Carl Gustaf von Rosen
Encyclopedia
Count Carl Gustaf Ericsson von Rosen (August 19, 1909 – July 13, 1977) was a Swedish
pioneer aviator. He flew relief missions in a number of conflicts as well as combat missions for Finland and Biafran rebels. His flights for the Biafran rebels were notable for using the small Malmö MFI-9
in a ground attack role.
, Södermanland
, Sweden
son of the explorer Eric von Rosen
(1879–1948) and nephew of Carin Göring
, wife of Hermann Göring
. Carl appears to have had serious differences in opinion with his family, for Anthony Mockler refers to him as the "black sheep of his family."
He was interested in mechanics at an early age and became fascinated by flying machines, partly through the influence of Hermann Göring, who was an ace during World War I
and later head of the Luftwaffe
. Von Rosen's own flying career started as a mechanic and then pilot in a traveling aerial circus, where he became a skilled aerobatic pilot, which served him well later in life.
attacked the independent empire of Ethiopia
, von Rosen joined a relief mission, flying food and supplies for the Red Cross. He also repeatedly flew casualties out from the battlefield under extremely dangerous conditions. This activity resulted in him receiving mustard gas burns due to the use of the gas by the Italian forces.
, von Rosen quit his job to fly bombing missions for the Finns. A year later, as the Germans attacked the Netherlands, von Rosen went to England and applied for service with the RAF
but was turned down, on account of his family relation to Hermann Göring. Von Rosen's Dutch wife joined the resistance and was killed during the war, while he continued flying for KLM on the dangerous London
−Lisbon
route.
. Despite his valuable service to Ethiopia, intrigues against him, particularly by his assistant Assefa Ayene, made working conditions for him so frustrating he eventually returned to Sweden. Afterwards von Rosen served as the pilot for the second Secretary-General of the United Nations, Dag Hammarskjöld
. However, von Rosen was grounded by illness when Hammarskjöld was killed in an air crash while mediating in the Congo Crisis
.
. These fights included flying a DC-7 from São Tomé
to Uli
at only a little above sea level in August 1968.
Disgusted at the suffering the Nigerian government inflicted on the Biafrans and the continuous harassment of the relief flights by the Nigerian Air Force, he hatched a plan in collaboration with the French secret service to hit back. He imported five small civilian single engine Malmö MFI-9
planes produced by SAAB
, which he knew to have been originally designed for a ground attack role in warfare. He had the planes painted in camouflage colours, fitted with rockets from Matra
and proceeded with a band of friends to form a squadron called 'Babies of Biafra' to strike the air fields from which the federal Nigerian Air Force launched their attacks against the civilian population in Biafra. On May 22, 1969, and over the next few days, Von Rosen and his five aircraft launched attacks against Nigerian air fields at Port Harcourt, Enugu, Benin and other small airports. The Nigerians were taken by surprise and a number of expensive jets, including a few MiG-17 fighters and three out of Nigeria's six Ilyushin Il-28
bombers, were destroyed on the ground.
One of the interesting characters assisting Count Carl Gustaf von Rosen was Lynn Garrison
, an ex-Royal Canadian Air Force
fighter pilot. He introduced the Count to a Canadian method of dropping bagged supplies to remote areas in Canada without losing the contents. He showed how one sack of food was placed inside a larger sack before the supply drop. When the package hit the ground the inner sack would rupture while the outer one kept the contents intact. With this method many tons of food was dropped to many Biafran civilians who would otherwise have expired from starvation. Despite his controversial methods, Count Von Rosen would be remembered as one of the characters that helped modernize relief efforts to remote conflict zones via mercy flights
.
The last action Count von Rosen saw was again in Africa in 1977, during the Ogaden War
between Ethiopia and Somalia
. Again flying relief for refugees, he was killed on the ground on 13 July 1977, during a sudden Somali guerrilla
attack near Gode
.
Sweden
Sweden , officially the Kingdom of Sweden , is a Nordic country on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. Sweden borders with Norway and Finland and is connected to Denmark by a bridge-tunnel across the Öresund....
pioneer aviator. He flew relief missions in a number of conflicts as well as combat missions for Finland and Biafran rebels. His flights for the Biafran rebels were notable for using the small Malmö MFI-9
Malmö MFI-9
|-See also:-References:* -External links:*...
in a ground attack role.
Early life and family
Von Rosen was born in Helgesta, Flen MunicipalityFlen Municipality
Flen Municipality is a municipality in Södermanland County in southeast Sweden. Its seat is located in the city of Flen.The present municipality was formed in 1971 through the amalgamation of the City of Flen , the market town Malmköping and the surrounding countryside.-Localities:Figures from...
, Södermanland
Södermanland
', sometimes referred to under its Latin form Sudermannia or Sudermania, is a historical province or landskap on the south eastern coast of Sweden. It borders Östergötland, Närke, Västmanland and Uppland. It is also bounded by lake Mälaren and the Baltic sea.In Swedish, the province name is...
, Sweden
Sweden
Sweden , officially the Kingdom of Sweden , is a Nordic country on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. Sweden borders with Norway and Finland and is connected to Denmark by a bridge-tunnel across the Öresund....
son of the explorer Eric von Rosen
Eric von Rosen
Count Carl Gustaf Bloomfield Eric von Rosen was a Swedish Honorary doctor, patron, explorer and ethnographer....
(1879–1948) and nephew of Carin Göring
Carin Göring
Carin Axelina Hulda Göring was the Swedish first wife of Hermann Göring.She was born Carin Fock in Stockholm in 1888. Her father Commander Baron Carl Fock was a Swedish Army colonel, from a family who had immigrated from Westphalia. Her mother, Huldine Fock Carin Axelina Hulda Göring (21 October...
, wife of Hermann Göring
Hermann Göring
Hermann Wilhelm Göring, was a German politician, military leader, and a leading member of the Nazi Party. He was a veteran of World War I as an ace fighter pilot, and a recipient of the coveted Pour le Mérite, also known as "The Blue Max"...
. Carl appears to have had serious differences in opinion with his family, for Anthony Mockler refers to him as the "black sheep of his family."
He was interested in mechanics at an early age and became fascinated by flying machines, partly through the influence of Hermann Göring, who was an ace during World War I
World War I
World War I , which was predominantly called the World War or the Great War from its occurrence until 1939, and the First World War or World War I thereafter, was a major war centred in Europe that began on 28 July 1914 and lasted until 11 November 1918...
and later head of the Luftwaffe
Luftwaffe
Luftwaffe is a generic German term for an air force. It is also the official name for two of the four historic German air forces, the Wehrmacht air arm founded in 1935 and disbanded in 1946; and the current Bundeswehr air arm founded in 1956....
. Von Rosen's own flying career started as a mechanic and then pilot in a traveling aerial circus, where he became a skilled aerobatic pilot, which served him well later in life.
Second Italo-Abyssinian War
When the Italians under Benito MussoliniBenito Mussolini
Benito Amilcare Andrea Mussolini was an Italian politician who led the National Fascist Party and is credited with being one of the key figures in the creation of Fascism....
attacked the independent empire of Ethiopia
Ethiopia
Ethiopia , officially known as the Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia, is a country located in the Horn of Africa. It is the second-most populous nation in Africa, with over 82 million inhabitants, and the tenth-largest by area, occupying 1,100,000 km2...
, von Rosen joined a relief mission, flying food and supplies for the Red Cross. He also repeatedly flew casualties out from the battlefield under extremely dangerous conditions. This activity resulted in him receiving mustard gas burns due to the use of the gas by the Italian forces.
Second World War
After his return from the war in Ethiopia, he went to the Netherlands to join KLM, the first public airline in the world, and became one of their foremost pilots. He married a Dutch wife, but their happiness ended with the outbreak of the Second World War. When the Russians tried to invade Finland in the Winter WarWinter War
The Winter War was a military conflict between the Soviet Union and Finland. It began with a Soviet offensive on 30 November 1939 – three months after the start of World War II and the Soviet invasion of Poland – and ended on 13 March 1940 with the Moscow Peace Treaty...
, von Rosen quit his job to fly bombing missions for the Finns. A year later, as the Germans attacked the Netherlands, von Rosen went to England and applied for service with the RAF
Royal Air Force
The Royal Air Force is the aerial warfare service branch of the British Armed Forces. Formed on 1 April 1918, it is the oldest independent air force in the world...
but was turned down, on account of his family relation to Hermann Göring. Von Rosen's Dutch wife joined the resistance and was killed during the war, while he continued flying for KLM on the dangerous London
London
London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...
−Lisbon
Lisbon
Lisbon is the capital city and largest city of Portugal with a population of 545,245 within its administrative limits on a land area of . The urban area of Lisbon extends beyond the administrative city limits with a population of 3 million on an area of , making it the 9th most populous urban...
route.
Post war
Between 1945 and 1956 von Rosen worked in Ethiopia as an instructor for the Imperial Ethiopian Air ForceEthiopian Air Force
The Ethiopian Air Force is the air arm of the Ethiopian National Defense Forces and is tasked with protecting the air space, providing support to the ground forces as well as assisting during national emergencies.- Early years :...
. Despite his valuable service to Ethiopia, intrigues against him, particularly by his assistant Assefa Ayene, made working conditions for him so frustrating he eventually returned to Sweden. Afterwards von Rosen served as the pilot for the second Secretary-General of the United Nations, Dag Hammarskjöld
Dag Hammarskjöld
Dag Hjalmar Agne Carl Hammarskjöld was a Swedish diplomat, economist, and author. An early Secretary-General of the United Nations, he served from April 1953 until his death in a plane crash in September 1961. He is the only person to have been awarded a posthumous Nobel Peace Prize. Hammarskjöld...
. However, von Rosen was grounded by illness when Hammarskjöld was killed in an air crash while mediating in the Congo Crisis
Congo Crisis
The Congo Crisis was a period of turmoil in the First Republic of the Congo that began with national independence from Belgium and ended with the seizing of power by Joseph Mobutu...
.
Biafran War
Von Rosen's involvement in Africa did not end with the Congo Crisis. He gained international fame seven years later when he flew relief missions for aid organisations into war torn Biafra, a breakaway republic of NigeriaNigeria
Nigeria , officially the Federal Republic of Nigeria, is a federal constitutional republic comprising 36 states and its Federal Capital Territory, Abuja. The country is located in West Africa and shares land borders with the Republic of Benin in the west, Chad and Cameroon in the east, and Niger in...
. These fights included flying a DC-7 from São Tomé
São Tomé
-Transport:São Tomé is served by São Tomé International Airport with regular flights to Europe and other African Countries.-Climate:São Tomé features a tropical wet and dry climate with a relatively lengthy wet season and a short dry season. The wet season runs from October through May while the...
to Uli
Uli, Nigeria
Uli is a town of historic importance situated at the extreme southeast conner of Ihiala local government area of Anambra state in Nigeria. Her closest neibouring towns are Amaofuo , Ihiala, Amorka, Ubulu, Ozara, Egbuoma and Ohakpu...
at only a little above sea level in August 1968.
Disgusted at the suffering the Nigerian government inflicted on the Biafrans and the continuous harassment of the relief flights by the Nigerian Air Force, he hatched a plan in collaboration with the French secret service to hit back. He imported five small civilian single engine Malmö MFI-9
Malmö MFI-9
|-See also:-References:* -External links:*...
planes produced by SAAB
Saab
Saab AB is a Swedish aerospace and defence company, founded in 1937. From 1947 to 1990 it was the parent company of automobile manufacturer Saab Automobile, and between 1968 and 1995 the company was in a merger with commercial vehicle manufacturer Scania, known as Saab-Scania.-History:"Svenska...
, which he knew to have been originally designed for a ground attack role in warfare. He had the planes painted in camouflage colours, fitted with rockets from Matra
Matra
Mécanique Aviation Traction or Matra was a French company covering a wide range of activities mainly related to automobile, bicycles, aeronautics and weaponry. In 1994, it became a subsidiary of the Lagardère Group and now operates under that name.Matra was owned by the Floirat family...
and proceeded with a band of friends to form a squadron called 'Babies of Biafra' to strike the air fields from which the federal Nigerian Air Force launched their attacks against the civilian population in Biafra. On May 22, 1969, and over the next few days, Von Rosen and his five aircraft launched attacks against Nigerian air fields at Port Harcourt, Enugu, Benin and other small airports. The Nigerians were taken by surprise and a number of expensive jets, including a few MiG-17 fighters and three out of Nigeria's six Ilyushin Il-28
Ilyushin Il-28
The Ilyushin Il-28 is a jet bomber aircraft of the immediate postwar period that was originally manufactured for the Soviet Air Force. It was the USSR's first such aircraft to enter large-scale production. It was also licence-built in China as the Harbin H-5. Total production in the USSR was 6,316...
bombers, were destroyed on the ground.
One of the interesting characters assisting Count Carl Gustaf von Rosen was Lynn Garrison
Lynn Garrison
Lynn Garrison is a Canadian pilot and political adviser. He was an RCAF fighter pilot from the 403 City of Calgary Squadron, commercial pilot, film producer, director and mercenary...
, an ex-Royal Canadian Air Force
Royal Canadian Air Force
The history of the Royal Canadian Air Force begins in 1920, when the air force was created as the Canadian Air Force . In 1924 the CAF was renamed the Royal Canadian Air Force and granted royal sanction by King George V. The RCAF existed as an independent service until 1968...
fighter pilot. He introduced the Count to a Canadian method of dropping bagged supplies to remote areas in Canada without losing the contents. He showed how one sack of food was placed inside a larger sack before the supply drop. When the package hit the ground the inner sack would rupture while the outer one kept the contents intact. With this method many tons of food was dropped to many Biafran civilians who would otherwise have expired from starvation. Despite his controversial methods, Count Von Rosen would be remembered as one of the characters that helped modernize relief efforts to remote conflict zones via mercy flights
Mercy Flights
Mercy Flights is a ground ambulance and air medical transport service based in Medford, Oregon.Mercy Flights was founded as a non-profit organization in 1949 by George Milligan, an air traffic controller in Medford, after a friend of his died of polio in Southern Oregon, unable to survive the long,...
.
Return to Ethiopia
In 1974 he flew aid for famine and drought victims in Ethiopia.The last action Count von Rosen saw was again in Africa in 1977, during the Ogaden War
Ogaden War
The Ogaden War was a conventional conflict between Somalia and Ethiopia in 1977 and 1978 over the Ogaden region of Ethiopia. In a notable illustration of the nature of Cold War alliances, the Soviet Union switched from supplying aid to Somalia to supporting Ethiopia, which had previously been...
between Ethiopia and Somalia
Somalia
Somalia , officially the Somali Republic and formerly known as the Somali Democratic Republic under Socialist rule, is a country located in the Horn of Africa. Since the outbreak of the Somali Civil War in 1991 there has been no central government control over most of the country's territory...
. Again flying relief for refugees, he was killed on the ground on 13 July 1977, during a sudden Somali guerrilla
Guerrilla warfare
Guerrilla warfare is a form of irregular warfare and refers to conflicts in which a small group of combatants including, but not limited to, armed civilians use military tactics, such as ambushes, sabotage, raids, the element of surprise, and extraordinary mobility to harass a larger and...
attack near Gode
Gode
Gode is a city in the Ethiopian part of the Ogaden. Located in the Gode Zone of the Somali Region, the city has a latitude and longitude of...
.