Mercy/Aid Flying in Africa

[solotk]

Hi all,
I am currently writing a book, about mercy,aid, relief and casevac flight operations, in Africa and other places/

I am looking for personal anecdotes, photographs of aircraft and personnel, of their time on these operations. Anecdotes need not be just about flying, but must be in connection with relief operations, and not fairy stories!

I have been planning to do this , since I was an aid worker in Rwanda in 1994, and saw the round the clock efforts in Goma, and other places, and now I am trying to tell the story.

I need input from pilots, ops planners, loadies, handlers, in short, people who were there, be they civil or military!

It always always struck me, that no one in the outside world, knows the risks and dangers, that aircrew and other staff on these operations face, and I think it's time they did.

If you have any stories, anecdotes, recollections, photos etc, i'd certainly appreciate hearing them

Please send all material to [email protected]


If you wish to remain anonymous, i will respect that.

With very best wishes for the new year, and keep the Manna coming!

Tony King

[south coast]

i was in the drc for 9 months flying for monuc(un) and do have some recollections and pictures...a few of goma too...if you are interested i can email to you, some fun/good stories, some very sad and quite brutal.

[solotk]

Hiya South,

Yes please.. Don't sanitise anything. I saw first hand, how the recipients morale was lifted dramatically, whenever they saw a Safair or Military Albert fly into view, cos' they knew what it meant!

Please send everything you have, i'd love to see it. If any of your friends from that time are interested, then i'd love to see their material too.

Thanks for coming back to me so quickly

With Best regards

Tony

[4granted]

Tony
Great Idea..
will e mail you what we got..
Cheers...
hb4g

[OutsideLookingIn]

Don't know if it's what you're looking for, but RTE here in Ireland recently aired a superb documentary on the secret aid flights during the Biafran War. Write to Press Office, RTE, Donnybrook, Dublin 4, Rep. of Ireland for info on the programme makers.

[Hot 'n' High]

Hi Tony,

One organisation I know of is Mission Aviation Fellowship. They have a UK website at <a href="http://www.maf-uk.org" target="_blank">http://www.maf-uk.org</a> which gives you a rough idea of what they do - which you may already know so apologies if "teaching Grandma ...."!

I am sure if you approached MAF direct they could assist in some way though their Head Office is probably quite busy. I know that at least one book has been written about MAF but I have no ISBN details.

But, what is even more amazing, is just how this busy little "airline" is financed! Something for the Finance Directors at BA etc to ponder!!!

Anyway, hope this helps. Good luck with your research,

Regards, H 'n' H <img src="cool.gif" border="0">

[Tokoloshe]

Hi Tony

Sounds like a good idea; just don't make it sound too dangerous otherwise you'll have the bean-counters on your back as the pilots will be demanding more money :)
I'll see what I can dig up and send you though. Spent a good few years in some strange places "helping" the locals.

[solotk]

Hi all,

Just wanted to say thanks, to everyone that has contributed stuff so far. Some of it makes amazing reading(even after I switched on the lineshoot filter) -lol . Some great stories, very funny, sad, dangerous, or just plain harrowing.

Please keep it coming. I want to write this book, in your own words, not mine. I personally detest writers, who think they can tell a story better, than the people who were there.

On a personal note, a friend of mine, is trying to obtain a T-6G or Harvard,which he can rebuild as a project. Have any of you seen any dumped on African airfields on your travels? Any other derelict kit is interesting to him I think, but not 707's in Nigeria :-)

One again, thanks for the contributions so far, and for the guys who haven't got round to sending stuff in yet, please do

Tony

[solotk]

Forgot to say......

and thanks for the leads that some of you have given.. Hb4g, yes please, as soon as you can :-)

Tony

[4granted]

Tony
sorry internet down at moment ..wilco asap..
hb4g