Squadron Leader August Biafra: A Pilot Remembers the Air Force and the Biafran Air Attacks
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Captain Okpe wrote about his transformation into a pilot, and then then a fighter pilot in stories which have been compiled and published.
The
rights to make a movie from these stories are owned by Ganymede Movies
LLP, a company incorporated in New Jersey with its certificate of
incorporation signed by Dr Susanna J Dodgson and Captain Augustine De
Hems Okpe in Nigeria where it was notarized by a Nigerian lawyer.
Captain August Okpe's father came from Ihiagwa, Owerri in Imo State, and Captain Okpe was born in Port Harcourt, Nigeria.
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He went to school in Nigeria's Government College in Umuahia, the Central Officers School of the Royal Canadian Air Force in Alberta, the Royal Canadian Air Force Flight School, in Penhold, the Royal Canadian Air Force Flight Instructors School in Moose-Jaw, the University of Southern California, the United States Air Force Flight Safety Centre in Georgia; the Boeing Airplane Flight School in Seattle, the British Airways Flight School at Gatwick, and UK's Cranfield University in Bedfordforshire.
In addition to his appointment as the Chief Flight Safety Officer & Air Accident Investigator, NAF Headquarters, Captain Okpe operated a variety of aircraft for the NAF, the Eastern Command and later Biafra before and during the war. As the de facto Biafran Chief Pilot, he later commanded the Tactical Air Command that won world-wide acclaim in its attempt to tip the balance in the war, which the Biafran regime unfortunately could not sustain for too long. For that and other meritorious services in the course of his prosecution of the war through unconventional military aviation tactics, Biafra honoured him with all the national awards possible at the time including the prestigious Military Cross.
In consideration of Captain Okpe’s spectacular aerial campaigns and punitive missions (economic damage and strategic bombings of military installations) against Nigeria, the Military Tribunal set up by the Federal Military Government of Nigeria late 1970, and did not recommend him to be recalled to the Armed Forces of post war Nigeria along with some of his peers.
Captain Okpe was granted a Presidential Pardon vide Government Notice Gazette No. 40 Vol. 90 of 18th May 2006, so his dismissal from the Armed Forces of Nigeria was commuted to retirement with full benefits, rights and privileges with effect from 29th May 2000.
Captain Okpe’s father fought in the World War II, while the Captain’s eldest son, August Okpe ll, was a decorated US Army combatant officer in Operation Desert Storm.
After leaving the NAF, Captain Okpe went to civil flight schools in the UK and USA to train as a commercial pilot. He then joined Nigeria Airways where he was later appointed fleet Captain and in 1985, the Chief Pilot.
Captain Okpe retired from Nigeria Airways in June 1999. He has since retired from his next position, as became Director and Specialist Air Accident Investigator for the Federal Republic of Nigeria.
In his career he has flown the T33, T37, DC3, F27 F28, B737, The Airbus A310-200 wide-body jet and the Douglas DC-10-30, Jumbo Jet and has recorded over 15,000 hours of military and civil flight time to destinations domestic, regional or intercontinental to Europe, Africa, the Middle East, North and South America, and Asia.
He also flew helicopters during the Biafran War, and his single injury, to his chin, resulted on the day after his wedding. It resulted from engine failure of an Alouette helicopter before the Biafran-Nigerian War started.
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Captain Okpe and Dr Susanna created a company, Ganymede Movies LLP.
Below, pictures of the Ganymede Movies partners in Captain Okpe's home in Lagos.
Bottom picture, in Philadelphia.
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