Hijacked Plane Brought Home After 40 Years

A Lufthansa passenger jet that was hijacked to Somalia 40 years ago at the height of a far-left militant group's campaign against West German authorities has returned home. The DPA news agency reported Saturday that most parts of the Boeing 737 arrived Saturday in the city of Friedrichshafen, where they will be reassembled and displayed at the Dornier Museum. The remainder is due to arrive Wednesday from Brazil. The aircraft ended up in a Brazilian carrier's fleet and had been sitting decommissioned at the country's Fortaleza Airport for years.

A Palestinian group demanding the release of members of West Germany's Red Army Faction hijacked a Mallorca to Frankfurt flight in October 1977, the AP reports. The hijacking marked the peak of the "German Autumn" of leftist violence. German commandos stormed the plane in Mogadishu, Somalia, killing three hijackers and rescuing all 86 passengers. Surviving members of the flight crew were also rescued, though pilot Juergen Schumann had been shot dead earlier by one of the hijackers. (More plane hijacking stories.)