Extreme Thrill Seekers or Heroic Idealists- Pt 1 (Von Rosen)

Carl Gustav Von Rosen

Count Carl Gustav Von Rosen was born in Sweden in 1909 and rather notoriously was Herman Goering's nephew (his aunt was married to Goering). Obviously of privileged background he started his professional career as a Pilot (largely influenced by Goering who was Head of the Luftwaffe and a WW1 Flying Ace) as part of a Flying Circus, firstly as a Mechanic and then as a Pilot.

When Mussolini invaded Ethiopia (then ruled by Emperor Haile Sellassie a direct descendant -as Ethiopians will remind you- of the Queen of Sheba), Von Rosen promptly dropped everything and joined the Red Cross, flying Medical and food supplies. This was not without considerable risk in that the Italian Airforce did not discriminate between Humanitarian and Military planes, he indeed survived several attacks (though in all honesty the Italian Airforce was quite poor at the time, but dangerous all the same).

After this he moved to Holland and joined KLM (the world's first airline), where he met and married his wife, of course marital bliss was cut short by antecedents to WW2 and upon the Invasion of Finland by the Russians (The Winter War of 1938), he joined the Finnish Airforce, famously dropping bombs by hand on the Russians, from the cargo door of a Civilian aircraft. When the Germans invaded Holland, Von Rosen's wife joined the resistance and was killed. Von Rosen, then came over to England and tried to join the RAF, but was rejected on account of his relationship to Goering (and probably on account of his having fought with the Finns, who were for a time allies of the Nazis). He then went back to Holland flying for KLM on the extremely dangerous London-Lisbon route.

After the war he returned to Africa firstly as an Instructor for the Ethiopian Airforce and subsequently as Pilot for Dag Hammarskjold (UN Secretary General) who was involved in mediating in the crisis in the Congo. A cloud exists here in that Hammarskjold reputedly was killed in an aircrash on the one day Von Rosen took ill and couldn't fly him. In addition, documents were uncovered in South African Secret Service Records that show that there was definitely a plot to blow up Hammarskjold's plane on the said date- however thats another story.

Von Rosen, however gained International fame with his famed bombing raids during the Nigerian Civil War (1967-1970), where he first started out flying Relief supplies into Biafran territory to beat the deliberate blockade by the Nigerian Government of food supplies into Biafra (a Nigerian Minister openly said "Starvation is a weapon of war").

By the way a simple guide to the Nigerian Civil War is thus- A Military coup by Soldiers from the East of Nigeria in which Northern Politicians are killed, the Northern population goes up in arms and full scale genocide of Eastern Civilians of the Ibo tribe ensued 30-50,000 in all (women, children and babies - even the unborn inclusive). My parents still remember gore soaked, silent trains full of the dead and maimed, coming into the capital of Biafra from the North during the genocide. The Ibos then decide to go their own way, rather than retaliate and form an Independent country called Biafra led by the charismatic, eloquent and -later to be seen- down-right barmy Epsom, Cambridge and Sandhurst trained officer Colonel Emeka Ojukwu. Of course the Nigerian Government took exception to this initiative and a full scale war started which lasted three years and in which over 2 Million Biafrans (mostly Civilians) died from starvation and indiscriminate slaughter of civilians (via bombing raids and in some instances from summary execution of old men and young boys) by the Nigerian Army. It is of course necessary to mention that within the territory of Biafra lay almost all of Nigeria's Oil supplies (on-shore and off-shore), I guess it all makes sense now doesn't it? A quick note about the bombing raids which were piloted by mostly British and Egyptian "Mercenary" Pilots. They were almost always focused on Civilian targets, killing thousands within clearly identifiable civilian targets e.g Markets, Hospitals and homesteads and targeting Relief supply Aircrafts and Airfields. My Lai by comparison was a Salvation Army Picnic.

Von Rosen, it is reputed did not fly for monetary gain in Biafra, other than his bare expenses, its said by those who knew him that he was motivated mainly by a sense of the deep injustice that the Biafran's were being subjected. This sense of injustice was then heightened by the constant attacks on the Relief flights by the Nigerian Airforce (one example being a Red Cross plane which was shot down even after receiving flight plan pre-approval from the Nigerian authorities). He was able to convince the Biafran authorities to allow him acquire some Combat Aircraft, which he ostensibly acquired as part of the Relief effort (SAAB MF9-9B- "the Minicoin"), but which Von Rosen knew to have originally been designed with Combat capabilities. Upon returning to Biafra, he kitted the planes out with Rockets (and some say with bombs manufactured by the Local Scientists). He recruited a number of "friends" to fly the planes (a motley crew of Mercenaries, Idealists and a Biafran Pilot- Chude Sokei) who concentrated on destroying half of the Nigerian Airforce Fleet of MiG-17's and Ilyushin-II-28's (surprise, surprise- Russian built!). This small fighting force then concentrated its efforts on destroying the Airfields from which the Nigerian Airforce launched its attacks on Humanitarian transport planes, partially destroying them.

Von Rosen was famed for his meticulous planning/timing of the raids which were always carried out with maximum effect and with the minimum of loss of life (on both sides) being that the attacks were focused on ground based targets. Escaping from attack was however an effort involving great skill and ability in that they were almost always under constant attack both in the air and from Ground fire.

This adventure ended with the defeat of Biafra and Von Rosen moved on to other adventures with his last being the Ethiopian S0mali War, where he died flying relief supplies in the Ogaden.

The question is why he did this, he could have been an extremely wealthy and unremarkable Pilot or free-loading Noble- given his antecedents, but he chose to face constant danger for causes that had no bearing on his personal circumstances. Some might even point to his Nazi connections- well he wasn't a Nazi his aunt was married to one and thats not a crime, Thrillseeker, Egomaniac? Maybe, but there is no doubt that he saved thousands of lives whilst putting his own at risk and there are certain parts of Africa and expecially in Ethiopia and Biafra where his name lives forever in Legend as a hero. The photos above are of Von Rosen and others of the scenes that moved him to risk his life and for a lot of the time, expend his own resources. The Copyright for the War-time photos above are held by the Bettmann/CORBIS archive.

The Biafran war also captured the imagination of the following who actively contributed to the Relief effort-
Jimi Hendrix, Joan Baez, Bob Dylan, George Harrison, John Lennon and many others, by cash donations, free concerts or gestures, apparently Lennon returned his MBE on account of British support for the Nigerians in the Biafran War -amongst other things. Noteworthy also is the principled stance taken by the most unlikely character- Auberon Waugh, (yes the same one) who stringently and consistently criticised Harold Wilson for colluding in the use of starvation as a political weapon.

One of the best summaries of the Nigerian Civil War and indeed Von Rosen's part is a no frills account by a guy called Gary Brecher - absolutely brilliant http://www.exile.ru/2004-October-15/war_nerd.html

Memorable quote From A famous Nigerian Military Commander (Sandhurst trained General Adekunle):

"I want to see no Red Cross, no Caritas, no World Council of Churches, no Pope, no missionary and no UN delegation.I want to prevent even one Ibo from having even one piece to eat before their capitulation. We shoot at everything that moves and when our troops march into the centre of Ibo territory, we shoot at everything even at things that do not move... "


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