My Escapades As Biafran Warplane Pilot – Portuguese

At a time when
the Will of the late Biafran leader, Dim Chukwuemeka Odumegwu-Ojukwu, is
generating controversy, a Portuguese pilot, who flew Biafran war planes during
the civil war, has given insight into the air strikes that characterised the
war.

According to Mr. Artur Alves, who interacted with Saturday Sun
on the Internet, Biafran soldiers converted modified the B26 plane to suit
their purpose during the war.

The war pilot, who is based abroad, spoke on this and others.

After I ended my commission with the Portuguese Air Force I got
a job working in Angola flying a Piper Aztec to a big coffee corporation and an
ex-camaraderie and good friend Capt Gil Pinto de Sousa invited me to join and
organise a squadron of Harvard T6G that we would have to fly into Biafra and
operate in combat missions. Capt Pinto de Sousa was also an ex-Biafran Air
Force pilot. He was contracted to fly a B25 Mitchel, which was destroyed in an
accident in Port Harcourt. Landlocked from the early 1968, Biafra was fighting
for their very existence, a fight against starvation and a well-armed enemy.

How
did you fly the aircraft to Biafra and from where?

Due to diplomatic reasons, we had to dismount and mount again
the aircraft in Bissau, Portuguese Guinea at the time. They went by ship and
the Portuguese Air Force in Bissau did a great job mounting the aircraft very
fast. We had six T6G ready and we were only three pilots. The flight from
Bissau to Abidjan was also very complicated. The British Foreign Affairs had a
long and powerful arm and convinced the Portuguese government not to authorise
Portuguese pilots to fly the aircraft out of Bissau, but we were veterans of
the air force and we had a plan. We convinced the Bissau Air Base Commander to
let us rob the planes during the night and take them to Abidjan. That was what
we did. The flight was in the limits and we carried also an extra tank in the
back seat. The fuel smell was intense and I had no courage to light up a
cigarette. We had to land before Abidjan in Sassandra, as was already fixed. We
had no problems in Sassandra and we continued the flight to Abidjan.

In Bissau, one of the pilots decided not to continue and in
Abidjan we had the same problem. But we welcome a new one, José Pignattely,
also a veteran from the Portuguese Air Force. Gil Pinto de Sousa returned to
Bissau and flew another plane to Abidjan. We had four planes in Abidjan and we
were three pilots. Me, Gil and Pignattely. From Abidjan, we had the last leg to
fly to Uli. We had decided to be airborne in order to land in Uli by dusk.
During the inbound flight, Gil lost the radio and beacon system and in the dark
he got lost and didn’t find the course to Uli and had to bailout in enemy
territory. He was arrested for five years in Lagos. I landed in Uli and a
little later Pignattely did the same. Next day, we took the planes to Uga, an
airstrip in Akokwa.

How
was it like being in Biafra at the time of the conflict?

I was living with Pignatettely and two Portuguese engineers, in
a good house in Akokwa. We had a chef and a guard that was also the driver of
our old Peugeot 403. Johny Chukwukadibie was the liaison officer with the
headquarters. Everything was camouflaged and we had also a bunker to protect
ourselves of the Nigerians air raids. The food had little variety, always
chicken, cassava and sweet potatoes. Not bad, considering the situation.

How
did you see the behaviour of the Igbo?

Well, on May the 30, 1967, was read the declaration for the
creation of the Republic of Biafra. Due to the genocide murder of Eastern
Nigerians, civilians, they had to seek a safe place to live; so, they declared
independence. The civil war was declared by Nigeria and had the world powers,
British and Russians on her side. Some say two million people, mostly Igbo lost
their lives. Four countries recognised our independence and others, like
Portugal and France, had a very important role in supporting Biafra.

Do
you think the Declaration of a sovereign state of Biafra by Ojukwu needful at
the time?

Well, I was saying, two million people, mostly Igbo, lost their
lives. The world recoiled in horror as images reached news network. It was
genocide, no more no less, genocide. For me, Emeka Ojukwu was a legendary
freedom fighter. He did the right thing. With very little outside support the
Biafrans put up a fierce resistance that lasted for 30 months before collapsing
in January 10, 1970. I have with me the Ahiria declaration, still regarded by
some as a possible blue print for every modern African country. He will never be
forgotten; believe me.

Can
you remember war songs that Biafrans soldiers sang to ginger themselves on?

I remember the songs, usually war songs. Near Christmas in 1969,
I was only with one T6G operational; Pignatelly went to Abidjan to bring the
other one we left there. Gen Godwin Ezeillo sent for me. Federal troops, more
than one division and heavily armed, were about to cross the Imo River and
Owerri will be in danger. We had to try to stop them. To attack a concentration
of troops with a single airplane was not an easy task. I knew they were south
of the river but not their exact position. I did the approach early in the
morning leaving the River in my right wing, flying 500 feet above the ground
and nobody opened fire against me. I made a large turn by the left, over flying
our Army and made another approach to the river. This time, they started
shooting from the south side of the river, thousand of tracers were flying in
my direction, but now I knew where my target was. I just dive to the target,
gaining speed. I heard some lucky shots hitting the airplane and as close as I
was to the ground I was able to see trucks and armoured cars below the trees
and plenty soldiers running around, looking for cover. I fired every thing I
had and escape at a very low altitude to our side, that I overflew again,
waving good-bye to our Army.

In the other day, lunch time, Johny Chukwukadibie came to my
place with a young Captain that was in the frontline during the attack at the
Imo River. He said the attack was terrific and a success. They heard the
federal troops weeping a lot on the radio. Next day, we went with him to frontline
to cheer up his men. It was here, near the enemy line, in the Imo River that I
heard war songs from the Biafran soldiers.

What
about the Port Harcourt attack in 1969?

I still remember this very well. It was my 5th mission and we
had been expecting anxiously information that MIGs landed and parked in Port
Harcourt. I was with Pignattely flying the T6s. We got the order in the
afternoon before and at sun rise the airplanes were fully armed with the usual
four machine guns and 12, 68mm rockets. There was some light fog touching the
ground when we were airborne. There were no reports of MIGs in the air. We knew
that we were going to face the strongest anti-aircraft fire, south of Ecuador.
The surprise factor was essential and will be a hit and run attack. We only
could afford one pass. I was flying a little higher than Pignattely that was at
treetop level. Flying higher, I was safer from the light machine guns because
my plane was far and more difficult to be hit. I had better visibility ahead
and I was able to gain speed during the dive to the target. This was the
strategy used by us before.

Port Harcourt was very close and we were approaching the air
base with the very shy sun in our back. I saw the huge runway, four MIGs in the
parking area, the terminal, hangars, control tower and another plane also
parked near the terminal. I shouted to Pignattely, ‘MIGs in the tarmac’ and I
started the diving to the target. At this time, tracers and explosions were
every where. By instinct, I curled up inside the cockpit, full boost in the
engine, nose down gaining speed, MIGs well centred, wings levelled and I start
firing the rockets and machine guns burst at the same time. I was seeing my
rockets hit around the parked MIGs. It seems nothing was happening and suddenly
flames and black smoke erupted from the aircraft. I made the flight straight
ahead to the sea, took a better sitting position, reduced the boost of the
aircraft and looked back to Port Harcourt and behind me trying to spot
Pignatelly. Port Harcourt was on fire and smoke and the Pignatelly T6 was
surrounded by anti-aircraft explosions. I thought to my self he was in deep
trouble. It was time to relax and return. I did a long turn by sea, eyes wide
open looking for MIGs in the sky; did the course inbound by the Niger Delta,
followed the river for a while ad landed in Uga.  Pignattely airplane was
already landed and camouflaged. Result, three MIGs destroyed, a four-engine
aircraft also damaged, including fuel station, terminal building and control
tower.

Two or three months ago, I received via Facebook a very
interesting article from a veteran Russian pilot in Afghanistan. The article
was from a Veteran Russia Air Force Magazine and was about the MIG17 in the
Nigeria-Biafra war. These MIG17 in Port Harcourt were flown by British pilots
and confirmed the destruction of two and severely damaged of other one. The
fourth in line was not a MIG-17 but a Ylushin that was also hit. They decided
to paint the MIGs in camouflaged colours and build defensive rackets to protect
the planes on ground. There is also a book named Shadows, by Michel I. Drapper,
with very interesting articles, real ones, about the air war and airlift in
Biafra from 1967/1970.

What
does a Biafran airstrip look like and what were the dangers of flying?

The Biafran airstrips were not new to me. Comparing with the
Minicons I needed more length for take off and land with the T6Gs. Uga was an
ex-asphalt road in pretty good conditions. We had lights, goose necks, for
landing at night. We also had a bush in the top of the runway, where we hide
the planes. The danger of flying was like David against Golias. The planes were
old but well restored to flight conditions. We made the test-flights in
Portugal and later in Bissau. We all had large experience in Africa and the big
problem were the radio and navigation aids, starting with a simple compass.
When we started the operations, our primary targets were federal troop
concentration in the northern front, north of Onitsha road and the southern
front, south of Owerri and in support of Biafran Army. Air bases and oil
installations also become the focus of several attacks. But we were always
expecting information from our Army Intelligence in order to know for sure
where the MIG17 were. We could reach them in Port Harcourt, Benin and Enugu.
Lagos was out of range and also Kano.

When
did you leave Biafra and how?

Gen Godwin Ezeillo visited me after lunch time in January 8,
1970 and very quietly announced the imminent departure of our Biafran leader
and said that was the right time for me to leave Biafra as well. There was a
government flight to Sao Tome at night and a place for me was arranged. I was
at the time with the other Igbo pilots and we tried to reach Uli but gave up.
The road was so overcrowded that we decided to turn back and prepare the only
operational T6 to escape early in the morning to Libreville. I had the black
seat available and the other pilots decided that Larry Obiechi was the guy to
escape with me. Larry was not Igbo, so they decided it was not safe for him to
stay. The others were willing to remain inside Biafra and take a chance on
being captured by federal forces.  We were airborne very early with the
tanks full. We made a fantastic flight to Libreville, Gabon, keeping the
shoreline always in sight. After we landed in Libreville, we were very
welcomed, but I had with me a very dip sense of loss.

What
do you think of Nigeria today?

Living outside I’m used only to bad news from Nigeria, about old
politicians and corruption. They must bury their heads in shame and allow the
younger generation to take the driver’s seat. For example: they created Boko
Haram and now the same people want to sit down and found solutions to the
problem. Who gives a damn for what they think? They should quietly retire to their
homes and wait for their turn to die giving a chance to a younger generation to
take the leadership. I would love to have written something like this, but I
didn’t. I want to live to hug all my mates in Biafra Air Force wishing they are
in good health and I pray to God to take care of them. Rest in peace Ibi Brown
and Alex Agbafuna, killed in combat fighting for his people. Thanks Gil Pinto
de Sousa for the five years you gave, for supporting a cause in which you
believe. My thanks to Sammy, Willy Bruce, August Opke and Larry Obiechi for the
support you gave me in the last days of our dream.

During
the Nigerian war, there was the feat of converting the B26 aircraft into a
fighter jet or bomber. Were you part of this feat?

I did not fly the B26

How
were you able to manipulate the aircraft, knowing that it wasn’t originally
meant for what it was converted to?

In October 1967, we had two B25 Mitchel in Port Harcourt and
both were effectively lost during one night sortie some two months later. 
The B26 started service at the end of June 1967 and was in Enugu for
repainting, in camouflage colours. The Biafran national flag was on both sides
of the rudder. At the same time of repainting our mechanics began to instal
rather crude weapons. They modified the nose cone of the aircraft and mounted a
single tripod-mounted machine gun inside. The gun was never linked to the
electrical wiring system and was operated blindly by the pilot and the gunner.

We operated it thus: One tug meant start fire. Two tugs meant
stop. Another gun was fitted to the rear of the bomb bay, which fired downwards
through open bay-bomb doors.

What
was your relationship with air force officers, like Gibson Nwosu and the late
Chudi Sokei?

I only remember Gen Godwin Ezeilo, my Biafran Air Force Commander.
After the war, he was with Capt Manuel Reis, Biafran Airlift Capt in Angola. We
have been together a few times.