An enduring legacy: 100 years since Belgium's first flight to Congo
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Wednesday marks 100 years since the first flight from Belgium to Congo. The journey, which took 51 days, laid the foundation for the African aviation expertise of Sabena and its successor, Brussels Airlines.
On 12 February 1925, navigator and pilot Edmond Thieffry, pilot Léopold Roger and mechanic Joseph De Bruycker embarked on an ambitious 8,000km journey from Brussels to what was then the Belgian colony of Congo.
Flying a Handley Page aircraft named Princesse Marie-José, they landed 51 days later in Léopoldville, now Kinshasa, the capital of the Democratic Republic of Congo.
The Belgian crew became the first to successfully fly over the Sahara, despite getting lost twice in the desert. They outperformed their French and British counterparts but faced numerous challenges along the way.
The aircraft was forced to make five emergency landings, and at one point, a propeller broke off. To avoid sandstorms, they flew at altitudes of up to 2,500m, higher than their usual 2,000m.
Sabena only established a regular flight connection to Congo in the mid-1930s, and even then, the journey still took several days. The airline’s African network remained a key part of its operations until its bankruptcy in 2001.
In 1928, Thieffry attempted two more flights to Congo with a sports plane. The first attempt failed in Philippeville, now part of Namur province, and the second ended in Montpellier, France. Undeterred, he pursued plans to develop a domestic air service within the colony.
"Brussels Airlines still uses the same route to fly to Kinshasa as my grandfather did 100 years ago"
Tragically, during a test flight near Lake Tanganyika, he and a fellow pilot crashed. Thieffry was just 36 years old. His body was found near Lake Tanganyika.
Today, Brussels Airlines continues the legacy of Belgian-African aviation. During the summer season, it operates 56 flights a week from Brussels to Africa, including a daily direct flight to Kinshasa. “Brussels Airlines still uses the same route to fly to Kinshasa as my grandfather did 100 years ago,” says Bernard Hanin-Thieffry, Edmond’s grandson.
To commemorate the centenary of the historic flight, a special postage stamp was recently issued. Each sheet of five stamps features the route of the first Congo flight alongside an image of the Princesse Marie-José and its crew. Edmond Thieffry’s legacy also lives on in Brussels, where a metro station in Etterbeek bears his name.
Princesse Marie-José in Kinshasa, 3 April 1925 © PHOTO THE HANDLEY PAGE
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