Sabena's helicopters

[Petrusja]

Hello,

For the AirHistory.net photo website I'm writing an article about Sabena's helicopter operations in the 1950s and 1960s. I have already compiled a good number of photos, mainly from Dutch archives, many of them little known:
https://www.airhistory.net/pub/show.php ... gory_id=27

I have a question - I understand that the passenger helicopters flights from Rotterdam, Paris, Germany etc all went to the Groendreef heliport in central Brussels. However, many passengers would have wanted to connect with a longer-range Sabena flight at Zaventem. Did the helicopters also land at Zaventem before or after Groendreef? Or was there a shuttle helicopter service between Groendreef and Zaventem? Or just a bus?

I would also love to have even more photos. It would be nice to have photos of all the individual helicopters - OO-UBC and OO-SHO are lacking for example. Also we have zero or very few decent photos of the helicopters at Antwerp, Lille, Maastricht, Liège and all the Helipost destinations in eastern Belgium. Can anyone help?

Thanks and kind regards

Peter

[Homo Aeroportus]

Hello Petrusja and welcome to Aviation24.be

You knocked on the right door and I am sure that a member will share his experience on SH Helicopters with you.




H.A.

[lumumba]

You can also check for very nice original advertising posters from that time with helikopters from Sabena on Instagram you have some.

[sn26567]

I have a question - I understand that the passenger helicopters flights from Rotterdam, Paris, Germany etc all went to the Groendreef heliport in central Brussels. However, many passengers would have wanted to connect with a longer-range Sabena flight at Zaventem. Did the helicopters also land at Zaventem before or after Groendreef? Or was there a shuttle helicopter service between Groendreef and Zaventem? Or just a bus?

Hi Petrusja,

I had the great pleasure to fly on a Sabena Sikorsky S-58 helicopter from Liège (Palais des Congrès) to Brussels (Groendreef/Allée Verte) in 1961. The helicopter indeed made a brief stopover at Brussels Airport, where most passengers actually were leaving to catch a plane. There were two separate cabins with each 6 seats and a door.

But sorry, I don't have pictures of my flights (one way in the morning and return in the evening).

Note: besides the Sikorsky S-55 and S-58 helicopters, Sabena also used a larger Boeing Vertol between Paris and Brussels during the 1958 World Exhibition.

[Petrusja]

Thanks all, and thanks André for confirming the link between the airport and the heliport.

Peter