Another shot of OO-SHA, seen this time at the Lille heliport near Flandres railway station. The Brussels - Lille helicopter service was first flown on 5 August 1953. Photo from: Sabena

OO-SHA again, this time the special attraction at a motocross race in Nuland in the Netherlands. More publicity than money was made by Sabena's helicopters. Photo from: Brabants Historisch Informatie Centrum

The heliport in Liège was situated on the left bank of the Meuse. OO-SHA was the first passenger helicopter to land here on 13 September 1953. After the termination of Sabena's helicopter services in 1966, the facility remained in occasional use. Photo from: Nationaal Archief (Netherlands)

Photographers and the mayor of Amsterdam biting the dust as the Sabena chopper comes in at the city's rudimentary heliport. OO-SHA caught a lot of media attention - it landed in London the day before. This flight was carried out at the request of the city of Amsterdam, and Sabena did not envisage services into here. Photo from: Nationaal Archief (Netherlands)

Opened in 1953, BEA's Waterloo Air Terminal was essentially a check-in facility offering bus transport to Northolt or Heathrow, but helicopters had first landed here on the former Festival of Britain grounds in 1952 and BEA Whirlwinds linked Waterloo to Heathrow for ten months from July 1955. Sabena only undertook a single flight from Brussels in July 1954. Flying time from Brussels was no less than two hours and 48 minutes.

Sabena's first S-55 at the Rotterdam heliport. It was very centrally located in a city that had no airport at this time. Flying time to Brussels was just over an hour. Postcard.

Dog let loose at the Rotterdam heliport, served by Sabena from 1953 until 1965. Photo by: Nico Terlouw / Oud16hoven.nl

Sabena's first S-55 landing in front of the Melsbroek airport terminal. Begun by the Belgians as a satellite airfield for Haren, Melsbroek was expanded by the Germans during WWII and connected to Haren by a long taxiway. Melsbroek became the new Brussels airport in 1948. A modern terminal was opened ten years later near Zaventem on the south side of the field. Photo from: Sabena

In 1953 Sabena launched passenger helicopter services from Brussels over relatively long distances. One of the destinations was Maastricht. A heliport was built here on the right bank of the river Maas or Meuse. Photo from: Nationaal Archief (Netherlands)