Thursday July 27, 2017
FILE - In this Oct. 15, 1977 file photo two stewardesses stand in the open front door of the hijacked Lufthansa jetliner Landshut, a Boing 737, at an airfield in Dubai, United Arab Emirates. The plane hijacked to Somalia 40 years ago at the height of the leftist Red Army Faction's campaign against West German authorities is coming home to a German museum. The Dornier Museum in Friedrichshafen in southern Germany said Thursday, July 27, 2017 the plane is expected in September. (AP Photo/Harry Koundakjian, file)
A Lufthansa Boeing 737 hijacked to Somalia 40 years ago at the height of the leftist Red Army Faction's campaign against West German authorities is coming home to a German museum.
The Dornier Museum in Friedrichshafen in southern Germany said Thursday the plane is expected in September, the news agency dpa reported. The aircraft, which has been at Brazil's Fortaleza Airport for years, will be dismantled for transport.
The October 1977 hijacking of the Mallorca-Frankfurt flight by a Palestinian group demanding the release of RAF members marked the peak of the "German Autumn" of leftist violence. German commandos stormed the plane in Mogadishu, Somalia.
Germany's foreign ministry bought the plane from Brazilian airport operator Infraero. Foreign Minister Sigmar Gabriel told daily Bild the aircraft symbolizes that "we won't bow to terrorism."