Carl Gustaf von Rosen Count Carl Gustaf Ericsson von Rosen ( August 19 , 1909 – July 13 , 1977 ) was a Swedish pioneer aviator , humanitarian , and mercenary pilot . He flew relief missions in a number of conflicts as well as combat missions for Finland ( whose first military aircraft his father had donated in 1918 ) and Biafran rebels . His flights for the Biafran rebels were notable for using the small Malmö MFI - 9 in a ground attack role . Early life and family . Von Rosen was born in Helgesta , Flen Municipality , Södermanland , Sweden son of the explorer Eric von Rosen ( 1879 – 1948 ) and nephew of Carin Göring , wife of Hermann Göring . Throughout his upbringing , Carl Gustaf appeared to have had serious differences in opinion with his family , with one author referring to him as the " black sheep of his family . " At an early age , Carl Gustaf was interested in mechanics ; his subsequent fascination with flying machines was likely influenced by his uncle - in - law , who was a fighter ace during World War I ( and later head of the German Luftwaffe ) . Von Rosen himself started his flying career as a mechanic before becoming an aerobatic stunt pilot in a travelling circus . Second Italo - Abyssinian War . When the Italians under Benito Mussolini attacked the independent empire of Ethiopia , von Rosen joined the Swedish Red Cross ambulance mission . 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 air force . 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 1939 in the Winter War , von Rosen quit his job to fly bombing missions for the Finns . He purchased a KLM Douglas DC - 2 , had it converted to a bomber in Sweden , and made one operational mission in March 1940 against the Soviet Union with it . Later the same year , as the Germans attacked the Netherlands , von Rosen with a Dutch KLM - crew flew a DC - 3 with Dutch government documents 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 , was arrested by the Gestapo and sent to Dachau in Germany . After the war she committed suicide in 1949 . Carl Gustaf von Rosen went on flying for the Swedish Airline ABA from August 1940 until the end of the war . Post war . Between 1945 and 1956 von Rosen worked in Ethiopia as the chief instructor for the Imperial Ethiopian Air Force . Despite his valuable service to Ethiopia , intrigues against him , particularly by his liaison officer with the Emperor Assefa Ayene , made working conditions for him so frustrating he eventually returned to Sweden . Afterwards von Rosen was employed by the Swedish Charter Airline Transair . The company was engaged by the UN during the Congo crisis 1960 , von Rosen also 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 . 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 Nigeria . These flights 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 international relief flights by the Nigerian Air Force , he hatched a plan in collaboration with the French secret service to strike back at Nigerian air power . He imported five small civilian single engine Malmö MFI - 9 planes produced by SAAB , which he knew could also be used for a ground attack role in warfare . He had the planes painted in camouflage colours and fitted with rockets from Matra , and proceeded with a crew of two Swedes and two Biafrans 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 . Despite his controversial methods , Count Von Rosen would later be remembered for his efforts to modernize relief efforts . Return to Ethiopia . From 1974 to 1977 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 between Ethiopia and Somalia . Again flying famine relief for refugees , he was killed on the ground on 13 July 1977 , during a sudden Somali army attack in Gode at the outbreak of the war .