History of flight at Antwerp plane museum
Stamp & Vertongen, a museum alongside Antwerp airport set up by First World War pilots, charts the early days of aviation and boasts some remarkable exhibits in its collection
Reaching for the skies
They are beauties, though, the aircraft from the early days of aviation. In the museum are a dozen of them, shiny and looking like they could take off at any moment. “In theory, that would be possible,” says Soons. “Until two years ago these machines took off from time to time, but it became so expensive to insure them that it’s no longer feasible. Also, they’re very sensitive to wind. The wind must come from the right direction and not blow too strongly.”
Jean Stampe and Maurice Vertongen of Antwerp were two pilots who had flown for the army in the First World War. Their dream was to set up a flight training course in Belgium, something that existed only in England in those days. For potential pilots, learning to fly was a matter of trial and error.
Stampe & Vertongen started with a few old planes from the German army, the then-famous Fokkers. So they wouldn’t cause panic among people whose memories of the war were still fresh, Stampe and Vertongen painted them in the Belgian colours. “We have one of these Fokkers in our collection; it’s a replica built for the [1960s British] movie The Blue Max, a classic war film,” says Soons. “It then somehow ended up in a shed until we brought it here.”
Later, Stampe & Vertongen started to build aircrafts themselves: first English models, then their own designs, which they called SVs after their initials. One of those planes, the SV4, became something of a legend. “A total of 11,000 SV4s were built,” Soons explains. “The production here in Antwerp stopped just before the Second World War. The SV4 was a popular military aircraft, but Belgium was not allowed to produce machinery with military applications in order to preserve the country’s neutrality. Today there are about 110 SV4s still flying.”
SV4s and flight simulators made of wood
The museum opened in 2001, founded by an association of pilots who would not let the SV4 aircraft fade from Flanders’ collective memory. The SV4, and the period in which the plane was used, is the thread linking the museum’s installations. In addition, part of the collection covers the flight training that Stampe and Vertongen created.
At that time, pilots usually just built their own aircraft
Hence there is a Fuga – a jet plane used for training by the Belgian army in the 1960s – and a primitive flight simulator, built from wood. “We have here two original SV4s, another one in dismantled condition and the Fuga,” explains Soons. “In addition, there are six replicas made by an American whose hobby is rebuilding old planes. And the Fokker from The Blue Max.”
In the corner of the museum, there’s yet another unique piece: an intact V1, the first unmanned jet. The V1, and later the V2, were used in the aftermath of the Second World War by the Germans to bomb England and the liberated areas. Their name comes from the German vergeltungswaffe (revenge weapon).
As a major port, Antwerp was severely affected by the V1 and V2 offensives. There are many replicas of these weapons, but the V1 here in the Stampe & Vertongen Museum is one of the few originals still intact. “It does not really fit in our collection,” says Soons, “but the weapon hit Antwerp hard back then. Many older people who lived through the war come to see it for real here. And it’s better than to let it rust away somewhere in a communal stock house.”
Visitors are welcome at the Stampe & Vertongen Museum every weekend from 14.00 to 17.00 and groups can visit on appointment
Photo: Toon Lambrechts
