Portuguese pilot, Artur Alves Pereira who served as Squadron Leader in the Biafra Air Force, has passed away at the age of 80. He died on Saturday night.
Announcing his death on his official Facebook page, Mazi Nnamdi Kanu, the leader of Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB) said that the octogenarian initially flew relief aids to the then war-torn Biafra before he joined the Biafra Air Force, BAF, in 1969; after he couldn’t resist the horrible sight of the genocide being perpetrated against Biafrans.
“The Biafran T6-Texans which was among the ‘Biafra Babies’ was placed under his command.
“He returned to his country in January 1970 at the end of the war and remains one of the strongest advocates for Biafra to this day on several media platforms”, he said.
Born February 26, 1942 in Angola, he joined the Portuguese Air Force as pilot in May 1962 serving in Portugal and in Angola, a former Portuguese colony at the time. He got his Commercial Pilot License after the Air Force duty time.
