The development of the Euro-Mediterranean space as a vector of technical innovation
The Euro-Mediterranean geographic space was one of the earliest taken over by aviation. The history of this process began for civil aviation on 28 December 1912 when Roland Garros[1] linked Ksar Said near Tunis to Rome in stages. This flight was affirmed on 23 November 1913 by a direct non-stop flight Fréjus-Bizerte. For military aviation, the earliest use of airplanes is attested during the Balkan wars of 1912-1913. This development essentially knew three phases.
The 1913-1928 period was marked by a proliferation of long distance “air firsts[2]” and the setting up of the first airlines that mostly transported mail. Thus as early as March1919 Pierre Latécoère[3] was creating the first airline between Toulouse and Rabat. Between 1920 and 1925 many air firsts were completed deeper into Sub-Saharan Africa after Didier Daurat's first flight in 1918. So, these links were essentially driven by private initiatives lead, as was the Aéropostale, by European entrepreneurs and pilots. At the end of that era the first companies flying passengers arrived on the scene: Air Afrique in 1928. Air Orient, Imperial Airlines or KLM created the first links towards India via Near-Eastern airports – Beirut, Damascus and chiefly Baghdad – where to break the flight. In military terms the novelty was the advent in the dominantly Muslim space of independent states that built up a military air fleet capability. The Ottoman Empire had taken steps in that direction as early as 1909. Arabia followed suit from the end of the twenties. As for the colonising powers, they had different uses for their air forces. France banked more on its navy than on its air force in its North African colonies, managing the aircrafts and personnel centrally from Paris; whereas Churchill, the British war secretary from 1919 to 1922 went for backing the creation of air units in each colony or mandate, notably in Egypt and Iraq. Either way, post World War I, the use of an air force had become common, notably in such conflicts as the pre-Mandatory Levant War, during which a young Mermoz shone, those of the Rif in 1925-27 then the repression in Syria in 1924-25 and 1927.
Between 1928 and 1950 the major airlines were created whilst a proper and stable air network was organised. National governments had a key role to play in this organisation, especially France, the United Kingdom and the Netherlands. For these colonial powers the mastery of airspace made for a greater continuity between the home country and its colonies. Thus was Air France created in 1933 merging several companies hitherto dedicated to specialised transport (Air France, Air Union, Cidna, SGTA-Farman, Aéropostale). Outside Europe, Egyptair was founded in 1932, only the 7th airline to be created in the world. After the decline of the air links with South America, those linking Europe to the Far East via the Near and Middle East remained paramount along with the Europe-North-America links. However the new route via the North Pole only came into use in1946. Links with Africa remained an afterthought. Beyond the technological advances epitomised by the mere fact of aircrafts, the setting up of these stable links contributed in turn to the dissemination of other sciences and technologies (notably the wireless, the Hertzian network, meteorology) as well as technical standards. For instance, as from 1923, The Meteorological Office's Aviation Weather Service had developed alongside British air links an almost unbroken line of weather stations stretching from Abukir, near Alexandria to Baghdad. The Second World War propagated these innovations and standards even more broadly as the Euro-Mediterranean space grew into an air battlefield, mainly from 1941 to 1944.
From the 1950s to present days, commercial aviation both for the transport of goods and passengers grows apace. Aeronautics had become widespread with the advent of airlines in the colonies (Air Maroc in 1946, Air Algérie in 1947 etc.) which, at the time of acceding independence, became an expression of the new states' sovereignty; such was the case of Iraqi Airways (1946), Middle East Airlines (Beirut, 1951), Royal Air Maroc (1956) which flew American aircrafts thus confirming an American aeronautic domination that had started during World War II. With the generalised use of long haul jets in the 1960s, airlines contributed, notably, to the expansion of the Hajj: the pilgrimage to Mecca drew 100 000 people towards 1950, 400 000 in the sixties and up to 4 millions today. In 1979, Jeddah saw the landing of no less than 600 planes a day. This hastened the dissemination of other advances: from 1959 the World Health Organisation made it compulsory for all travellers to carry a certificate of vaccination against Cholera, yellow fever and small pox thus contributing to the spreading of health standards on a world scale.
