A spotlight on pilots of African ancestry who fought in World War I

Ahmet Ali Çelikten

Ahmet Ali Çelikten

RELATED STORIES

Mali’s first president, Modibo Keita, died a prisoner on this day in 1977

The advanced and mysterious Nok Civilisation of now modern-day Nigeria that vanished in 200AD

Gullah, descendants of African slaves in South Carolina who haven't abandoned their cultural roots

Edmond Albius, the slave African child who created the multimillion-dollar vanilla industry

Born to an Afro-Turk father and a woman of Nigerian descent in 1883 in the Ottoman Empire (also known as Turkey), Ahmet Ali Çelikten is widely regarded as one of the first black military pilots in the history of aviation.

Ottoman Pilots in 1915. Ahmet Ali Çelikten is standing next to the propeller.

A member of the Ottoman Airforce, Ali Çelikten fought for the Ottoman Empire during the First World War. His grandmother was brought to the Ottoman Empire as a slave from Bornu in Nigeria.