By VINCENT UKPONG KALU Saturday, March 5, 2011

Dr. Felix Oragwu is a nuclear physicist and the arrowhead of the scientific and technological innovations that sustained secessionist Biafra during the thirty months of the Nigerian civil war. While many records have been made of the bloody struggle, there has not been much attempt to chronicle in details the scientific and technological feat that took place in Biafra.

To fill that gap, Oragwu decided to provide that missing link by writing the book, Scientific and Technological Innovations in Biafra: The Ogbunigwe Fame 1967 – 1970.

Ogbunigwe, the deadly mass destruction missile that made the federal troop jittery, was a product of the scientific feat of Biafra. Oragwu revealed how the Biafran scientists were assembled and how the name ogbunigwe was coined.
The author, in an interview with Saturday Sun, informed that the book basically deals with two major things – the ability of a nation in the development of science and technology and an instrument for the economic and industrial development of a country. The book was supposed to have come out in the 1970s, but couldn’t because of the heightened emotions then.

How ogbunigwe was invented
Between late July and early September 1967, it was reported that Biafra enjoyed air superiority over Nigeria by mere possession of an old 1939-1945 war vintage B.26 Bomber. One early September morning in 1967, the old B.26 was, as usual, primed for action at the Enugu airport, where the bomber was normally stationed preparatory for its routine bombing trips on military targets in Nigeria.
A Bofor ground to anti-aircraft gun located near the Enugu Airport defended the airport and the bomber. The primed B.26 bomber was ready to take off, at about 0630 hours on that fateful day to Nigeria, when suddenly there appeared a fast moving, low flying Russian MIG 15 Jet fighter, over the Enugu Airport and Biafra airspace for the first time since the war began. No member of the Science and Technology (S&T) Group before this incident had witnessed a MIG Jet fighter in action. The MIG jet fighter promptly attacked the airport and deflated the tyres of B.26 bomber, thereby immobilizing the vital warhorse.
“Later in the evening of that eventful day, the Commander of Biafra Air Force, after recovering from the shock and humiliation of the morning incident, summoned his officers, including the commander of Biafra Army engineers and some leading members of the S&T Group to the Enugu Airport for advice on the matter and what to do to bring down the low flying MIG jet fighter without the ground-to-air anti-craft guns.

“The Air Force commander, in shaking voice, informed the small group assembled of the MIG 15 Jet incidence of that morning and the implications for Biafra short-lived air superiority over Nigeria.”
With the emergence of MIG jet fighters in the federal troops’ arsenal, the use of B26 bomber, says the author, had come to an end. The ‘Bofor’ gun at the Enugu Airport had become irrelevant against fast moving low flying jet fighters. Therefore, he sought for what could be done to contain the jet fighters and maintain the morale of the Biafran troops and the population at large.
[b]“In the course of the deliberations, a number of suggestions were made. The most viable was to find a mechanism for sending up debris, dust, small pebbles and the like in the path of the flying jet fighters in the hope that these dust particles could be sucked in by the jet fighters to impede its propulsion, asphyxiate and bring the jet fighters down. The question was what type of mechanism could be produced easily and quickly in Biafra to accomplish the task.

“To utilize this scientific principle in throwing up the debris in the path of a fast flying Jet fighter, the S&T-Group had to solve two problems. The first was the rotation of the debris in the bucket to set up laminar flow without allowing the latter to spin, the second was to generate such a recoil that the reaction to the recoil could impart sufficient energy to the rotated debris to rise far beyond the rooftops and spread the contents over a large air space.

An engineer member of the S&T Group called William Achukwu, Agricultural Engineer, volunteered to design and fabricate a metallic bucket-like system for the trials.

“A series of trial tests with varying masses (light materials) and sizes of the debris respectively, depending on the mass/sizes of the debris, gave excellent results achieving heights of 30-1000 feet (10-300 meters) respectively depending on the mass/sizes of the debris. The Air Force commander, the military personnel present, and members of the S&T Group present who witnessed the feat achieved, were very excited and went into jubilation. Most people were convinced that the new mechanism was an answer to the jet fighters, and the S&T Group was directed to produce many of the devices to be used not only at the airports but also as air defense cover at various Biafran troop locations.
[/b]
The name Ogbunigwe
[b]“In October 1967, the federal troops, having captured and secured Enugu, the capital of Biafra were on their way to Awka and Onitsha, the commercial nerve centre of Biafra, through the old Enugu-Awka-Onitsha road. The well armed, heavily equipped federal troops, with their superior fire power, encountered a battalion of poorly equipped, out-gunned and virtually exhausted Biafran troops at the Ugwuoba Bridge, few kilometers into Awka. However the Biafran troops had on hand some of their air defence dust mines. Unable to withstand the superior firepower of the federal troops, they began to run for their dear lives carrying along with them their air defence ‘mines’. Their resourceful commander (whose name has escaped my memory) ordered them back and commanded them to place the air defence mines horizontally rather than vertically as designed and fire them on the approaching federal troops to see what would happen and thereafter run for their dear lives. The command was promptly carried out. Indeed, the federal troops could not understand what hit them. The effect of the horizontal detonation of the air defense dust mines was very devastating leading to loss of many federal troops, as well loss of large quantities of arms and ammunitions some of which got completely burnt. The devastation was, indeed, very extensive particularly in the unintended loss of military personnel, some of who died from the shock waves generated by the unexpected explosions. The mass of water, from the river below the bridge, was thrown up and widely spread by the generated waves, thus adding to the trauma of the advancing troops.
[/b]
“The following morning some members of the S&T Group were summoned to Ugwuoba Bridge by the military to help explain the new phenomenon and what really had happened to make the air defense dust mines accomplish what they did. Meanwhile, the people of Amansi Awka, the neighbouring village, were called out to the scene to help in burying the dead. An elderly man from Amansi Awka on seeing the large number of dead soldiers along the bridge exclaimed in Igbo: “ogbuefa n’igwe” (the dust mine had killed them in masses or massively). That was how the otherwise anti-aircraft “Air Dust Mine” got its name ogbunigwe (mass killer) and the S&T Group came to be referred to by the generality of the Biafra public as ogbunigwe people.

“Arising from the Ugwuoba incident, a device designed and fabricated as an anti aircraft dust mine had suddenly become useful as a ground-to-ground weapon with devastating impact beyond imagination. Its new mode of deployment provided Biafra with additional ammunitions. This incident vindicated the adage “that necessity is the mother of invention.”
*The book was presented in Lagos yesterday

Sun Newspaper

Read more:http://www.gbooza.com/page.html#ixzz456 http://www.gbooza.com/group/nigeriapolitics/forum/topics/3-decades-after-military#ixzz1djYzv4vJ

Sometimes I dont know how I feel reading up all these. The Nigeria govt is just after the oil, whereas we can develope other aspects of our potentials. Just so sad we are still in this hell-hole

The technique employed in making this missile is quite strange, unlike most used today.

Obiagu1:

[size=18pt]The technique employed in making this missile is quite strange[/size], unlike most used today.

Maybe there was no technique in the first place.


Was that shyt an anti aircraft missile or an anti grass missile? I thought it was a tractor . On closer look, it actually looks like a mouse trap?

Here is the picture of the Ogbunigwe launcher as displayed at the National War museum Umuahia.

meonbooty:

Maybe there was no technique in the first place.


Was that shyt an anti aircraft missile or an anti grass missile? I thought it was a tractor . On closer look, it actually looks like a mouse trap?

The picture above has made you NL #1 f.o.o.l.

You can't even distinguish an armoured personnel carrier from a weapon.

wow
That's all i can say!
Where can i get the book , please?

Obiagu1:

The picture above has made you NL #1 f.o.o.l.

You can't even distinguish an armoured personnel carrier from a weapon.

CO-SIGNED

The poster was obviously making reference to the giant DIY mortar tube in the foreground, and NOT the APC in the background, detractors please note.

Anyone who calls this an 'anti-aircraft missile' has to be shot on sight for stupidity.

So you weld a simple tube, pack in explosives, put in pebbles and other small material for shrapnel, add springs to dampen vibration and to handle recoil and then you say you have an anti-aircraft missile?

It's a pity Nigerians are so poorly educated that this crude implement can be hyped beyond belief as an 'anti-aircraft missile'.

As Jakumo says, this probably drew inspiration from mortars of the day as well as ancient cannons firing grapeshot. What is clear is that this weapon had virtually no chance of ever bringing down any aircraft.

my father told me that they used a 1.5 v battery to detonate the ogbunigwe.

If you were in the biafran war u would understand how the lives of an entire village depended on the devastating effect of a single ogbunigwe!

Kaboooom!
End of invasion.
Your guys are wiped out!

Can we give this to hunters to enable them catch grasscutters?

Improvisation or not,the Ogbunigwe lived up to its necessitated expectation for the invention,leverageing on that to improve on it,wouldnt hav been a bad idea.

How can something that has little or no maneuverability be an "anti-aircraft missile" launcher? Most of its joints are welded together, yet, it should, somehow, be able to stop MOVING AIRCRAFT??

*Shakes my damn head!*

this was indeed a brilliant invention - it was used to shoot retar/ds 300ft into the path of incoming Federal Government Jet Fighters, the retar/ds were to grasp onto the Jet-Fighters engines and place mature grass-cutters inside the engnes to finish the job, thereafter the retar/ds will jump off the Jet-Fighter to the nearest Ogbunigwe to be re-launched into the air at regular intervals -  a lot of Biafran troops were expended this way       

Kaboooom!
End of invasion.
Your guys are wiped out

☺ℓ  
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IIIIIIIIIIIIHIIIIIIIIIIIIIIII\\ 
I------------------" 
HAHAHAH= Laff wan make me shit O. ‎​​=))º°˚˚˚°ºнaĦaнaº°˚˚˚°º‎​=))

The rising sun the chosen people look at armors and air missiles we invented THESE DANGEROUS WEAPONS did a devastating JOB which it did,BIAFRA ALL HAIL BIAFRA THE RISING SUN, WHO SAY AFRICANS DON'T HAVE REAL HUMANS LIVING IN IT? WELL BIAFRA HAVE PROVE THESE PEOPLE WRONG look at what we have invented with small resources we had at the time can u imagine if BIAFRA have enough resources by now all the African countries will see us as NATO of Africa no one can test us.

Britain and Russia why interfering in our simple war we map out already how to take over the rest of the country with no sweat we got the brains like Nazi scientist we keep improving better and better but we no western world never wish well for black people they like to keep bullying Africa any how they like,so they swear that BIAFRA will challenge them in any aspect but they don't want that they impose Hausa Fulani on us,now Hausa Fulani are fighting them with suicide bombers one of them failed to bring down plane full of Americans so both side should feel the heat as-well Britain and Russia you think after giving this people second hand weapons from WW2 and still took them many years to reach biafran BORDER now the people you helped are now paying you back   next time mind your business you play with  fire and get burn,

Maybe some people should go and find out what a missile is. A minor knowledge of ballistics and explosive projectiles would give them an idea.

A missile could be guided or ballistic and nobody ever said that ogbunigwe was a "guided" missile.

so they dont even know what it is

biafra ended with the dust mine from the army of nigeria

Obiagu1:

The picture above has made you NL #1 f.o.o.l.

You can't even distinguish an armoured personnel carrier from a weapon.

manny4life:

CO-SIGNED

moderatorr:

my father told me that they used a 1.5 v battery to detonate the ogbunigwe.

If you were in the biafran war u would understand how the lives of an entire village depended on the devastating effect of a single ogbunigwe!

Kaboooom!
End of invasion.
Your guys are wiped out!

It is one thing to not be able to tell an anti-aircraft missile launcher from a tractor from a [b]g[/b]rass-cutter from [i]g[/i]arri from a 1.5 v battery powered clipper. But what would be awesome is  if there was some minimum level of expectation that you had to be able to tell an anti-aircraft missile launcher from a tractor from a [b]g[/b]rass-cutter from [i]g[/i]arri from a 1.5 v battery powered clipper in order to meaningfully contribute on NL. That would be awesome!


I mean you really can't make up the crap coming from these Ibo guys. Its incredible.

why are this people shaming themselves is on our history archives that[b] ogbunigbe [/b]mass killer did what it suppose to do, does it matter how it was made or look? abeg make we hear word as far as i know nigeria as a whole haven't  produce anything to prove that brain really exist in them, but BIAFRA did, doesn't matter how long it took, the bottom line is that[b] ogbunigbe [/b]is a mass killer was tested on Nigerian rag tags soldiers and the result was devastating 

moderatorr:

my father told me that they used a 1.5 v battery to detonate the ogbunigwe.

If you were in the biafran war u would understand how the lives of an entire village depended on the devastating effect of a single ogbunigwe!

Kaboooom!
End of invasion.
Your guys are wiped out!

When I was in primary 2, My classmate Uyi told me about a magical bomb called a 'muclear bomb'. According to Uyi, "one muclear bomb can destroy the whole Nigeria"
When I grew up, I learnt that the name was 'nuclear' not 'muclear', and that it was impossible for it to be sugar cube sized, or for just one bomb to flatten Nigeria.

What's the moral of my story? Use your damn common sense to separate fact from hyperbole!

ak47mann:

The rising sun the chosen people look at armors and air missiles we invented THESE DANGEROUS WEAPONS did a devastating JOB which it deed,BIAFRA ALL HAIL BIAFRA THE RISING SUN, WHO SAY AFRICANS DON'T HAVE REAL HUMANS LIVING IN IT? WELL BIAFRA HAVE PROVE THESE PEOPLE WRONG look at what we have invented with small resources we had at the time can u imagine if BIAFRA have enough resources by now all the African countries will see us as NATO of Africa no one can test us.

Britain and Russia why interfering in our simple war we map out already how to take over the rest of the country with no sweat we got the brains like Nazi scientist we keep improving better and better but we no western world never wish well for black people they like to keep bullying Africa any how they like,so they swear that BIAFRA will challenge them in any aspect but they don't want that they impose Hausa Fulani on us,now Hausa Fulani are fighting them with suicide bombers one of them failed to bring down plane full of Americans so both side should feel the heat as-well Britain and Russia you think after giving this people second hand weapons from WW2 and still took them many years to reach biafran BORDER now the people you helped are now paying you back   next time mind your business you play with the fire and get burn,

ak47mann:

why are this people shaming themselves is on our history archives that[b] ogbunigbe [/b]mass killer did what it suppose to do does it matter how it was made or look? abeg make we hear word as far as i know nigeria as a whole haven't produce anything to prove that brain really exist in them, but BIAFRA deed doesn't matter how it look the bottom line is that[b] ogbunigbe [/b]is a mass killer was tested on Nigerian rag tags soldiers and the result was devastating

Never mind this discussion, can't you help us make your comments more readable by placing a few commas and periods in your responses?

texazzpete:


Never mind this discussion, can't you help us make your comments more readable by placing a few commas and periods in your responses?

ok is that all?

ak47mann:

ok is that all?

I'd rather you just stopped posting. Your writing is atrocious.

more like an Air defense system which proved very eefective for counter air, surface to air warfare and was aslo used for ground operations , Biafra had rather operated a very effective air defense and naval defense , prospectively speaking Biafra was simply overwhelmed by the Soviet Union's air Superiority and the United Kingdom Unbeatable warfare logistics.

meonbooty:


I'd rather you just stopped posting. Your writing is atrocious.

my friend move i have different ways i comment boyyyy

ak47mann:

my friend move i have different ways i comment boyyyy

yes they use that strategy to win that war for Nigeria

ak47mann:

yes they use that strategy to win that war for Nigeria

ak47mann:

my friend move i have different ways i comment boyyyy

this Ibgbotic bomb has got you double-posting the dust-mine don enter ya eye abi

For yoreoba dolts on this thread who never believed that Igbos are African Jews just like there is American Jews:

"On March 31, 1968: Biafran army won their biggest battle. by ambushing and destroying a 96-vehicle column of Nigerian soldiers with locally hand made bomb called [Ogbunigwe or bucket bomb]. The humiliating Abagana defeat to Nigerian soldiers prompted General Yakubu Gowon to remove Col. Murtala Mohammed as the General Commanding Officer of the Onitsha sector."

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Abagana

Ohaneze1:

For yoreoba dolts on this thread who never believed that Igbos are African Jews just like there is American Jews:

"On March 31, 1968: Biafran army won their biggest battle. by ambushing and destroying a 96-vehicle column of Nigerian soldiers with locally hand made bomb called [Ogbunigwe or bucket bomb]. The humiliating Abagana defeat to Nigerian soldiers prompted General Yakubu Gowon to remove Col. Murtala Mohammed as the General Commanding Officer of the Onitsha sector."

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Abagana

Have you bothered to research how the OPC use exploding guinea-fowl eggs to destroy buildings and fend of attacks that invention steal takes the cake over any mass-duster. imagine if it was introduced in the Biafran war

Ohaneze1:

For yoreoba dolts on this thread who never believed that Igbos are African Jews just like there is American Jews:

"On March 31, 1968: Biafran army won their biggest battle. by ambushing and destroying a 96-vehicle column of Nigerian soldiers with locally hand made bomb called [Ogbunigwe or bucket bomb]. The humiliating Abagana defeat to Nigerian soldiers prompted General Yakubu Gowon to remove Col. Murtala Mohammed as the General Commanding Officer of the Onitsha sector."

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Abagana

what has the bolded got to do with the thread?