Sabena: Brussels to New York, early 1950s

Sabena: Brussels to New York

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Sabena: Brussels to New York

Come along on this journey from Brussels to New York and back again with a few stops in-between with the Belgian national airline Sabena. Explore the journey as it was in the 1950s.

The map was published as a single stand alone map illustrating the journey from Brussels to New York and back again. They published a series of different single route maps. Each would have distinctly different cover design.

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From Brussels to New York and back again via stop-over in Shannon, Ireland and Gander, Newfoundland.

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We start the journey at Brussels Airport. The route was first flown by Douglas DC-4 and later on DC-6s, a four engine aircraft. Total distance would be 5925 km for the round-trip.

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On the outbound leg only flights would land in Shannon, Ireland for refuelling.

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On the return journey from New York flights would bypass Shannon. This was due to prevailing winds generated by the jet stream, helping them cross the Atlantic more efficiently.

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Up until recently Shannon was also used by British Airways to refuel on their London City to New York JFK route due to the short runway at City airport. This route has now been discontinued.

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All flight would stop for refuelling in Gander, Newfoundland. For decades Gander was the meeting point for a huge variety of airlines who would otherwise never cross paths, such as Interflug & Aeroflot flights bound for Cuba who would also the airport.

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Sabena was involved with one the world's first major air accidents, when their DC-4 went down on approach to Gander airport during bad weather. The remains of the aircraft can still be found at the crash site. Of the 44 people onboard 18 survived.

Sabena used La Guardia airport in New York.

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La Guardia was the New York international airport before Idlewild Airport opened in 1948 (now known as John F. Kennedy). This dates this map to either late 1940s or early 1950s. Today La Guardia is exclusively a domestic airport.

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Thank you.

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