West Germany trained Somali airline pilots when America declined

Evidence

The American offer was three completely reconditioned Dakota planes, each with a capacity of twenty-six seats. Satisfied with the response, the prime minister delegated Hussen with finalizing the agreement with the ambassador. Soon the issue came up of training pilots and ground crews for the incipient venture. The ambassador said the United States could not help in this regard. On his own initiative, Hussen approached the West German ambassador and requested that West Germany assist Somalia by training the necessary people for the new airline. Within a week West Germany declared its willingness but only if the Somali government agreed to two preconditions. First, the candidates must have superior secondary school certificates with English as the medium of instruction. Second, the Germans would conduct the examinations and select the finalists. — Abdi Ismail Samatar, Africa’s First Democrats, 719

Categorization

• QUESTION: Were these German-trained cadres the nucleus of Somalia’s later civil aviation corps, and what became of them after 1969?