Departure of the first aircraft to fly to the Belgian Congo - a three-engined Handley Page W.8. Edmond Thieffry, Léopold Roger and Joseph De Bruycker made it to Léopoldville (Kinshasa) in 51 days. The aircraft served in the colony until 1933, latterly re-registered OO-AHO. Photo from: Nationaal Archief (Netherlands)

In the late 1930s, Alfred Renard conceived the most ambitious aeroplanes ever of Belgian design: the R.36 series fighters and the R.35, a pressurized airliner. It was to carry 20 passengers to the Congo colony. Professor Auguste Picard, immortalized as Tintin's Professor Calculus, was involved in the design of the pressure cabin. The prototype was supposed to make only taxi runs on 1 April 1938, but took off and then crashed. Test pilot Georges Van Damme lost his life. Photo from: Nationaal Archief (Netherlands)