Helicopter Service Rotterdam Brussels

Due to the bombing of Rotterdam in May 1940, large areas of the city center lay fallow after the Second World War. Reconstruction had begun, but by no means everywhere. Following consultations between the Rotterdam Municipal Council and the management of Sabena, the Société Anonyme Belge d'Exploitation de la Navigation Aérienne, permission was requested from the Ministry of Transport and Public Works on March 28, 1953, to establish a landing site for helicopters. The site in mind was situated between the Rechter Rottekade, the Vriendenlaan, and the Katshoek. Construction of the helicopter landing pad began on April 11, 1953, and by May 18, 1953, they were ready to the point where two Sabena helicopters landed, with, among others, the director of Sabena, Mr. A. Vernieuwe, on board. On August 3, 1953, the helicopter service between Brussels, Amsterdam, and Rotterdam was officially launched with the landing of two Sabena Sikorsky S.55 helicopters. The two aircraft carried only cargo and mail. To mark the start of the service, the Belgian Post used a special postmark featuring the text “Helipost”. A well-known stamp collector, Mr. Tocila, was quick to create an envelope for this first flight. On August 7, 1950, the Belgian Post issued a stamp featuring an image of a Sikorsky S.51 aircraft. A helicopter, however, that would never fly in Belgian service! Due to the Korean War, the helicopters were earmarked for the American army. And the first flight, which was scheduled to be made by these helicopters on June 10, 1950, between several cities in Belgium, did not take place. This first domestic flight did not take place until August 21, 1950. However, with a completely different type of helicopter: the Bell-47D.1. Nevertheless, Sabena had set its sights on Sikorsky helicopters and purchased two S.55 aircraft with registrations OO-SHA and OO-SHB. These entered service for the first time on January 18, 1954. Later, four more aircraft were acquired, OO-SHC through OO-SHF. Sabena itself had special envelopes produced for the first flight from Brussels to Rotterdam via Antwerp. The stamp on the envelopes was cancelled with the special postmark of August 3, 1953. Upon arrival in Rotterdam, an impression of the ROTTERDAM 64 date stamp was applied to the back, with the date August 3, 1953, at 12:00 PM. It was a total of 28 kilograms of mail. But was this really the first official helicopter connection between Belgium and the Netherlands? No, because on November 5, 1947, a flight took place between The Hague and Brussels, for which a special stamp was used on the mail presented. The return flight took place on November 6, 1947, for which the Belgian Post again used the familiar type of stamp. And that flight did take place with a Sikorsky S.51 helicopter, as depicted on the Belgian stamp. It was a Dutch aircraft with registration PH-HAA. Incidentally, the helicopter service was moved to Rotterdam Airport in 1965, and the landing area was built up with houses with red pointed roofs, which is why it is also called 'Klein Volendam'. On November 1, 1966, the helicopter service was discontinued entirely.