The First Flight Above Egypt: The Great Week of Aviation at Heliopolis, 1910

Abstract

AbstractThis article describes in detail the beginning of aviation in Egypt, with special reference to the Great Week of Aviation at Heliopolis in 1910, and the effect of this new technology on Egyptians. With the exception of a few flights in North Africa made by French pilots in late 1909, it also describes the first flights in the Arab world. Based primarily on contemporary Egyptian Arabic newspapers, it recounts how a group of colonial entrepreneurs sponsored a great aviation meeting at Heliopolis in order to promote their development of the ‘Oasis of Heliopolis’, or ‘Ayn Shams/Misr al-Jadida, as a new suburb of Cairo. The article focuses on the concept for the meeting, the first flights in Egypt before the meeting, the promotion of the meeting, and the international competitors and their performances. It then summarises the consequences of the meeting for aviation in general, aviation in Egypt – including the reaction of Egyptians to aviation – and the development of Heliopolis.