OO-SHA Sikorsky
S-55
(c/n 55.458)
SABENA was one of the few
airlines to dabble in helicopter services (other than pure helicopter
carriers, as such)..
Following some intra-Belgium air mail operations in the early
1950s it launched
into what was billed as the
world's first international helicopter service in 1953 when Brussels was
linked with Lille, Maastricht and Rotterdam. These cities
were expanded later on to include Cologne,
Bonn, Dortmund, Duisburg,
Eindhoven and Paris . On November 1 1966 these money losing
heli-
copter operations were suspended as conventional airport-to-airport
services improved. OO-SHA
was
delivered in 1953.