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Brussels-Leopoldstad raid blocked
at Givet
translated from 2016 RateOne article :
https://luchtvaartgeschiedenis.be/content/raid-brussel-leopoldstad-strandt-te-givet
In the spring of 1928, Edmond
Thieffry planned a flight from Brussels to Leopoldville, this time
with a Belgian-made aircraft: the ACAZ C2 (O-BAFX). 1600 liters could
be refueled on board, giving the all-metal aircraft a range of over
3000 km. The aim was to serve the colony in four stages, via the
Spanish coast, Oran (Algeria), Niamey (today's Niger), the Gulf of
Guinea and the French Congo, thus creating an airmail route enabling
mail to reach its destination in less than eight days.
For this mission, the ZACCO C2 was extensively modified in Alfred
Feyens' Woluwe-Saint-Pierre workshop. A more powerful engine was
installed: 600 instead of 450 hp. Additional fuel tanks were also
fitted, and the aircraft was converted into a three-seater. Warrant
Officer Joseph Lang, already familiar with the plane, took charge of
all the test flights.
On January 31, 1928, the aircraft was christened at Evere airport by
the Duchess of Brabant, in the presence of her husband Prince Leopold
and other civil and military authorities. Her name "Princess Astrid"
was painted on the side of the engine cowling.
Departure for the Congo was scheduled for early February, but was
postponed several times due to bad weather conditions. Finally, at 8
a.m. on March 9, the first leg from Haren took place in the morning,
with crew member Edmond Thieffry as commander, warrant officer Lang as
pilot and reserve lieutenant Philippe Quersin.
That morning, the crew had requested new weather data. Fog was
reported over the Meuse valley, but this should not pose any major
problems, as the crew could fly in the fog, or even above it if
necessary. The flight route was mapped out over Charleroi,
Philippeville, the Mourmelon plains, Dijon, Lyon, Perpignan, along the
Spanish coast, then across the Mediterranean off Oran...
When they flew over the airport again after take-off, Quersin had
indicated 179° as the direction of flight.
From then on, things went wrong. Thieffry went on to report
extensively to ZACCO management about what had happened on the flight,
after a controversy had arisen in the press about the raid. His
account was therefore published in the press. The following is a
shorter version of his account (from L'étoile Belge 1928):
Heading 179° was communicated to the pilot, but to no avail. The
aircraft was flying more to the southeast. After insisting several
times and specifying a new direction (180°) to correct the error made
so far, the pilot ignored this recommendation. Then a new order was
given: "Climb south!" As we arrived over Namur the pilot pointed to
the Meuse to indicate the direction he wanted to take. The pilot had
indicated that he wanted to reach Dijon via Verdun and the Langres
plateau. Meanwhile, we were disappearing into the mist, so that not
even the banks of the river were visible. Quersin gave me a note
saying: "The fog will increase towards the south. Watch out for
Langres!"
That's why I ordered the pilot to gain more altitude with the warning,
"If you don't climb, we'll crash into the hills." The intention was to
rise above the fog layer. Since the altimeter wasn't moving and I
suspected the pilot wasn't managing to gain altitude, I wrote a note:
"Turn around, we're going to ...", and just then, a dark mass appeared
in front of us. It was a wooded hill facing us. The pilot reflexively
pulled back on the stick, and the plane barely had the strength to
avoid the obstacle.
The order to turn back was finally carried out, even though I realized
that the way back was almost impossible. The fog had thickened.
Another hill was flown low over the trees. A dark curtain surrounded
the crew like a shroud. I realized we were in real mortal danger and
gave the order: "Formal order to land at the first clearing!". With
the pilot slightly out of the flow, we suddenly emerged from a low
cloud cover over a beautiful plain along the road from Vodelée to
Gochenée (about five kilometers from the French border). The landing
was made on this site. After a few meters, the landing gear collapsed
under the weight of the heavily-laden aircraft. The aircraft, unable
to maintain a straight trajectory, dragged its lower wing along the
ground. The crew was unhurt.
This is Commander Thieffry's story in a nutshell. The whole enterprise
would be hampered by the fact that pilot Lang was accused of not
following his superior's orders. We won't dwell on what happened next.
But it must be said that Lang was an experienced pilot who, among
other things, had won the first two aerobatic prizes at the
Mont-Saint-Michel international meeting in 1921, ahead of French and
British pilots.
After the unsuccessful landing at Vodelée, the Acaz C2 was taken back
to Brussels by train. Edmond Thieffry had indicated that he would make
another attempt with the Acaz C2, provided certain improvements were
made, such as reinforcing the landing gear. The aircraft was probably
repaired, but nothing is known of subsequent flights, except that the
Acaz C2 was probably sold to SEGA (Société des Entreprises Générales
d'Aéronautique) in 1929.
Edmond Thieffry, who had already successfully completed the first
Belgium-Congo raid in 1925 with a Handley Page W8, made another
unsuccessful attempt in 1928 with Philippe Quersin with a Renard
Stampe-Vertongen RSV 22-180, followed by a final attempt with an
Avimeta 92 which crashed on take-off from Antwerp-Deurne. Edmond
Thieffry and his second pilot Gaston Julien died on 11 April 1929 in
the Congo near Lake Tanganyika after their plane, another of the 3
Avimeta 92 built, was blown to the ground by a hurricane. Only the
mechanic Gastuche survived the accident.
Sources:
La Conquête de l'Air, mars 1928
Willems Jacques : Construction aéronautique à Zeebrugge
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