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Posted on Feb 27, 2021
Archives Division
On October 3, 1935 the forces of Italian dictator Benito Mussolini began their advance upon Ethiopia, known in earlier times as Abyssinia. Italy had long coveted the territory to expand their colonial influence in East Africa. In 1896, Ethiopians had turned back an Italian invasion at Adwa (Adowa), serving as an example of a Black-led country’s defiance of Europe. Taking inspiration from Ethiopia’s long history as an independent Black nation, two Black aviators Hubert Julian and John C. Robinson were drawn to Ethiopia by the events of 1935.
Hubert Julian
Hubert Fauntleroy Julian was born in Trinidad a year after the Ethiopian victory at Adwa. He moved to Canada after World War I, where he claims he learned to fly. In 1921, Julian traveled to New York where he found many references to Ethiopia. The Abyssinian Baptist Church in New York City was formed in 1808 by a group of Black members of the First Baptist Church who r
March 1st, 2021 in Featured. Closed
Left: Hubert Julian poses on the wheel of his plane named Abyssinia at Floyd Bennett Field, Long Island, New York, circa September 1933. Right: John C. Robinson in Addis Ababa, circa 1935-6. (Smithsonian)
Smithsonian Air and Space Museum
By: Elizabeth Borja
Archives Division
On October 3, 1935 the forces of Italian dictator Benito Mussolini began their advance upon Ethiopia, known in earlier times as Abyssinia. Italy had long coveted the territory to expand their colonial influence in East Africa. In 1896, Ethiopians had turned back an Italian invasion at Adwa, serving as an example of a Black-led country’s defiance of Europe. Taking inspiration from Ethiopia’s long history as an independent Black nation, two Black aviators Hubert Julian and John C. Robinson were drawn to Ethiopia by the events of 1935.
The crashed Junkers 88 on the Blewbury Downs Very quickly the Blewbury Home Guard were on the scene to apprehend the three German airmen, who had survived the crash. They caused quite a stir at Didcot Police Station a few hours later when they proudly turned up to hand them in. The desk sergeant must have thought that they were pulling his leg when they said that had ‘three German prisoners outside ready to hand over’ and he told them that he would ‘go and get his wife to cook a hot meal for them then’! Nigel Parker, who is the author of 10 Second World War military aeroplane crash books, lives nearby in Crowmarsh Gifford, and he recently created a small memorial to the fourth crew member, Hans Bossdorf, aged 22, whose body was found inside the wreckage.
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Remarkable paintings of the Nazi war effort produced by a reluctant propaganda artist who tried to avoid painting the swastika have come to light for the first time in 76 years.
The family of Hans Liska, who once used champagne to mix with paint due to a lack of water, are digitising 40 of his wartime paintings.
Many of them have not been seen since they appeared in German propaganda magazines during the Second World War.
One striking painting from the family archive shows the fierce Battle of Berlin in 1945 which he witnessed from a radio tower.
Downed British pilots can be seen bailing out from the blazing aircrafts in their parachutes.
How two children ran for their lives as German bomber strafed Gloucestershire village with bullets
Great gran tells of fleeing forgotten daytime raid on Gloucesteshire village weeks before the horrific Bristol Blitz
05:00, 23 JAN 2021 (Image: Leicester Mercury / Chris Gordon)
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