Count Carl Gustav Ericsson von Rosen was born in Sweden in 1909, the son of Swedish explorer Eric von Rosen. His aunt was Carin von Kantzow (nee von Fock), the first wife of future war criminal and Luftwaffe Field Marshal Hermann Goering. But as a young, dashing W.W. I fighter ace, Goering had a great influence on the young von Rosen, who learned to fly at a young age. Moved to action by the Italian invasion of Ethiopia, he flew relief missions and as an ambulace-pilot there for the Red Cross. He served in the Finnish Air Force flying bombing missions during the Winter War, earning the Finnish Cross of Freedom 3rd class. Upon Finlands defeat by the Soviets von Rosen took a job with Dutch carrier KLM until the German invasion of Holland. His Dutch born wife refused to leave her home and joined the underground. She later died in a concentration camp, and von Rosen attempted to join the RAF but was refused because of his relationship to Goering. He served out the rest of the war flying for the Swedish national airline.
After the war he helped Emporer Haile Selassie I, form and then lead the Imperial Ethiopian Air Force. Ten years later he went to work for TAS and while there became the pilot for U.N. Secretary-General Dag Hammarskjoeld. An illness was the only reason he was not piloting Hammarskjoeld when he was shot down and killed while trying to mediate the Congo Crises in 1961.
Von Rosen found fame flying relief missions for Biafran refugees, flying dangerous missions to deliver food and supplies in areas other pilots wouldn't fly to. Disgusted at the harassment inflicted upon the Biafrans by the Nigerian government, and constant interference in relief missions by the Nigerian Air Force, von Rosen imported five, single-seater, sport planes fitted with gun,s and rocket pods. On May 22, 1969, and over the next few days, von Rosen along with his "Biafran Air Force" (two other Swedish pilots, two Biafran pilots, and two Swedish ground crew), took off and destroyed several Mig-17 fighters, and half of Nigeria's bombers on the ground before the Nigerians could even react.
1974 saw von Rosen return to Ethiopia to fly famine relief missions and three years later relief missions for refugees of the Ogaden War. On July 13, 1977 he was murdered by Somali guerrillas.
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