğü) reported individually to either an Army or Corps
command., Ottoman Air Branch – 1914–1918 – The Great W ar (http://www.globalsecurity.org/military/world/europe/o
t-air-history-2.htm) in the official website of the GlobalSecurity.org.

References
1. Edward J. Erickson, Ordered To Die: A History of the Ottoman Army in the First World War, "Appendix D The
Ottoman Aviation Inspectorate and Aviation Squadrons", ISBN 0-313-31516-7, p. 227.
2. Story of Turkish Aviation in 'Turkey in the First World War' website (http://www.turkeyswar.com/aviation.html)
Archived (https://web.archive.org/web/20131207125505/http://www .turkeyswar.com/aviation.html) 7 December 2013
at the Wayback Machine.
3. Hv. K. K. Mebs. "The First Establishment and the Early Y
ears" (https://www.webcitation.org/6Df2BUUAb?url=http://w
ww.hvkk.tsk.tr/EN/IcerikDetay.aspx?ID=19). Archived from the original (http://www.hvkk.tsk.tr/EN/IcerikDetay.aspx?I
D=19) on 14 January 2013. Retrieved 24 December 2014.
4. Turkish Aircraft in 'Turkey in the First World War' website (http://www.turkeyswar.com/aircraft.html)
5. John Pike. "Ottoman Air Branch – 1914–1918 – The Great W
ar" (http://www.globalsecurity.org/military/world/europe/
ot-air-history-2.htm). Retrieved 24 December 2014.
6. Edward J. Erickson, Defeat in Detail: The Ottoman Army in the Balkans, 1912–1913, e
Wstport, CT: Praeger, 2003,
ISBN 0-275-97888-5, p. 348.
7. Edward J. Erickson, Defeat in Detail: The Ottoman Army in the Balkans, 1912–1913, e
Wstport, CT: Praeger, 2003,
ISBN 0-275-97888-5, pp. 348–349.
8. Edward J. Erickson, Defeat in Detail: The Ottoman Army in the Balkans, 1912–1913, e
Wstport, CT: Praeger, 2003,
ISBN 0-275-97888-5, p. 349. Cite error: Invalid <ref> tag; name "Defeat 349" defined multiple times with
different content (see thehelp page).
9. The History of the Italian-Turkish War, William Henry Beehler, page 96
10. The History of the Italian-Turkish War, William Henry Beehler, page 14
11. https://www.tarihtebugun.org/18693-1-aralik-1913_belkis-sevket-hanim-ilk-kez-ucan-kadin.html
12. Yılmazer, Bülent. "Murat Bardakçı'nın Hürriyet Gazetesi vasıtasıyla Aziz Hava Şehitlerimiz'in hatırasına büyük
saygısızlığı" (http://www.tayyareci.com/makaleler/uydurma.asp) (in Turkish). Tayyareci. Retrieved 2010-09-08.
13. Bedük, Muhammed. "Fatih'teki İlk Türk Hava Şehitleri Anıtı"(http://www.tayid.org.tr/index.php?option=com_content&
view=article&id=30:joomla-15-tarafindan-desteklenen-diller-nelerdir&catid=35:yazar3&Itemid=66) (in Turkish). Tarihi
Yarımada İşadamları ve Yöneticileri Derneği. Retrieved 2010-09-08.
14. "Hans-Joachim Buddecke"(http://www.theaerodrome.com/aces/germany/buddecke.php). Retrieved 24 December
2014.
15. Edward J. Erickson, Ordered To Die: A History of the Ottoman Army in the First World War, "Appendix D The
Ottoman Aviation Inspectorate and Aviation Squadrons", ISBN 0-313-31516-7, p. 228.
16. Gallery of Pilots (http://www.turkeyswar.com/pilots.html), showing the distinct badge (winged crescent and star) on
their hats.

Bibliography
Ordered to Die: A History of the Ottoman Army in the First World W ar. Edward J. Erickson. Greenwood Publishing
Group, 2001.
Coalition Warfare: An Uneasy Accord. Keith Neilson, et al. Wilfrid Laurier University Press, 1983.
The Arab Revolt 1916–18: Lawrence set Arabia ablaze . David Murphy. 2008.
External links
Aviation pages in 'Turkey in the First World War' website
Gallery of Pilots in 'Turkey in the First World War' website
Turkish Aircraft in 'Turkey in the First World War' website
GlobalSecurity.org: Ottoman Air Branch in The Great War (1914–1918)
"Türk Deniz Havacılık Tarihi" in the official website of the Turkish Naval Forces. (in Turkish)
https://web.archive.org/web/20090307212912/http://www .incirlik.af.mil/library/factsheets/factsheet.asp?id=5470
Accessed 2 October 2008.
http://flagspot.net/flags/tr%5Eairf.htmlAccessed 2 October 2008.

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