Edmond Thieffry Edmond Thieffry ( 28 September 1892 – 11 April 1929 ) was a Belgian First World War air ace and aviation pioneer . He made , with Léopold Roger and Jef de Bruycker , the first successful flight between Belgium and Congo ( then the Belgian Congo ) . First World War . Thieffry was born in Etterbeek , a municipality of Brussels , and went on to study law in Leuven ( hence his nickname " The Flying Judge " ) . After qualifying he was conscripted into the Belgian Army , joining the 10th Regiment in 1913 . At the start of the First World War he saw service as a staff attaché to General Leman , but was captured by the Germans . He escaped on a stolen motorcycle to the neutral territory of the Netherlands , where he was arrested by Dutch military police . Using his legal knowledge and Dutch language skills he managed to talk his way out of internment , and travelled to Antwerp to rejoin the Belgian army . In 1915 , Thieffry joined the " Compagnie des Ouvries et Aérostiers " — the Belgian Army Air Corps — and with some difficulty qualified as a pilot at Étampes . On 1 February 1916 he joined the 3rd Squadron as an observer for artillery , where he was appreciated for his exactitude and courage . He crash - landed so many aircraft that he was promptly assigned to a single - seat fighter squadron , as no one would fly with him ! He was rapidly transferred to 5th Squadron ( The Comets ) under Captain Jules Dony based at De Panne in December 1916 . His first confirmed victory was on 15 March 1917 , flying a Nieuport 11 . His second followed eight days later above Gistel , and his third on 12 May above Houthulst . His fourth was on 14 June — an Albatros D . III above Westende . The 5th Squadron then relocated to Les Moëres , and was equipped with Nieuport 17 s . Thieffry gained official status as an " ace " when he shot down two German fighters over Diksmuide on 3 July . In August he received the first SPAD VII fighter in the Belgian Air Force , bought by the Belgian prince . He gained three more victories with it . On 31 August his aircraft was badly damaged by two German Albatros D . V fighters , but he managed to land behind the Belgian lines . He continued to fight and he claimed his 10th and last confirmed kill on 10 October 1917 . He also had five ' probable ' kills . This placed him third on the list of Belgian aces , behind Willy Coppens and André de Meulemeester . Shortly afterwards he was shot down and wounded by return fire from a German two - seater aircraft of " FAA 227 " over Kortrijk on 23 February 1918 . He spent the rest of the war as a prisoner of war in Germany . He tried to escape on 13 April 1918 but was caught ten days later . Flight to Congo . At the end of the war Thieffry returned to Brussels by way of Switzerland , arriving home on 6 December 1918 . He returned to his practice as a lawyer , but remained active in aviation , being one of the founders of Sabena in 1923 . He then devised a plan to inaugurate an air link between Belgium and the Belgian Congo . At the start of 1925 he obtained permission from the government for this hazardous flight . Sabena supplied a Handley Page W8 f , which Thieffry named " Princesse Marie - José " , after getting the support of his friend King Albert . He left from Brussels ( presumably from Haren airfield , the present national airport would only be created in 1940 at Melsbroek , its Zaventem terminal dates from 1956 ) on 12 February 1925 , with mechanic Joseph " Jef " de Bruycker and co - pilot Léopold Roger , heading for N ' Dolo airfield at Leopoldville ( now Kinshasa ) . Thieffry himself acted as navigator . The flight plan called for stops at Marseille , Oran , Colomb - Bechar , Gao , Fort - Lamy , Bangui and Coquilhatville , and should have taken seven days . However strong adverse winds and a broken propeller meant that it took 51 days . Finally on 3 April , after 8 , 200 kilometres , they arrived at Leopoldville . The first air connection was made , and Thieffry returned to a hero ' s welcome in Belgium . He made two further attempts to reach Congo . The first on 9 March 1928 in an ACAZ C . 2 with Joseph Lang and Philippe Quersin , did not get any further than Philippeville . The second on 26 June in a Stampe et Vertongen RSV . 22 - 180 , again with Philippe Quersin , also failed , this time ending in a marsh at Clapier , near Vauvert . Thieffry then developed a plan to set up an internal air service in Congo . During his second test flight in Congo on 11 April 1929 , flying Avimeta C . 92 , Thieffry , with fellow flyer Gaston Julien , was killed in a crash close to Lake Tanganyika ( only a mechanic survived ) . He was 36 years old . It would be another 10 years before a regular air service was established between Brussels and Kinshasa .