Man Called Brown Condor, The

MWSA Review

Author Thomas E. Simmons has delivered a fascinating account of Colonel John C. Robinson's life and accomplishments in his new book, The Man Called Brown Condor.  I found this book well written and easy to read. The  biography of Robinson is quite interesting. In an era when black men were given very few opportunities to succeed, he taught himself to fly, fix, and even build airplanes. He started his own flying school near Chicago to help other blacks learn how to fly. He helped create, train, and then commanded the Ethiopian Air Force when that country was invaded by the Italians under Mussolini. Here in the U.S., Robinson has to be considered one of the pioneers of black aviation and definitely helped spearhead the acceptance of black pilots into the US military.  I spent nearly thirty years in the air force and went to the Air Force Academy. In reading the book, it surprised me that I had never heard of him. Hopefully, today's air force is a little more enlightened, and this book is appropriately displayed at the Academy library. I recommend this book to anyone who is interested in the history of aviation and in the integration of blacks into military aviation.

Reviewed by: Bob Doerr (Nov 2014)

Author's Summary

How did a black child growing up in segregationist Mississippi during the early nineteen hundreds become the commander of the Imperial Ethiopian Air Corps during the brutal Italo-Ethiopian War of 1935?
This is the true story of John C.Robinson's struggles to be professionally respected against impossible odds during the golden age of aviation-a field that was all but closed to black Americans. This book brings to life Robbinson's success in accomplishing his dream of flying, his influence in the establishment of a school of aviation at Tuskegee Institute(there would have been no Tuskegee Airmen without him), and his courageous wartime service in Ethiopia during the Italian invasion in 1935. It was in Ethiopia that Robinson took to the air in opposition to the first Fascist invasion of what would become World War II. This remarkable American hero may have been the first American to oppose Fascism in combat. This work is more than the definitive biography about a pilot who became a U.S. hero only to have his story washed away by the turmoil of the 1936 Spanish Civil War and the chaos of World War II that followed. The Man Called Brown Condor is a new, exciting, heroic adventure and provides the reader an unforgettable picture of a forgotten war and an incredible American hero.