Belgian aviator and hero Jean de Selys Longchamps in WWII

Barely known yet a hero of the Belgian resistance in World War II. On Wednesday 20 January 1943, RAF fighter pilot Jean de Selys Longchamps single-handed attacked the Belgian headquarters of the Gestapo, the Nazi security services, at 453 Avenue Louise in Brussels.

Jean de Selys Longchamps was born in Brussels in 1912 into an aristocratic family. As the child of a cavalry major, horse riding was instilled in him and, by the age of 16, he was competing in various competitions. Upon enlistment in 1933, he was assigned to the armoured troops of the 1st Regiment of Engineers, where he was a machine gunner during the German invasion on 10 May 1940 until the surrender on 28 May. After wandering around for the first few months of the war, he ended up in Glasgow on Christmas Day 1940. There, he volunteered in the Belgian section of the British Royal Air Force (RAF). After completing his training and obtaining several pilot's licenses, he was appointed flight commander in 1942. From behind the controls of a Hawker Typhoon fighter-bomber, he shot down two German aircraft and destroyed many ground targets in Belgium, France and the Netherlands.

Accurate bombing

Jean de Selys Longchamps, however, wanted more. On 20 January 1943, a splendid opportunity presented itself. Instead of returning to his English base with his fellow pilot after his mission over Ghent, he flew south east to Brussels. To remain undetected by the German air defences, he skimmed low over the Cinquantenaire Arch, the Barracks district in Etterbeek and then, just before the Boitsfort racecourse, swerved sharply to the right, back to the north west, towards today's Avenue Franklin Roosevelt. With the gardens of La Cambre Abbey on the right, he flawlessly sent his Hawker Typhoon into a dive over Avenue Émile De Mot, right along the axis of Avenue Louise No. 453. His machine gun fire - the bombs had already been deployed in Ghent - killed several Nazi leaders who had come to the window to the roar of the plane engines, including SS-Sturmbannführer Alfred Thomas.

Recognition and... sanctions

After his heroic act, de Selys Longchamps threw out Belgian flags over Brussels, an outright insult to the Nazis and a boost to the suffering population! German fighters were hot on his heels but he made it back to England unharmed. Such heroism and dedication earned him a respected British award but also a disciplinary sanction because the RAF hierarchy had not authorised his perilous venture over Brussels, which even included the death of a British double agent within the walls of the Gestapo building.

Jean de Selys Longchamps, the great uncle of Princess Delphine of Saxe-Coburg, ultimately died in August 1943 when his plane crashed on landing at Manston Airfield in Kent after a mission over Ostend.