TNT History Archive: Ottoman Aviation's Infancy (1912)/Part II/FINAL

 //Ed. note: Ottoman Capt. Siyami, who had

received training in Prussia, had a book

about airplane use, written by a Prussian 

army lieutenant, translated into Turkish as

a contribution to the Beyoğlu Donanma

Cemiyeti campaign for an Ottoman airplane

fleet.

Ottoman AF History click here for a very

good Wikipedia page on this subject.

Capt. Siyami's note in this regard://

The few bombs that airplanes drop currently do not make for a decided

advantage militarily.  The nations in the forefront of aviation are 

Germany and France.  We hope that these nations will continue with 

their efforts to increase the military effectiveness of this apparatus.  We 

think that our hopes in this regard are justified and we must not distance 

ourselves from the airplane and its related organization.

Lately, we have translated the book written by First Lieutenant Walter

Macinto, an airplane instructor in the Prussian Army.  We would like to 

present this book, in Turkish, to the Beyoğlu Donanma Cemiyeti as a 

small token of our debt vis-a-vis contributions  regarding an Ottoman 

airplane fleet. 

 ((signed)) First Lieutenant Siyami of the (Ottoman Army) Artillery, 

who received training in the Prussian Army.

 

                   Ottoman pilots in 1912.

Author’s (Prussian First Lt. Macinto) foreward in his book:

Airplanes provide great advantages to armies for reconnaissance and 

warfare.  Although the means airplanes use in these activities are 

otherwise available, their use in airplanes cannot be duplicated elsewhere.  

Airplanes’ biggest advantage is speed – 80 to 100 kilometers per hour, 

which is faster than our fastest trains.   An airplane pilot can tell his 

commander that an enemy is approaching a day’s march away, within 

20 to 30 minutes.  The obstacles that face a cavalry, such as enemy 

chain lines, vanguard squads,  rivers and valleys present no difficulties 

for airplanes.  The only thing that restricts airplane reconnaissaince is 

foul weather, in terms of fog, clouds, dust, smoke, rain and snow.  

However, as airplane use develops and progresses, weather conditions

for flying will be better understood.  The restrictions they pose have

made airplane flight dangerous thus far, in light of limited familiarity,

haste and boldness.

//Ed. note: to underscore the human 

cost imposed by these early avaiation

efforts, Capt. Siyami included this

table of lives lost in various nations

over the years, from a German 

military aviation newspaper.

The nations listed on the right are,

from top to bottom: Germany (18),

France (41), America (23), Russia (6),

Italy (7), Belgium (3), England (7),

Austria (3), Switzerland (2), 

Spain (1), Serbia (1), Montenegro (!).

(Total lives lost in parentheses).

The years across the top are, from 

right to left:

1897, 1899, 1908, 1909, 1910,

1911 and the two columns under

each year are for pilot and 

'machinist' deaths.

//The heading reads: Sacrifice 

for Aviation: the toll for each

nation".//