Relief aid into Biafra began arriving by land, sea, and air soon after the start of the Nigerian Civil War in 1967. Reports of widespread famine began emerging, many from NGOs participating in the relief aid efforts. Relief flights ramped up after Nigeria's land and sea blockade of Biafra became near-total in June 1968. These flights were mainly under the auspices of the ICRC, with
Nordchurchaid being a major donor/partner. On June 5, 1969, an ICRC
DC-7 aircraft was shot down by Nigerian forces, killing three relief workers. Nigeria demanded all relief flights be subject to their control. The ICRC suspended their flights from Cotonou and Santa Isabelle. A dispute arose between the NGOs and the ICRC over the latter's position to comply with Nigeria's demands for a ban on outside relief flights. The ICRC defended their position stating that "Article 23 of the Fourth Geneva Convention of 1949, intended for international armed conflict, stipulates that a belligerent State can satisfy itself that material assistance is neutral." A leading critic of the ICRC's position declared that their silence over Biafra made its workers accomplices in the systematic massacre of a population. . In early 1968, Anthony Byrne, an Irish missionary who was active in Onitshsa before the war, began a relief effort based in the island of
Sao Tome under the aegis of the Committee of International Church Relief Organizations. The committee included
Caritas Internationalis,
World Council of Churches,
Catholic Relief Services, and Nordchurchaid, a collective of
Scandinavian Protestant groups. Sao Tome was a Portuguese overseas department under the control of Governor Silva Sebastio, and had taken a neutral stance on the civil war and made its ports available to both belligerents, though the Nigerian federals made no use of them. Relief flights began in earnest in late April. By September the relief effort had several planes at its disposal and was sending an average of ten flights to Biafra each night. With the support of Sebastio, children with
Kwashiorkor were flown to the island for medical treatment. Relief flights landed at
Uli, codenamed "Airstrip Annabelle", the only operational "airport" in Biafra. At the height of the airlift it became the second busiest airport in Africa after Johannesburg. The bush landing strip was a widened road and had no instruments or navigation gear. The flights originated primarily from: the island of Sao Tome; the island of Fernando Po (then a Spanish colony and now known as
Bioko, Republic of Equatorial Guinea); and
Cotonou, Dahomey (now
Benin). The humanitarian airlift was undertaken almost exclusively by civilian cargo aircraft and without any escorting military or defensive aircraft. Flights were also made from Libreville, Gabon by the French who were supplying both relief aid and military supplies. The flights were undertaken under cover of darkness and without lights to avoid attacking Nigerian aircraft who maintained air superiority during the day, supported by Soviet fishing trawlers offshore monitoring the flights. Each aircraft made as many as four round-trips each night into Uli. The aircraft – nearly all of which were civilian and operated by civilian pilots – were based, fueled, repaired, and maintained at the supply end of the airlift, not in Biafra. Three were destroyed on the ground at Uli by Nigerian aircraft. Attacking aircraft were frequently nearby trying to catch the airlifters while landing or on the ground, forcing pilots to hover in darkness until an all-clear was sounded and runway lights could be activated barely long enough to enable a speedy landing. Separation between aircraft in the air was maintained by cockpit radio communication between pilots as there was no radar. Hostile aircraft were flown by mercenaries who taunted airlift pilots over the radio and used call signs such as "Genocide". Approaches were made low over the treetops and landing was made without runway lights. At times the brief illumination of the runway lights could provide sufficient bearing for the attacking aircraft. Once on the ground air and ground crew frequently had to evacuate the aircraft after landing and take cover from attacking aircraft in trenches alongside the runway. Radio broadcasts from Uli normally used code, such as "no landing lights" for "we are being bombed." Almost all of the airplanes, crews and logistics were paid, set up and maintained by the joint churches through contracted companies and volunteers on the ground. The largest aircraft, the C-97s, received major maintenance services performed by
Israel Aircraft Industries volunteers working in Switzerland. By 1968 most of JCA's funding originated from the United States government and was funneled through JCA. At its peak in 1969, the airlift delivered an average of 250 metric tons of food each night to the estimated 1.5 to 2 million people dependent on food relief supplies, most of which was brought in by the airlift. In late 1968, before the arrival of the C-97s from the US, (VERIFY) an estimated 15–20 flights each night were made into Biafra: 10–12 from Sao Tome (JCA, Canairelief, and others), 6–8 from Fernando Po (mostly ICRC), and 3–4 from Libreville, Gabon (mostly French). This quantity of food was less than 10% of the amount needed to feed the estimated 2 million starving citizens. On the return flights out of Uli, some flights carried materials for export sale. Others carried children, either orphans or in need of medical attention, said to be taken "far away in the sky". This airlift was the first major civilian airlift in history, and perhaps the largest of any civilian relief effort of any kind. Of the major participants, only
Oxfam had any prior experience with field operations; Biafra was their second. ==Aircraft and crews==