Ahmet Ali Çelikten

Ahmet Ali Çelikten, also known as İzmirli Ahmet Ali, was an Ottoman-born Turkish aviator who was one of the first black pilots in aviation history. He was certainly the first black male fighter pilot, receiving his “wings” in 1914. He was one of the few black pilots in World War I, like African American Eugene Jacques Bullard, William Robinson Clarke from Jamaica, Pierre Réjon from Martinique and Domenico Mondelli from Eritrea. Ahmet's maternal grandmother was born in Bornu and was brought to what is now Turkey as part of the Ottoman slave trade.