Biafra Baby - Flugzeug 1/72 MFI-9

[Parrahs]

To cut a long story (which I tried to tell the important bits of over in the build thread) a Swedish count (Carl Gustaf von Rosen) who flew in humanitarian aid during the Biafra crisis got rather upset with the Nigerian air strikes on civilians, tried to drum up international pressure against it, but when that failed he decided to do something himself instead. Something in this case meaning he bought a few MFI-9 civilian sports planes, some rocket pods form the French, had the two combined, and then talked a few Swedish pilots into helping him carry out air raids on Nigerian airfields and infrastructure. Once thus "militarised" these aircraft were nicknamed Biafra Babies, both as a reminder of the Biafran children they sought to aid and due to the diminutive size of the aircraft themselves.

 

The build:

 

And the result

 

 

After the first few proof-of-concept attacks, these aircraft were shifted over to being flown by Biafran pilots instead and generally shifted over to "free hunt" interdiction missions. While they didn't manage to turn the tide of the war, these aircraft appear to have caused damage far beyond the very limited resources necessary to purchase (ignoring that von Rosen paid for them) keep them flying. While some did return home with a bit of extra ventilation at times and a few were destroyed on the ground by air strikes I seem to rememberer that none was ever shot down.

 

With a pair of interdiction/strike colleagues:

[HP42]

Fascinating story and a really super little model. I also like your Viggen and Tornado! 👍

[Baldy]

An interesting story and a sweet little model. Interesting little collection of strike aircraft too - quite a size difference!

 

Cheers

 

Malcolm

[Courageous]

Did these aircraft have no markings then?

 

Stuart

[Ron Pearcy]

Excellent build and a very interesting story. Thank you. 

[Parrahs]

5 hours ago, Courageous said:

Did these aircraft have no markings then?

 

Stuart

When they were initially purchased they had all the expected markings of a civilian aircraft. When the camouflage was applied (using automotive paints, mixed by eye to match the jungle around them) all of that was painted over, and no new markings were applied. Later on in their career they were marked on the sides with Biafran flags or roundels (varying form plane to plane perhaps) and identification codes consisting of BB-[three numbers]. As I wanted to keep the aircraft to the time frame when von Rosen flew I went without markings. Looking at the state of the decal sheet that may have been for the best from a practical standpoint as well.

 

[Spitfire31]

Beautifully finished Baby and a story that needs to be told over and again.

 

Top marks and hat off!

 

Kind regards,

 

Joachim

[Tweener]

I don't quite know what about this captures me so well, but this is certainly one of the more interesting builds I have seen on BM so far. Whereas I have seen builds before that inspired me to go and pick up a kit, or try a new scheme, I quite honestly want two or three of these! I really do love the thought of these little planes taking on Mig-17s and the like, very much like a Po-2 versus F-86 in Korea. 

 

You've certainly done a nice job of a kit that I have previously seen to be a bit of a challenge as well.

 

Looking forward to more, Tweener

[iggy86]

That is something special endeed! This are those rare projects with an interesting story that enhance a great build, congratulations!

(good looking tornado and viggen also).

Cheers.

[Silenoz]

Nice little gem, with a very interesting backstory...