Herpa Sabena Douglas DC-3 – OO-AWN 1/200 573399

The origins of Belgium’s “Societé anonyme belge d'Exploitation de la Navigation aérienne” (French for “Belgian Corporation for the Exploitation of Aerial Navigation“) – or simply SABENA – go back to 1923, operating flights to neighboring countries in Europe, but also pioneering long-distance flights to Africa, mainly to its colony at the time, Belgian Congo. Shortly before Sabena ceased all European operations due to the outbreak of World War II, the airline received its first two then-revolutionary Douglas DC-3 airliners. After WW2 had finally ended, Sabena restarted business, flying a fleet of C-47 transports, thousands of which were now surplus. One of these early demilitarized C-47s-turned-DC-3s, was OO-AWN. Built for the US Army Air Forces in 1943, and also operated for a short time by the Dutch Air Forces in the East Indies, today’s Indonesia, she was handed over to Sabena in 1950 where she remained part of the fleet until being retired in 1969.

Length: 16.5 cm