Back to the Future...
My appointment as a Senior First Officer was confirmed and Dora, with the three children, flew out to join me in August 1952. She was very happy with the house and furniture. The children loved their separate rooms and were very impressed by the downstairs toilet ,next to the front door.
In 1952 Sabena were operating with D.C.3's and Convair 240's on the European routes and with D.C.4's and '6's on the African and N.American lines (Long Courier as they called it ). The Belgian Congo was the absolute "bread and butter" for the Company and Sabena also operated all the internal Congo lines. The pilots employed in the Congo were on totally different contracts and had no place on the Parent Company's seniority list.
As a Senior First officer I was placed straight away on the "long courier sector". In addition to our basic salary we were paid on number of flying hours flown and long courier was definitely the highest paid of the sectors. At that time we flew as crews and my Captain was a charming man called Serge Tabutaut and I was made very welcome by the whole crew. The only snag was that, contrary to modern practice, the First Officer never touched the controls for take-off and landings and was the general factotum, making out the flight plans, checking the load sheet, meteorology and taking the controls whilst the Captain socialised with the passengers during the long and arduous flights. A typical D.C.4 flight between Brussels and Leopoldville (Leo) ,as Kinshasa was then called, would take at least eighteen hours.
We were settling down in Belgium very well. We threw the children straight in at the deep end and sent them straight to a French speaking school in Evere where they were made very welcome.
The first day ,Anthony aged three, came home and said "They're all mad. They can speak but they don't know what they are saying". Soon after he told us "We had "lait" today; tasted just like milk ". In a very short time, well under three months ,they were all chattering happily away with their newly made friends and arguing furiously in fluent French. In fact it became mandatory that they spoke English at home as, very soon , French took over and they preferred to speak it as that was where they were obtaining their vocabulary. The speed at which the children picked up French was exemplified ,one day ,when I was sitting in the toilet which was next to the front door. The doorbell rang and little Anthony answered. To my horror I heard him say "Peter et Linda jouent, Mama fait les courses et mon Papa faire Ka-Ka" !
We were living at 87, Rue Jan van Ruisbeck in Evere and there was a small general shop nearby on the Ave. Henri Coscience. The owner, M. Leon, like everyone in Belgium, including the Postman and all the Tram Conductors, spoke English. He took us under his wing and would give full culinary details on everything that we purchased. The first joint of "Rosbif" that Dora bought weighed barely 200 grammes but M.Leon told her to cook it for six minutes each side as beef must be rare. To us Heathens, meat had to be cooked forever but we soon became converts and were then , in September, introduced to the National dish, Moules et Frites. 1 kg.of Mussels per person and the frites had to be dipped in home made mayonnaise, never Ketchup ! I must confess that it is still my favourite dish and I made myself some last night but have to make do with Calve Mayonnaise which is the nearest thing to homemade.
One day there was a ring at the bell and a very nice lady introduced herelf to Dora in a broad Yorkshire accent. She was Madge Dubois, living nearby and she and her family were to become lifelong friends. Marcel, her husband, was an Insurance agent and I am eternally indebted to him for his kindness and help in smoothing our path through the initial difficulties iof settling down in Belgium. He made sure that we were insured against all possibillities and had us in stitches with the list of things that we had to guard against. "If your house burned down ,your neighbours will have have to go to a Hotel whilst it is being rebuilt and if they are bitten by your dog etc. etc. " Nevertheless , he gave me sound advice and I never regretted any insurance that I took out with Marcel. tragically, Madge was killed in a car accident in the U.S. and Marcel was badly injured. They were on holiday celebrating their 25th. Wedding Anniversary when a drunken driver smashed into their car.
Anthony came in crying one day because the Belgian kids were calling him "a Puppy ". "I'm not a puppy" he sobbed. Turned out that they were calling him "Petit poupee" as he was so cuddly (Little Doll). Linda's best friend was called "Toc-toc" because she was, (with a finger placed to the forehead ), quite crazy !" Another British neighbour was Pat Hemblenne, the wife of the Sabena Navigation Leader, Albert. She had steel false teeth which were all the mode in Belgium at that time and it was like going alongside a battleship when they were flashed at you. She would come round for tea in the mornings and Dora would get the teapot out and Pat would say "Sure and put a wee drop o' gin in it".
I had made one or two trips on the European sector in order to familiarise myself with the aerodromes around and with general flying procedures. My first trip was in the jump seat of a D.C.4 taking passengers to Frankfurt. The First Officer suddenly started waving in his
right window. I looked over and nearly jumped out of my seat. There was another Sabena D.C.4 tucked in, in tight formation on our starboard wing with the passengers all waving at one another. "That's De C......t " he said naming one of the Sabena Senior Captains. Truly the R.A.F. spirit still existed in 1952 in Sabena. Regle