Winged Spears

    

    The Ethiopian Air Force in the 1935 War of Abyssinia in the context of cancel culture, censorship and false beliefs.

    By Alberto Alpozzi, photo-reporter.

    The PEGASOS AITHIOPIKOS, in the 1350 illustration above, was a breed of winged, horned horse native to Aithiopia (Ethiopia) in sub-Saharan Africa. They descended from Pegasus, the celebrated horse of Greek myth, who was himself said to have been born on the shores of the Red Sea near Aithiopia. 

    The ancients, in this case the Roman Pliny the Elder in the 1st century, had no problem believing that in Ethiopia there lived such creature. 

`Today, there recurs another Ethiopian mythical figure, perpetuated by false historians with a political agenda: that of the Ethiopian warrior, armed only with a spear and a shield, who immolated himself to defend his land against a technologically preponderant European invader.

    Regardless the large amount of historical evidence, there are still people who want to believe that, when the descendants of the Romans invaded Ethiopia in October 1935, were confronted only by backwards barefoot warriors. Without trying to justify, in any way, the Italian invasion of the land of the Lion of Judah, we'd like to offer our little contribution to the historical truth.      

    July 19, 2022

    1929 is officially considered the birth year of the Imperial Ethiopian Air Force, with the arrival in Addis Abeba of the first Potez 25A2 on August 18, followed two weeks later by a Junkers W33c.

    In September 1930, Mikhail Ivanovich Babichev[1] (Mishka Babicheff) made the first independent flight. The following month, the Emperor Hailè Selassiè bestowed on him the military rank of lieutenant of the Ethiopian Air Force and sent him to the French Air Force Academy, where he achieved his brevet in 1932. Babicheff then returned to Ethiopia with two French pilots.

    This post consists of several excerpts from the book Bugie Coloniali 2 (Colonial Lies 2), chapter 7, L’Aviazione Etiopica (The Ethiopian Air Force), by Alberto Alpozzi. Pages 114-130:

    “The total number of aircraft in the Ethiopian Air Force increased over several years, but it was never more than twenty.

    According to some reports, the number of Ethiopian aircraft varied from twelve to eighteen, some of which suffered technical problems. The bulk of the air force was represented by the wooden-structure French built Potez […]

    In 1936, the staff of the Ethiopian Air Force had six Potez biplanes at their disposal […]

One Ethiopian Lion of Judas' Potez 25

  

    In the period 1929-1936, most of the personnel of the Ethiopian Air Force were invited American and European specialists. There were four Ethiopians: Mishka Babicheff, Bahru Kaba, Asfaw Ali e Tesfaye. Besides them, Henri Mallet, Baron von Engel and Baron Carl Gustav von Rosen, Ludwig Weber and several other foreign specialists also served in the Imperial Air Force […]

Mishka Babicheff

    The following equipment was available to the Ethiopians in 1935:

    4 French Potez 25 A2 (unarmed and in need of repairs).

    1 Dutch Fokker F VII (in acceptable condition, but without spare parts. It was employed as a military air ambulance).

    The German-built Junkers W 33c.

    1 French Farman monoplane.

    1 Italian Competition/Touring Breda Ba.15 airplane.

    1 American Beechcraft Staggerwing.

    1 Monoplane aircraft Ethiopia-1 (based on the Austrian Meindl A.VII sports aircraft, it was the first airplane assembled overseas, under the guidance of Swedish pilot Ludwig Weber, the Emperor’s personal pilot) […]

The Ethiopia I

    As far as weaponry is concerned, the Ethiopian Air Force had only about one hundred ten-kilogram bombs at its disposal.”[2]

    Rather imaginatively, Rochat instead wrote that “the Abyssinians had neither aviation nor artillery and the only peril[3] for the Italian aircraft was rifle fire…,” contradicting what he himself had said just four years earlier: “eight airplanes were shot down and five were put out of commission by the Abyssinian fire.”[4]

    Not only does Rochat refute himself, he even contradicts Angelo Del Boca (famous Italian Abyssinian apologist, TN), and it is clear that he never read Mockler, who wrote: “On March 15, 1934, nine months before the Ual Ual incident, there was a military parade at the Janhoy Meda Ethiopian Air Force base in Addis Abeba. With the purchase of six more aircraft the strength of the Ethiopian Air Force increased to twelve airplanes at the beginning of the conflict.

    More corroboration comes from Traversi: “The Ethiopian Emperor also possesses various aircraft, almost all of French origin, or gifted and purchased abroad. And an Italian Breda Ba.15 presented as a gift by the Italian government to Hailè Selassiè on his coronation. It is a small show of diverse models in the hands of the usual foreigners, who may be in search of a renewed virginity in the land of Ethiopia.” [5]

The Emperor is preparing to climb on a Potez 25

    At the time, Ethiopia already had “about a dozen aircraft, although of obsolete types, slow and not equipped with modern apparatuses. Three of these airplanes had been given to the Negus (the Emperor) by European powers, and the others were provided by the Japanese, who also assisted Abyssinia with a certain number of instructors.”[6]

Fokker F.VIIa-1m in Ethiopia. Two aircraft of this type were delivered on June 14, 1935.

    The Ethiopian airplanes were all pretty much documented throughout the years.

    Literature about them abounds, for example:

    “To the attention of Captain Tenti, Captain Ronti and Lieutenant Pianca.

    It was related by a secure source that tomorrow morning, February 12, 1936, at 5 am, an Ethiopian airplane will depart from Addis Abeba with destination Dessiè, carrying 1000 Oerlikon machine-gun cartridges, and airplane spare parts […] For the purpose of intercepting that aircraft in flight, or at the Dessiè airfield, our aircraft designated for offensive reconnaissance should take off from Gura not at the time specified by operation order n.160, but at a short interval one from the other beginning at 6:15 am […] We remind you that, while carrying out the bombing, great care must be exercised to avoid hitting the houses of Dessiè […]

    Signed General Aimone-Cat.[7]

    And the following is the recount of the mission by Lieutenant Pianca: “the antiaircraft artillery had opened a very heavy fire. But there was no trace of the enemy aircraft. We flew more to the south […] The enemy airplane had moved down there, and we could make it out through the branches of the trees that had hidden it from us on the first pass. I observed the first discharge of fragmentation bombs by Captain Tenti hitting squarely on target.”

    The Ethiopian antiaircraft artillery made itself heard on the Lieutenant’s every mission: “I went over Dessiè for seven consecutive days; and it was from one of these flights that I returned with a torn wheel, a wing strut on the brink of failure and a few dozen holes spread all over the surface of the aircraft.”

    Before the war, the chief of staff of the Negussite Air Force was the famous aviation “ace” Hubert Julian, known throughout the world as the “Black Eagle.” Julian was born in Trinidad in 1897 and migrated to Canada in 1914, where he joined the Royal Canadian Air Force and became a pilot.

Hubert Julian

    He was famous for his flying stunts and parachute jumps and, in 1930, was invited to Ethiopia by Emperor Hailè Selassiè for his coronation, but during the ceremony Julian crashed the new Emperor’s plane and returned to the United States.

    On October 3, 1935, when the war broke out, Julian sailed to Ethiopia at the cry of “Africa for Africans!” (he was a follower of Marcus Garvey, TN) to participate in the military operations as the commander of the Ethiopian air arm.

    But Hubert Julian’s dreams of glory were shattered by the presence of John Robinson, the “Brown Condor,” an American pilot from Florida, who had just accepted to lead the Negus’ Air Force with the rank of Colonel. During the war, Robinson carried out various missions of reconnaissance, resupply, and as a liaison between Addis Abeba and Adua. In some of those missions, he was accompanied by the Emperor himself, on the Beechcraft Staggerwing as well as on a French Potez airplane.

Robinson, The Brown Condor

    During his twelve-month presence in Ethiopia, Robinson’s leg was wounded in battle, (but some sources say it was his hand).

    Although Julian had been welcomed back by the Emperor, he was not allowed to fly. Instead, he was tasked with training 3000 Ethiopian soldiers. This is how he recorded that war period: “There were only twelve airplanes in the whole country. Ordering them to fly on the routes of the Italians would have been like throwing doves to the hawks.”

    Australian correspondent Noel Monks reported that Julian had taken the initiative to be the information source for all the reporters who had been confined to their hotel rooms and depended on official communiques.[8]

    When the outcome of the war became clear, he escaped just a few days before the Emperor did, and went back to New York.

    The hostilities ended on May 5, 1936, with the Italian conquest of Addis Abeba. The following month, from the United States there came the news that “…the famous black aviator Hubert Julian, the so-called Black Eagle, has presented the Italian authorities his Ethiopian passport asking to become an Italian subject. He also explained the reasons why he decided in the past months to abandon the army of Tafari.”[9]

    Was that just propaganda, or was it the truth? Did Julian obtain Italian citizenship? In any case, his heroic story confirms that Ethiopia indeed had an Air Force, albeit small and not in shape to compete with the Italian one. And that the Ethiopian Armed Forces were not armed with spears, as some would want us still to believe today.

    This was a translation from Alberto Alpozzi's site L'Italia Coloniale (Colonial Italy).

    Many thanks to Janice Jenkins for reviewing the English text.

    All your comments will be greatly appreciated.

    Thank you,

    L. Pavese


[1] Mishka Babicheff was born on October 14, 1908, in Ethiopia. The father was a military officer of the Russian diplomatic mission in Ethiopia and his mother was a native Ethiopian.


[2] Юхова В., Тайны эфиопского двора, Интервью с А.Г. Шахназаровым (Yukhov V., Secrets of the Ethiopian court, Interview with A.G. Shakhnazarov).


[3] The following is the list of Italian aviators killed in action during the II Italo-Abyssinian War: General Vincenzo Magliocco, Colonel (Royal Army) Mario Calderini, Lieutenant Colonel Pilot, Ivo Oliveti, Major Pilot Antonio Locatelli, Captain Pilot Mario Galli, Captain (Royal Army. Observer) Antonio Drammis, 1st Lieutenant Pilot Luigi Gabelli, 1st Lieutenant (Royal Army, Observer) Gaetano Devitofrancesco, 1st Lieutenant Pilot Alfredo De Luca, 2nd Lieutenant Pilot Tito Minniti, 2ndLieutenant, Pilot Gastone Pisoni, 2nd Lieutenant Pilot Fortunato Cesari, Warrant officer, Pilot Giorgio Bombonati, Sergeant Motorist Dalmazio Birago, Sergeant Photographer Livio Zannoni, Sergeant Radio Telegraph operator Renato Ciprari, 1° Chief Airman Motorist William D’Altri, 1° Chief Airman Motorist Alberto Agostini, Chosen Airman Radio- Telegraph operator Giulio Malenza and Engineer Adolfo Prasso. According to Giuseppe Giardina in his 1938 book Uno sguardo alla guerra d’Africa, “Giornale di medicina militare,” the total number of Regia Aeronautica’s crews killed in action was 193.


[4] Rochat R., Le guerre italiane 1935-1943, ( The Italian wars), Einaudi, Torino, 2005.


[5] Traversi L., L’Italia e l’Etiopia, Capelli Ed., Bologna, 1935.


[6] Rossi C., Abissinia, Minerva, Milano, 1935.


[7] Extract from the 2/11/1936 Operational Order, published in Pianca A., L’aviazione italiana nella campagna d’Etiopia 1935-36, (The Italian Air Force in the Ethiopian Campaign 1935-36) on Historia n. 155, October 1970.


[8] See chapter 8 of Alberto Alpozzi’s Bugie Coloniali 2 Eclettica Edizioni, 2022.


[9] L’Aquila Nera chiede di diventare suddito italiano, (The Black Eagle asks to become an Italian subject), Il Giornale di Addis Abeba (newspaper), June 16, 1936.