Background
Lived with his parents and went with his family to Birine when he was 2 years old.
Lived with his parents and went with his family to Birine when he was 2 years old.
He returned to his village, An Oudourt, to acquire the qualities of his inhabitants, then returned to Had Sahari in 1939, and there he entered the official primary school, in addition to the courses he attended at school Traditional. In 1944, accompanied by his uncle, Terki El Mokhtar, he enrolled him at the native school to complete his primary studies, and then entered the technical school called Beau Prêtre (Larbi Tebessi) ). In 1951, France published an announcement that was hooked up to the technical school, announcing its need as pilots, all those who wanted to participate in the contest. Thus, Aït Messaoudène Saïd had taken part in the competition and had been ranked first. He therefore entered the air force school at Rochefort, and there he obtained the baccalaureat.
Air force commander who first made his mark in the liberation movement and led political missions to Russia and China. From fighter-pilot to director- general of the national airline, Air Algerie, he has proved himself a rugged character with little liking for deskwork but a capacity for getting the best out of an organisation. As air adviser at the presidency he won the respect of President Boumedienne, who brought him into the cabinet five years later at the age of 39.
Straight from school during the French administration he applied to join the French Air force.
Admitted to the Flying Officers’ Training School at Salon dc Provence, 30 miles north of Marseilles, he passed out with distinction in 1955. He was trained as a fighter-pilot but a few weeks after being posted to a French fighter squadron he quit the air force for service with the National Liberation Front (FLN). In between special missions to other countries he kept himself up-to-date in flying with a training course at the aeronautics division of the Soviet Military Academy in Moscow.
At independence in 1962 he was commissioned to form the Algerian air force. As air force commander for the next five years he organised training wings, flying schools, the provision of courses in Russian and the procurement of equipment so that the new state could build up its air power. In August he was appointed air adviser to President Boumedienne and then in January 1968 he was made director-general of Air Algerie.
He was responsible for the expansion of domestic airline services to provide urgent communication with the new enlarged industrial centres. He also promoted the extension of international services which included the opening of scheduled services to Conakry in December 1972 just before he completed his four years with the airline. He entered the cabinet with a ministry which had been left vacant for six months since the death of Mohamed Kadi.