Training of Ottoman Naval Soldiers to be Employed in Airplanes

Highways, maritime lines and railways were developed to meet the needs of humanity. Advances in aerial transportation heralded a new era. The Ottoman State realized the importance of airplanes when the Italians used them to bomb Ottoman positions during the Tripoli War (1911-1912). Consequently, work was undertaken to establish air forces by purchasing airplanes from European states. Airplanes were essential not only for land forces but also for the navy to accurately track the position and movement of enemy forces. After attending Efrad-？ Cedide Mektebi (the School of New Soldiers - established within the Ottoman Naval Forces), Ottoman soldiers, were trained in special courses to become ‘airplane soldiers’ (tayyareci efrad, tayyareci asker) in order to assist the engineers (mühendis) and observers (rasat？？) in charge of airplanes. The aim of the present article is to study the training of these soldiers to be employed later on in the airplanes of the Ottoman navy