The Petrella Airport (officially called "''Aeroporto Petrella di Mogadiscio''") was the first international airport in

Italian Somalia Italian Somalia ( it, Somalia Italiana; ar, الصومال الإيطالي, Al-Sumal Al-Italiy; so, Dhulka Talyaaniga ee Soomaalida), was a protectorate and later colony of the Kingdom of Italy in present-day Somalia. Ruled in the 19th centur ...

. It was opened in 1928 -just 3 miles south of

Mogadishu Mogadishu (, also ; so, Muqdisho or ; ar, مقديشو ; it, Mogadiscio ), locally known as Xamar or Hamar, is the capital and most populous city of Somalia. The city has served as an important port connecting traders across the Indian Oc ...

- with the name "Enrico Petrella" in honor of an Italian pilot who died a few years before in the same airport of Italian Mogadiscio (in 1921, when was a simple airstrip runway). In 1941 the airport was partially destroyed during

WW2 World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposing ...

and remained inactive for some years as a civilian airport: only military airplanes used it. In 1950 was reopened as a civilian airport by the Italian authorities of the ONU Fiduciary Mandate.

History

The initial Mogadishu airport was established in 1928 with the name "''Aeroporto Petrella di Mogadiscio''", the first such facility to be opened in the Horn of Africa. Romeo Ro

It was located nearly 5 km south of

Mogadiscio Mogadishu (, also ; so, Muqdisho or ; ar, مقديشو ; it, Mogadiscio ), locally known as Xamar or Hamar, is the capital and List of cities in Somalia by population, most populous city of Somalia. The city has served as an important port ...

's port: since 1938 a bus service (one of the first in Africa) was connecting the airport with the colonial Italian city and its port. It served as the main military airport serving

Italian Somaliland Italian Somalia ( it, Somalia Italiana; ar, الصومال الإيطالي, Al-Sumal Al-Italiy; so, Dhulka Talyaaniga ee Soomaalida), was a protectorate and later colony of the Kingdom of Italy in present-day Somalia. Ruled in the 19th centu ...

. The "36 Squadriglia Mogadiscio" was based there since 1926. The airport was the center for Italian air-raids & bombings on southern

Ethiopia Ethiopia, , om, Itiyoophiyaa, so, Itoobiya, ti, ኢትዮጵያ, Ítiyop'iya, aa, Itiyoppiya officially the Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia, is a landlocked country in the Horn of Africa. It shares borders with Eritrea to the ...

during the Italian conquest of Abyssinia in 1935-1936. In 1930 the airport was known worldwide because the pilot Francis Lombardi flew from Rome to Mogadiscio in the same flight, obtaining an aviation record. In the mid-1930s, the airport began offering civilian and commercial flights. A regular Asmara- Assab-Mogadishu commercial route was started in 1935, with an

Ala Littoria Ala Littoria S.A. was the Italian national airline that operated during the fascist regime in the 1930s and 1940s. History ''Ala Littoria'' was formed by a merger of Società Aerea Mediterranea (SAM), Società Anonima Navigazione Aerea (SANA) ...

Caproni 133 providing 13-hour flights from the Mogadishu airport to Italian Eritrea. The aircraft had a maximal capacity of 18 passengers, which at the time was a record. In 1936, Ala Littoria launched an intercontinental connection between Mogadishu-Asmara-

Khartoum Khartoum or Khartum ( ; ar, الخرطوم, Al-Khurṭūm, din, Kaartuɔ̈m) is the capital of Sudan. With a population of 5,274,321, its metropolitan area is the largest in Sudan. It is located at the confluence of the White Nile, flowing n ...

Tripoli Tripoli or Tripolis may refer to: Cities and other geographic units Greece *Tripoli, Greece, the capital of Arcadia, Greece * Tripolis (region of Arcadia), a district in ancient Arcadia, Greece * Tripolis (Larisaia), an ancient Greek city in ...

and Rome. The voyage lasted four days and was one of the first long range flights in the world. Ala Littoria's service to East Africa was inaugurated in 1935 under the name ''

Linea dell'Impero The Imperial Line (Italian ''Linea dell'Impero'' or ''Linea Imperiale'') was a flight route of the Italian national airline Ala Littoria between 1935 and 1941 during the Fascist era. It was the longest route in the Italian colonial empire in ...

''. On 7 July 1935 a memorandum of agreement was signed with

Imperial Airways Imperial Airways was the early British commercial long-range airline, operating from 1924 to 1939 and principally serving the British Empire routes to South Africa, India, Australia and the Far East, including Malaya and Hong Kong. Passengers ...

, a private British firm, whereby they would carry Ala Littoria passengers from Brindisi in southern Italy as far as

in the Sudan (via

Cairo Cairo ( ; ar, القاهرة, al-Qāhirah, ) is the Capital city, capital of Egypt and its largest city, home to 10 million people. It is also part of the List of urban agglomerations in Africa, largest urban agglomeration in Africa, List of ...

in Egypt). This was the first leg of Imperial Airways' route from Europe to South Africa. From Khartoum, Ala Littoria's passengers would transfer to its own aircraft and fly on to

Kassala Kassala ( ar, كسلا) is the capital of the state of Kassala in eastern Sudan. Its 2008 population was recorded to be 419,030. Built on the banks of the Gash River, it is a market town and is famous for its fruit gardens. Many of its inhabit ...

(Sudan), Asmara (Eritrea), Massawa (Eritrea),

Djibouti Djibouti, ar, جيبوتي ', french: link=no, Djibouti, so, Jabuuti officially the Republic of Djibouti, is a country in the Horn of Africa, bordered by Somalia to the south, Ethiopia to the southwest, Eritrea in the north, and the Red ...

(French Somaliland),

Berbera Berbera (; so, Barbara, ar, بربرة) is the capital of the Sahil region of Somaliland and is the main sea port of the country. Berbera is a coastal city and was the former capital of the British Somaliland protectorate before Hargeisa. It ...

(British Somaliland), Bura Galadi (British Kenya) and Mogadishu (Italian Somaliland). Full passenger service from Rome to Mogadishu opened in November 1935. By March 1937, service had been added to Gorrahei (Ethiopia) and

Beledweyne Beledweyne ( so, Beledweyne, ar, بلد وين, it, Belet Uen) is a city in central Somalia. Beledweyne District is the capital city of the Hiran region. The city is situated in the Shebelle Valley riverine near the Ethiopian border, 210 miles ...

(Somalia).Caprotti, "Fascist Civil Aviation", pp. 23–25. In 1936 the governor

Ruggero Santini Ruggero Santini (April 16, 1870 – April 4, 1958) was an Italian general. He was the colonial governor of Somaliland. He fought in the First Italo-Ethiopian War and Italo-Turkish War. In World War I he fought against Austria-Hungary. During t ...

ordered the improvement of the airport in order to get state-of-the-art civilian services.Video Luce of Petrella airport in 1936

In 1939 the Petrella airport was started to be greatly enlarged and linked to other minor airports inside the

Italian East Africa Italian East Africa ( it, Africa Orientale Italiana, AOI) was an Italian colony in the Horn of Africa. It was formed in 1936 through the merger of Italian Somalia, Italian Eritrea, and the newly occupied Ethiopian Empire, conquered in the S ...

(called "Rete AOI"), but the beginning of

WWII World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

blocked the works. During the East African Campaign the airport was greatly damaged. Originally a mid-sized airport, the facility grew considerably in size in the post-independence period of

Somalia Somalia, , Osmanya script: 𐒈𐒝𐒑𐒛𐒐𐒘𐒕𐒖; ar, الصومال, aṣ-Ṣūmāl officially the Federal Republic of SomaliaThe ''Federal Republic of Somalia'' is the country's name per Article 1 of thProvisional Constituti ...

after numerous successive renovation projects. Actually it has been greatly improved and it is called the Mogadishu international airport.

Notes

Bibliography

* *Caprotti, Federico. "Profitability, Practicality and Ideology: Fascist Civil Aviation and the Short Life of Ala Littoria, 1934–1943." ''The Journal of Transport History'' 32.1 (2011): 17–38. * Caprotti, Federico. "Visuality, Hybridity, and Colonialism: Imagining Ethiopia through Colonial Aviation, 1935–1940." ''Annals of the Association of American Geographers'' 101.2 (2011): 380–403. * Ferrari, Paolo. ''L'aeronautica italiana: una storia del Novecento''. Editore FrancoAngeli, 2004 ( https://books.google.it/books?id=zwdQOqm... ) * Mannone Guido, ''Le Ali del Littorio - Piccola Storia dell'Aviazione Civile Italiana'', Grafica Bierre, 2004.

History

Notes

Bibliography

See also