(It should be remembered that the author did years of original research when there was very little printed information available on John C. Robinson. Much of the information gathered on Robinson was by personal interviews conducted by myself and by others on recorded cassette tapes at my request.)
National Archives
Library of Congress
Smithsonian Air and Space Museum
Archives of the Gulfport-Biloxi Daily Herald for the years 1934 through 1936.
Archives of the American Negro Press (ANP) for the years 1934 through 1936
The Tuskegee Messenger, Tuskegee, Alabama
Montgomery Advertiser, Montgomery, Alabama
The Chicago Defender Archives
The Associated Press (AP) 1935/36
The Evening Star, Washington, D.C.
Kansas City Call
Pittsburgh Courier
Hollis Burke Frissell Library, Tuskegee Institute, Alabama
Tuskegee University Library
Light Plane Guide, Vol. I, No. III, 1965
Travel & Leisure, Vol. 4, No. 1, 1965
World War II, Vol. 4, No. 4, October 1975
The Negro in American History, by the Board of Education, City of New York, 1965
The Ethiopian War by Angelo Del Boca, 1965
Rape of Ethiopia by A. J. Barker, 1936, Balantine
The Italian Invasion of Abyssinia by David Nicholle, 1997, Osprey
Haile Selassie’s War by Anthony Mockler 1984, Random House
The Coming of the Italian-Ethiopian War, George W. Baer, 1967, Harvard University Press
CIA The World Fact Book, Ethiopia
TIME, Monday, May 11, 1936; Monday, May 18, 1936
Pan African Journal, Vol. V, No. 1, Spring 1972
US Department of State, Notes on Ethiopia
Various newsreel films of Italo-Ethiopian War available on the Internet (Italian, British, Dutch, Swedish, etc.)
The Italian film Lo Squadrone Bianco, 1936, directed by Augusto Genina
The Italian film Il Cammino Della Heros, 1937
Photo Credit: T. Simmons
House at 1905 31st Ave. Gulfport, Mississippi, in which John C. Robinson grew up.
Photo Credit: John Collins
John C. Robinson (far left) with teenage friends. The boys had just swam across the harbor to impress the girls.
Photo Credit: Chicago Defender via Robins History Museum
Janet Waterford-Bragg (right, in flying clothes) who lent Robinson her plane to fly to Tuskegee Institute.
Photo Credit: Harold Hurd Collection
Robinson is welcomed by President Moton and Dr. Patterson of Tuskegee after landing on the campus in 1933 to promote the idea of a Tuskegee school of aviation.
Photo Credit: Thornton Studios, Chicago /Smithsonian Air and Space Museum
Airport at Robbins, Illinois, that Robinson helped found. Robinson is at far right.
Photo Credit: Chicago Defender
Curtis Wright Aviation School. Robinson became an instructor there after graduating from their flying school.
Imperial flag of Ethiopia, 1935
Fascist flag of Italy, 1935
Ethiopian Imperial Air Force aircraft roundel insignia
Photo Credit: T. Simmons Collection
John C. Robinson, as a Captain in the Imperial Ethiopian Air Force (second from left), with French pilots hired by Emperor Haile Selassie.
Photo Credit: T. Simmons Collection
Robinson (left) with French pilots hired by Emperor Haile Selassie. Note the Potez 25 biplane in background.
Photo Credit: John Stoke
Photo Credit: Gwendolyn Woods
Photo Credit: Harold Hurd Collection
Col. Robinson standing beside Junkers W33c transport. Note the Imperial Lion of Judah insignia on side of the aircraft.
Photo Credit: Harold Hurd Collection
Col. Robinson prior to takeoff in Junkers W33c transport.
Photo Credit: Smithsonian Air and Space Museum
Potez 25 aircraft like the one Col. Robinson flew on patrol
Italian IMAN RO 37 Used by Regia Aeronautica Italiana (Italian Air Force) in Ethiopia.
Sovoia-Marchetti SM 81 bomber.
IMAN RO 37 hunting targets of opportunity over Ethiopia.
Photo credit: T. Simmons Collection
Col. Robinson giving flight orders to Ethiopian pilots.
Italian Army CV 33 Tanketts used in Ethiopia.
Col. Robinson with Beechcraft model B17R Stagerwing in which he flew Emperor Haile Selassie between Addis Ababa and his front lines.
Col. Robinson returning to the U.S. aboard the North German Lloyd Lines ship, Europa.
Photo credit: International News Photo
Col. Robinson aboard the North German Lloyd Lines ship, Europa.
Photo Credit: Chicago Daily Tribune
Col. Robinson stepping from Transcontinental and Western Air (TWA) DC 3 at Chicago to a welcome by members of the Challenger Air Pilots Association which he helped organize. His friend Cornelius Coffey is at lower left.
Photo credit: Chicago Defender
Photo taken from the balcony of the Grand Hotel at the intersection of 15th and South Park Avenue. An estimated 20,000 people turned out to hail their hero, Col. Robinson, who was standing on the balcony.
Col. Robinson’s new Stinson SR Reliant. Mrs. Malone, founder of Poro College, stands beside the plane waiting to begin a tour of several cities to promote her cosmetic products.
Col. Robinson in Gulfport with his Cadillac convertible.
Photo credit: John Stokes
Col. Robinson in his commercial pilot uniform at an Army Headquarters flight line shack.
Photo credit: Jim Cheeks
Col. Robinson with his chosen American cadre of pilots to begin training a new Ethiopian Air Force. The group at their villa in Addis Ababa. Standing L to R: Jim Cheeks, Ed Jones, Haile Hill and Joe Muldrow. Front: L to R: Andy Hester, Col. Robinson.
Photo credit: Jim Cheeks
Starting engines after complete overhaul on a U. S. surplus Cessna UC 78.
Photo credit: South Mississippi Living Magazine
Col. Robinson with an English Army sergeant at the airport in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, 1944.
Photo Credit: Jim Cheeks
Jim Cheeks standing by the tail of the Cessna UC 78. Note the Ethiopian roundel on the fuselage.
Photo Credit: Jim Cheeks
The first class of flight cadets trained in the UC 78, the only plane available at the time.
Photo Credit: John Stokes
Colonel John C. Robinson beside the first Ethiopian Air Line DC-3.