I'd like to start the New Year by paying tribute to Captain Rufus Orimoloye.
As a little boy growing up in Nigeria in the 70's I considered Nigeria Airways the most amazing place to be and so so dearly loved the flying elephant logo, I cried when the Flying Elephant was withdrawn in favor of the Eagle because of the small mindedness of certain individuals and pressmen who had tagged the logo with the airlines woe's as " too heavy or elephants do not fly" clueless and cruel they had no clue of the Symbol.
I had set my mind and target to fly for WT once I was old enough with a licence in hand. Sadly this was not to be as we all, are aware of how WT ended up.
Back to Captain Rufus, I would like to state here that a lot of accolades, publicity and tributes have been made with regards to Captain Bob Hayes in Nigeria and though I am not in a position to dispute them I would like to just say that there was a man called Captain Rufus Orimoloye and he is my champion from the early days.
Go ask any old timer on the ramp in Lagos about Rufus and just listen to them. Does anyone have any memories of him and whatever happened to him I would Love to hear about him please.
On my part here is a small right up on Rufus I would like to share about Rufus I found buried somewhere.
Nigeria Airways ordered two Standard VC10s in early 1961. Designated type 1104, they were to have been delivered at the same time that Ghana Airways received its VC10s. The order, however, was cancelled as the airline realised that it could not afford them, but once BOAC VC10s were in service between Lagos, Kano and London, Nigeria Airways realised the popularity of the aircraft and, from January 1966 to July 1967, they leased G-ARVC from BOAC. Then on 29th June 1969, they bought G-ARVA from BOAC and registered it as 5N-ABD. G-ARVA was the first production VC10 and the first to go into service with BOAC.
Nigerian VC10 crews were trained by BOAC and used its simulators at Heathrow. The routes were from Lagos to London via Kano, Barcelona and Rome and during the leasing days the crews were drawn from both Nigeria Airways and BOAC. A BOAC Captain would take command with a Nigerian Captain second in command. BOAC often provided the Chief Steward and the cabin staff were Nigerian.
On 30 July 1968 BOAC VC10 G-ARVL departed from Heathrow at 21:50 for Lagos via Rome and Kano under the command of Captain C J Gray with Captain Rufus Orimoloye as Command Under Supervision. The VC10 was operating West African service WT923 and proceeded without incident, arriving in Kano at 05:07 on 31st July. For the final Kano-Lagos sector the arrival weather forecast predicted squall lines - characteristic thunderstorms which affect the West African coast during the rainy season. Orimoloye elected to proceed to Lagos on a 'look see' basis and nominated Kano as the return alternative. After descending to within operational limits on an approach to Runway 19, visibility was poor so the flight returned to Kano.
Consideration was given to terminating the flight at Kano but it was reported that the weather conditions at Lagos had improved so a further attempt was made to land there. By the time the plane began its second approach, conditions worsened. The aircraft circled for a while, then Captain Orimoloye decided to make an approach from the coast and ran inland using VOR and DME. At a late stage, the runway was sighted and the aircraft was placed to make a landing. The airfield, however, was awash with heavy rain and the crew decided to make a further go-around. At this point Number 3 engine started to run rough and had to be shut down. A diversion to Accra was decided upon as it had better maintenance facilities and the availability of a spare engine. During the short flight to Accra, Lagos ATC called the VC10 to report that a Comet of East African Airways had just landed at Lagos and aquaplaned off the end of the runway, coming to rest in deep mud just short of the boundary. The two Captains looked at each other with gratification.
G-ARVL landed at Accra at 12:10 where the flight was terminated. As the crew were about to leave, the Engineer called them back to the tarmac to inspect the failed engine which had been fitted with experimental carbon fibre compressor blades; the basis for the new Rolls-Royce RB211 engine. To the crew's astonishment, the compressor blades had been shredded and were hanging in tatters. It was concluded that they had been damaged by exposure to heavy tropical rain. On returning to London, Gray reported that Orimoloye had passed with flying colours and was cleared to operate in command of the VC10. He also added that if he had shares in Rolls-Royce, he would sell them at once.
Rufus Orimoloye retired from the Nigeria Airways as a DC 10 aircraft Captain in 1982.
