The African American who helped start an African Air Force

Colonel John Charles Robinson, nicknamed the Brown Condor, was an African American American aviator who fought Together with the Imperial Ethiopian Air Force against Benito Mussolini and Fascist Italy Throughout the Second Italian-Ethiopian War, 1935-1936.  Robinson is known as the Father of the Tuskegee Airmen because of his contributions to the aviation program at the Tuskegee Institute in Alabama in the early 1940s.

 John Charles had a long-time fascination with mechanics and machines, he traveled to Alabama in 1921 to study mechanical science in the Tuskegee Institute.  After graduating, Robinson reluctantly attended the Curtiss-Wright School of Aviation in Chicago, Illinois where he was employed as a janitor until the college assisted him in becoming the school’s first black student.  In 1924 he and a group of other aspiring African American pilots formed the Challenger Air Pilots Association. In an attempt to promote other aspiring black pilots, fellow pilot Cornelius Coffey helped open the John Robinson School of Aviation in Robbins, Illinois, a few years later. Robinson also urged Tuskegee Institute to open a school of flight.  The famous Tuskegee Airmen of World War II accredited John Charles Robinson among the founders of the program and an inspiration to all aspiring African American aviators. Robinson’s trailblazing donations to African Americans paved the way for African and African American Aviation. 

In early 1935, when Italy geared up for war with Ethiopia, Robinson declared he would help in the war efforts against the Italian forces.  Since Ethiopia was the only African nation to have resisted colonial conquest by European forces from the nineteenth century Robinson felt compelled to support the war efforts.  Robinson argued the invasion posed a hazard to more than only Ethiopia, but the greater notion of independence across Africa. With the approval of the Ethiopian government that at the time had just a few pilots and planes, Robinson conducted critical pilot training near Addis Ababa, the capital of Ethiopia.  In August 1935, he was appointed commander of the Ethiopian Air Force. He commanded a fleet of about twenty Potez 25 biplanes which were used for security and reconnaissance.  

In 1944, Robinson established a pilot training school in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. He also played a role in the foundation of Ethiopian Airlines and the airline has a Boeing 787 Dreamliner named in his honor. Robinson, unfortunately, died in Addis Ababa on March 27, 1954, from injuries he suffered in a plane crash.  His legacy and commitment to African Aviation will live on for generations to come. Robinson’s efforts and achievements were recently recognized by the United States Government at a wreath-laying ceremony at Gulele Cemetery in Addis Ababa. 

If you enjoyed the story of Colonel Robinson add the following books to your family library and make sure his story is told to future generations to come. We have provided links below for you to purchase these books and preserve this unique African American history. 

Source information:

Thomas E. Simmons, The Man Called Brown Condor: The Forgotten History

of an African American Fighter Pilot (New York, New York: Skyhorse

Publishing, Inc., 2013

Philip Thomas Tucker, Father of the Tuskegee Airmen, John C. Robinson

(Lincoln, Nebraska: Potomac Books, Inc., 2012)