I doubt that they said that with any factual accuracy, or Bungie just might not know what they're talking about. Well, unless the SSR was operating in the East African theatre against HYDRA.

Italian colonial forces never attacked Kenyan populations and British Commonwealth military targets beyond a hundred kilometers or so of its northern border with Ethiopia. Crow's Nest is over 1,000km from Buna, the furthest point in the Italian advance. It would have been a monumental undertaking by the British to carve out millions of tons of rock and earth for something of absolutely zero strategic or tactical value. Furthermore, considering the NATO insignia on the walls, with the 1950s Mau Mau Uprising, there would still be little reason to have this base in-commission post-war.

I would conclude that the Marines aboard Crow's Nest just never bothered to really pay attention in the African history classes I'm sure the UEG and CAA promotes throughout its most loyal colonies.

Also, you could not pay someone enough to safely pilot an early helicopter into those hangars.