Hank Wharton(Biafra fame)

Stewart,  welcome to the forum, and thanks for the back-ground info..

First hand accounts are particularly valuable. They sound like very memorable times !

sorry that should have been 1980,

I worked as mechanic for Hank Warton in Khartoum in 1990.(Air Trans)  I took over from a mechanic called Jock Christianson, a New Zealander, He retrained  as FE later and was killed in a DC8 on take off somewhere in the US a some years later. Our aircraft was a B707-430 (Conways) registered in Equitorial Guinea 3C-ABH. We flew cattle to Sanaa daily. Loaded them through the rear LH door using a ramp. The captain was Ray Beniger, (may have been Beneger, sorry Ray) I think he was X US navy but had been flying both B707 and DC8 for many years. He was a very good pilot and a true gentleman, his wife visited us a couple of times even though Khartoum at that time was pretty basic. we did have beer though, the country went dry a couple of years later. The Engineer was Joe Webber, I saw him a few years back flying for a German airline, maybe German Wings. The FO was  a local guy. The operation was run by someone called Saleh Saleh and his 2 sons, he made his money as an irrigation engineer and lived in a monster house in Umm Derman  north of the river.

There was no maintenance plan as such, so I did progressive A checks all the time I was there. (we only flew 2 hours per day at the most) On looking through the MM I found that it was the wrong effectivity and covered only the PW JT3DS, I managed to scrounge one off a visiting BA FE, they also delivered the newspapers  The tyre pressure gauge failed and I used the hammer method for a while. It was quite basic and I borrowed a lot from Sudan Air.

John Lear did fill in for Ray Beniger occasionally and another Captain who’s name I have forgotten, Sadly he was killed in a Crash some years later, (not flying for Hank)  In the end the supply of cattle ran out and we flew the aircraft to Cairo, Hank was operating 2 B707,s there for Egypt air called Nefertity Airline. My Engineering manager was also there but I cant remember has name, I left the aircraft there and flew home to the UK the next day.  I liked Hank, at that time I didn’t know much of his history but apart from the cattle, I flew one trip to Kano with “tractor parts” Pay was a problem, Hank would turn up now and then with a bag full of dollars and pay us, I don’t think he trusted banks. We will not see his like again. 

Newforest wrote:
Interesting story about arms shipment and money movements!

August 13 [1968]: The Hank Wharton Plot…

My grandfather was involved with public awareness for Biafra and also the airlift. I’m trying to research his story and the larger story. I’d like to read more about the things you’ve written. Do you remember the sources you used (in addition to Ojukwu’s book); where you read/heard about the different versions of the Wharton Plot and the other details? I’m also especially interested in details of Wharton’s firing and the establishment of the replacements (as I think that might be when my grandfather would have gotten involved with the airlift).

It was all a bit hit and miss and the mercenary pilots were reluctant to engage the enemy at times !!

Thanks T21…yes in ‘Lucky 13’ T J did say that the bomber wasn’t a serious problem in respect of the actual physical damage to Airstrip/aircraft but just the fact of it being around was very disruptive and caused serious problems.

His real name was Heinrich Wartski and was born in Germany in 1916. He came to the US in the late 1930s.

Warton op under several diffent names, i e North American Aircraft Trading Co and ARCO (Bermuda) in ca 1967-72. The later one was based at Sao Tomé, Basle and Stockholm – here’s a nice caption of VR-BCX t/o from Bromma in 1970: http://www.airliners.net/open.file/0107578/L/

I belive Warton op a C-130 in Latin America during the 80s…

Former Nigerian Airways Dc-3 5N-AAN was based at Benin and used for night time bombing sorties against the Biafran airstrip at Uli. a commercial type rollermat was used to eject bombs up to 250lb through the removed passenger entrance door. It was all a bit hit and miss and the mercenary pilots were reluctant to engage the enemy at times and there have been quotes of the crews drinking on board. They would tune into the Uli frequency and taunt the airlift crews. I think it would make a great Spielberg production !!

Thanks T21
Know any more details??
Was it modified for bombing or did they ‘roll em out the door’ ??

The intruder was a Nigerian DC-3.

Does anybody have a copy of the uk tv prog titled (i think) ‘Jesus Christ Airways’ that was broadcast years ago ??

Here are the details of the film, 2001, not available for public release. Have to check the other details later as the dogs need walking.:D

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0365382/

I dont know much about HW but one of the other pilots involved with Biafra was Tony Jonsson,an Icelander who sailed in a fishing boat to GB to volunteer
for the RAF in WW2,this period of his life covered by his autobio ‘Dancing in the skies’…an excellent book!
In his later book ‘Lucky No 13’ (his iceland flying licence number!) he describes flying relief aid into biafra with Nordchurchaid in DC6 a/c. along with JCA/USA(affectionately known as ‘Jesus Christ Airways’) in C97’s and Canairelief in Connies.
The Nigerians used a bomber to try and disrupt these flights and in one of the chapters Tony describes one night when a C97 failed to arrive after asking for the runway lights.. a strange voice broke in on the radio and said ‘This is Oscar Oscar the bomber,I think Alpha 60 crashed south of the field’ and Tony then asked Oscar for more info..strange world innit!!
Oscar then got back to his primary task !!!

Does anybody know the identity of or a/c type that Oscar flew?

Does anybody have a copy of the uk tv prog titled (i think) ‘Jesus Christ Airways’ that was broadcast years ago ??

Thanks New Forest,he was certainly a colourful character a latter day pirate who seemed to steer around trouble. His flying experience was mainly on pistons like the DC-7,Connie and C-46. In retirement i believe he lived on a boat and his son is about. His log books would be quite interesting !

Funny you should say that! There is a Hank Wharton still flying. He is a student pilot in Arkansas. Could it be……..:confused:

Thanks New Forest,he was certainly a colourful character a latter day pirate who seemed to steer around trouble. His flying experience was mainly on pistons like the DC-7,Connie and C-46. In retirement i believe he lived on a boat and his son is about. His log books would be quite interesting !

Interesting story about arms shipment and money movements!

August 13 [1968]: The Hank Wharton Plot, hatched by British government and American CIA to sabotage Biafra and help Nigeria to carry through her ‘final thrust’ into Biafran heartland. Cargoes of arms and ammunition bought by Biafra are dumped into the sea during airflight. Tons of new Biafran currency are dumped into the sea, to create artificial scarcity in the Republic.’ (Ojukwu, 1969).

Hank Wharton was an American transport operator who had come to an arrangement with the Biafrans to fly arms twice weekly from Lisbon (Portugal) to Biafra. During Nigeria’s ‘final thrust’ of August 1968 (which proved not so final), Wharton’s planes did not arrive when needed. According to one version, the planes broke down while flying in their cargo, and jettisoned the much needed supply of weapons, and evidently other cargo such as the Biafran bank notes, before returning to Lisbon. Another version states that one plane was forced to jettison much of its cargo, including over half the bank notes it was carrying, into the Atlantic while flying along the coast. The plane was then unable to land in Biafra and had to land in Sao Tome. Another of Wharton’s planes had been destroyed mysteriously in Bissau (in Portuguese Guinea) shortly before this, and another had been impounded in Athens, leading the Biafrans to believe th! at Wharton had been ‘got at’ by the CIA and the British (who were also working amongst African nations in an effort to stop assistance to the struggling republic). Wharton was subsequently fired and a new supply route established.

The blockades imposed on Biafra by Nigeria and her allies started to take their toll, and it would seem that the loss of the of bank notes through Hank Wharton’s ‘treachery’ was one of the more telling blows. In his ‘Diary of Events’ for 1 September 1968, Gen. Ojukwu again records – ‘Acute shortage of currency due to Hank Wharton’s Plot.’ In the Biafran towns and cities the shortage of money was one of the many problems people faced. Banks would go for days without opening because there was no money for withdrawals, and when some was available it was rationed – people being allowed to withdraw no more than one pound a day. Of course the shortage of money was not due simply to the loss of the notes carried by Wharton’s plane, it was due mainly to the near-total withdrawal of Nigerian notes without the Biafran substitute being available.

I have the book ! and various “Propliner”articles,but would be interested in his activities post Biafra. Did he have a Boeing 707 in Miami ?

Suggest you read Mike Drapers book “Shaddows” published by Air-Britain.

That would be ‘Shadows’, now out of print, but available at prices ranging between $50 and $295!

Suggest you read Mike Drapers book “Shaddows” published by Air-Britain.