The Dawn of Aviation in the Middle East: The First Flying Machines over Istanbul‪.‬

The dawn of aviation in the Middle East began in 1909, six years after the Wright brothers' renowned flight on the coast of North Carolina. In a cold and blustery December of that year, the Belgian Baron Pierre de Caters and then the world-famous Frenchman Louis Bleriot piloted the first heavier-than-air flying machines over Istanbul--or Constantinople as it was commonly called in Europe--the capital of the Ottoman Empire. The flights of these machines astounded the thousands of spectators who had gathered to watch. "Bravo!" they cheered, clapping and waving, as these fabulous inventions rose into the sky. What did these observers think of this new technology? Did they believe that these machines simply provided a platform for stunts or did they believe that they had serious implications for mankind or, more specifically, the Ottoman Empire? At that time, no one thought, of course, to poll the spectators on their reactions to these flying machines. Indeed, to my knowledge, the recollections of only one such spectator have been published. By spectators I mean the subjects of the Ottoman Empire--Turks, Greeks, Armenians, Arabs and others--for there were also many foreigners, that is, Europeans, present. These latter lived mainly in the large European colony in the Pera, modern Beyoglu *, section of Istanbul. This was the commercial hub of the city, where powerful foreign banks and embassies were located. But among the "ordinary Ottoman" spectators a number of local journalists were on hand. Their reports of these flights provide a unique insight into the impression that they made on those who witnessed them. Here, I shall focus primarily on the reports in the leading Turkish newspapers and secondarily on those in "foreign" newspapers. Turkish was, of course, not only the language of the dominant and ruling element of the Ottoman Empire, but it was also widely understood among various minority groups within the state. (1) Accordingly, Turkish newspapers were the most numerous and had the widest circulation. "Foreign" newspapers were those published in Beyoglu by various interests within the European colony.