On the trail of "Tintin in Tibet" ...in a DC-3...

[P_7878 6,982]

[While tidying up a bit, today, I came across the (comic) book "Tintin in Tibet" hidden in the back of the bookshelf...and I was reminded that the plot involved a DC-3 a/c in the Himalayas...so, here we go...] The Tintin character has been a favorite of mine as long as I can remember, where the fearless young reporter travels the world to deliver justice and take care of the bad guys...🙂.... Out of all the Tintin books, my most favorite is Tintin in Tibet. It must be noted that all the Tintin books were very well-researched by the creator, the (Belgian) artist and author, Hergé. And for aviation enthusiasts, there are several of Tintin's adventures, that involve all sorts of contemporary a/c. The Douglas Classic DC-3 must have been a favorite of the author, since I read today that the DC-3 appeared in 3 of his stories (one of which is the subject of my post, here). Unfortunately, the DC-3 was also the least fortunate in his plots, having crashed twice out of the 3 appearances (though the story of "Tintin in Tibet" involves a plane crash in the Himalayas, with Tintin's friend Chang Chong-Chen on board, there is no crash in my DC-3 pictures below). 

Just FYI, for any Tintin fans here, below is a list of a/c and the related Tintin adventures that featured them, per on-line resources:

1. The Black Island (Cessna 150B/Percival Prentice/de Havilland DH.82 Tiger Moth/Hawker Siddeley HS-121 Trident)
2. King Ottokar's Sceptre (Savoia-Marchetti S.73P/Stinson Reliant SR-3/Messerschmitt Bf 109)
3. The Seven Crystal Balls (Short S.25 Sunderland)
4. Land of Black Gold (Supermarine Spitfire/Douglas DC-3)
5. The Calculus Affair (Convair CV-240/Douglas DC-3/de Havilland DH.98 Mosquito)
6. The Red Sea Sharks (Fairchild 24W/Douglas DC-3)
7. Tintin and the Picaros (Douglas DC-8/Boeing 747 - Last of the Tintin series by Hergé, into the modern Jet Age...🙂...)

Though no Airbus is found above...to make up for it, the only (RW) a/c to carry Tintin's image on it is the Brussels Airlines, Airbus A320, OO-SNB. [Note: Tintin's last adventure, Tintin and the Picaros, was serialized in 1975-1976. The Boeing B747 that Hergé featured in it, was introduced into service in 1970 by Pan Am, while the first Airbus A300 was introduced into service in 1974 by Air France....so, I guess (young) Airbus was not yet a house-hold name...🙂...by then...]

Anyway, in Tintin in Tibet, the (fictional) Air India Douglas DC-3 Dakota, crashes in the "Gosainthan Massif" mountain in the Himalayas of Tibet, carrying Tintin's friend, on board. Apparently, the plane was on its way from Patna airport VEPT (India) to Kathmandu VNKT (Nepal), a place I've visited once in RW. The local authorities claimed that Chang Chong-Chen died in the crash. Nonetheless, Tintin, convinced that Chang has survived the crash, sets out on one of his most fascinating adventures, accompanied by Snowy, Captain Haddock and a Sherpa guide, for the Himalayas to the plateau of Tibet and the site of the DC-3 wreckage...to rescue his friend...

My DC-3, below, in Air India colors, takes off (southward) from VNKT Rwy 20 (so, I could circle first to pick up at least 20,000 ft altitude, and then heads out north, into the thick of Himalayas, an excursion not for the faint-of-heart...🙂...aiming for the real-world Gosainthan Massif (otherwise known as Xixiabangma Mountain on Google Earth, with LAT/LONG 28.3524995 85.7791666, duly inserted in my FlightPlan). I now feel that Tintin was (obviously) much more courageous than I'd thought...🙂...as you can judge by the (extremely unforgiving) nature of the terrain I show below, as I've flown as near to this mountain, as possible... (see the VFR MAP insets, and my concluding images, again no crash, here, so, nothing to worry...as I've finally headed back home...) ...

Thanks for viewing...! It was fun thinking about Tintin and airplanes together...🙂...!

Edited December 28, 2023 by P_7878

[John F 2,507]

To say "well-researched" would be quite the understatement. Beautiful pictures as well. Thanks for this.

[jankees 2,124]

nice series, and nice research as well.

The plane I'm missing in your list is the Carreidas 160 from 'Flight 714 for Sydney', which I would love to see in the sim...

[andy1252 4,168]

As John F said, this is way beyond merely "well-researched", this is a doctoral thesis in the making! And well illustrated! Tintin was never part of my childhood, but my working life finished with a switch from computing to second-hand books for the last 12 years. We had a biggish s/h book shop in Ashburton, Devon, and occasionally found ourselves with various copies of TinTin books or magazines. At one point we had a complete set of rather magnificent reprints of the entire works. Huge things, folio size and beautifully reproduced in twelve volumes. I was very tempted to keep them, but they were quite valuable and we were supposed to be running a business so I let them go. Put them online and they all went inside a couple of months.  Had a similar thing with the Eagle's "Dan Dare" stories, another very popular character.

Great set, thanks for doing this.

[ikbenik 822]

Great shots and thank you for relating to the adventures of Tintin(Kuifje in my language) and originated in my country Belgium from draw-designer Hergé.

[Wildblue 278]

Thank you for this, well done!

Kuifje (Tintin) books! I still have every single one of them. Come to think of it...it's been 40 or so years since i last read them....maybe time to reread the whole series, wonderful!

[pmplayer 10,000]

Well done, some great shots, and i love the DC-3 !!

I should get them out of my hangar any time soon again...

cheers 😉

 

[shermank 176]

Great shots, thanks for sharing. 

For all of you who love the DC3 please feel free to check us out at 

www.dc3airways.net

We are always welcome to new pilots...we provide training for those who may need a refresher...a regular schedule of Multi Play flights...and lots more...

Sherm

 

[P_7878 6,982]

Folks:

Thanks for the overwhelming responses...🙂.... A DC-3 and "Tintin"...so, it's expected... (though I see most are from across the Pond...🙂 ...Oh well...it's one AVSIM...)

 

10 hours ago, John F said:

To say "well-researched" would be quite the understatement. Beautiful pictures as well. Thanks for this.

John: Thank you. On first reading I thought by "well-researched", you were referring to my note above that the creations of Hergé were well-researched...🙂...which, of course, they were...Surely, he seemed to have kept up very well with the airplanes of the day... (please see below) ...

 

8 hours ago, jankees said:

nice series, and nice research as well.

The plane I'm missing in your list is the Carreidas 160 from 'Flight 714 for Sydney', which I would love to see in the sim...

Jan: Thank you. Leaving out a couple, here are the rest of the main Tintin installment a/c ...found on-line (didn't include these before, because the long list might detract some from getting to my screenshots....🙂...). The number 6 below is the one you've referenced. Yes, it would be surely nice for a Tintin enthusiast to bring it to SIM...

1. Cigars of the Pharaoh (de Havilland DH.80A Puss Moth)
2. The Broken Ear (3 planes: One un-identified single prop, and the Breguet Wibault-Penhoet 283, a tri-engine Air France machine, and the Lioré et Olivier LeO H.242, also French maker)
3. King Ottokar's Sceptre (the Lioré et Olivier LeO H.242 makes another appearance plus the others cited originally)
4. The Crab with the Golden Claws (Bellanca Pacemaker 31-42)
5. The Shooting Star (Arado Ar 196)
6. Flight 714 to Sydney (3 planes: The Carreidas 160...Unidentified maker...🙂...internet tells me, and Grumman HU-16 Albatross, and Boeing 707)

 

7 hours ago, andy1252 said:

As John F said, this is way beyond merely "well-researched", this is a doctoral thesis in the making! And well illustrated! Tintin was never part of my childhood, but my working life finished with a switch from computing to second-hand books for the last 12 years. We had a biggish s/h book shop in Ashburton, Devon, and occasionally found ourselves with various copies of TinTin books or magazines. At one point we had a complete set of rather magnificent reprints of the entire works. Huge things, folio size and beautifully reproduced in twelve volumes. I was very tempted to keep them, but they were quite valuable and we were supposed to be running a business so I let them go. Put them online and they all went inside a couple of months.  Had a similar thing with the Eagle's "Dan Dare" stories, another very popular character.

Great set, thanks for doing this.

Andy: Thanks. Similar story here.... The Amazon (bound) collections (eventually) became too-small print for my eyes...🙂...I had a few big-size books, and had to search for the others in Amazon and in the (local) Half Price Book stores, for the rest...who knows I might have got one of yours ...🙂...the way things are being shipped by Amazon without (global) barriers...

 

6 hours ago, ikbenik said:

Great shots and thank you for relating to the adventures of Tintin(Kuifje in my language) and originated in my country Belgium from draw-designer Hergé.

Appreciated ...and welcome...!

 

5 hours ago, Wildblue said:

Thank you for this, well done!

Kuifje (Tintin) books! I still have every single one of them. Come to think of it...it's been 40 or so years since i last read them....maybe time to reread the whole series, wonderful!

Yes, exactly, once-in-while, you feel like re-reading them...Thanks.

 

4 hours ago, pmplayer said:

Well done, some great shots, and i love the DC-3 !!

I should get them out of my hangar any time soon again...

cheers 😉

 

You've nice Mods for DC-3 (in PC), pmplayer, but my Sperry Gyropilot in Xbox is not fully functional (a bit hard to fly over the Himalayas without Autopilot...🙂 ...) ...hoping there will be a supplement in Xbox marketplace one day for the DC-3...though there are lovely liveries of it, available...Cheers.

 

2 hours ago, shermank said:

Great shots, thanks for sharing. 

For all of you who love the DC3 please feel free to check us out at 

www.dc3airways.net

We are always welcome to new pilots...we provide training for those who may need a refresher...a regular schedule of Multi Play flights...and lots more...

Sherm

 

Thank you. Great to hear of your interest and activities for the classic Douglas DC-3...🙂 ...

[John F 2,507]

6 minutes ago, P_7878 said:

On first reading I thought by "well-researched", you were referring to my note above that the creations of Hergé were well-researched

Sorry for the confusion. 🙂 Your research, obviously. 🙂

[Alaska738 8,672]

Nice shots! 😉 

[jankees 2,124]

More on the Carreidas:

https://yearofaviationillustration.home.blog/2019/12/31/carreidas-160/

[P_7878 6,982]

19 hours ago, jankees said:

More on the Carreidas:

https://yearofaviationillustration.home.blog/2019/12/31/carreidas-160/

Very interesting article, Jan...and the reference to Marcel Dassault is also interesting... the two (eccentric) characters indeed look similar ...🙂...

 

Will, thank you for the comment.... 🙂...Appreciated ...!

Jan, Will et al.:

BTW, here is one (FSX) image, I found, of the (only) A320-214 (OO-SNB) of Brussels Airlines, in the special Tintin livery...

"We fly you to the home of Tintin"...🙂...

 

Edited December 29, 2023 by P_7878

[qqwertz 850]

Wonderful thread, thanks for your screen shots and all the research. One adventure not mentioned yet is Tintin in the Land of the Soviets, which also features an airplane: https://strobez.ca/wp/index.php/2018/04/30/soviet-monoplane-tintin-in-the-land-of-the-soviets/

However, Herge wasn't so diligent in his research before the Blue Lotus, so this Soviet monoplane fighter is pretty generic.

And look what I found 🙂 :

https://www.amazon.ca/Scale-Modellers-Aircraft-Adventures-Tintin/dp/1320672582

Peter

[P_7878 6,982]

 

On 12/29/2023 at 10:49 AM, qqwertz said:

Wonderful thread, thanks for your screen shots and all the research. One adventure not mentioned yet is Tintin in the Land of the Soviets, which also features an airplane: https://strobez.ca/wp/index.php/2018/04/30/soviet-monoplane-tintin-in-the-land-of-the-soviets/

However, Herge wasn't so diligent in his research before the Blue Lotus, so this Soviet monoplane fighter is pretty generic.

And look what I found 🙂 :

https://www.amazon.ca/Scale-Modellers-Aircraft-Adventures-Tintin/dp/1320672582

Peter

Thank you, Peter. Fascinating details in your links, and yes, the model airplane makers have been busy with Tintin's a/c...🙂...

"Tintin in the Land of the Soviets" is significant because that had started it all for the series 90 years ago, and we're still talking about it... 

I'd omitted the following 2 references/books earlier:

1. Tintin in the Land of the Soviets: (I'd seen its a/c listed as "Unidentified", but your reference has more details of it)
2. Tintin in the Congo: (The a/c is listed as Udet U 12 Flamingo)

Cheers...!