BIAFRA HERO: CARL GUSTAF VON ROSEN

  • Lady Bianca Odumegwu Ojukwu shared stories about some Biafra heroes in comemoration of the 50 years of the war
  • TellAfrica brings some of these heroes to your door step;
  • Meet CARL GUSTAF VON ROSEN

Carl Gustaf von Rosen was a Swedish pilot and humanitarian who flew relief missions into Biafra.
On August 13 1968, Carl Gustav von Rosen, landed a four-engine DC-7at Uli airstrip. His plane, carrying ten tons of food and medicine, had come in on a new route free from Nigerian radar-guided antiaircraft guns.
After successfully landing in Biafra, von Rosen then went to SΓ£o TomΓ©, the small Portuguese island off the coast of Nigeria, where warehouses of food, medicine, and ammunition were stacked up ready for Biafra. There he briefed the pilots on the air corridor he had discovered. He had flown this corridor into Biafra twice to make sure it was safe. The first time he did it in daylight, even though daylight runs were unheard of because of the risk of interception by the Nigerian air force. But von Rosen said he had to be able to examine the terrain before attempting a night run. He said that he didn’t care whether the pilots used the corridor for food or guns. β€œThe Biafrans need both if they are to survive.” The tall Scandinavian with blue eyes and gray hair called what was happening there β€œa crime against humanity. . .. If the Nigerians go on shooting at relief planes, then the airlift should be shielded with an umbrella of fighter planes. Meanwhile we are going to continue flying and other airlines will join in.” His flying partner was Canadian Lynn Garrison.

He was greatly concerned by the plight of the Biafrans and on his release trom Transair at the age of sixty returned to Sweden to form an air force for Biafra and is credited with the purchase and fittings of the famous Biafra Minicons.
He wasn’t killed in Somalia while flying famine relief for refugees in July 1977, and is buried in the Gulale cemetery in Addis Ababa.

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