Spike and Suzy and Suzy happen in real countries all over the world, with Belgium (their home country) as main focus for many stories. While in the early stories large distances were usually traveled using the fictitious "Gyronef", an experimental helicopter devised by professor Barabas, starting from the 1960s all air travel is provided by the Dutch national airline KLM, making it an early and prominent example of product placement in European comics. Vandersteen chose KLM over the Belgian national airline SABENA because of his friendship with Ron Winderink, PR manager at KLM. Willy Vandersteen created "Suske en Wiske", beginning publication in "De
1935 SABENA Savoia-Marchetti S.73 crash Caterham on 16 January 1936. Evidence was given that the pilot was experienced, having been employed by SABENA since 1927. No distress calls had been made by radio. Verdicts of "accidental death" were returned in all cases. Among the casualties was Sir John Carden, joint owner of aircraft manufacturer Carden-Baynes, and a director of Vickers-Armstrongs. Dutch middleweight boxing champion Florend Willems was scheduled to be on the flight. Instead, he decided to travel by boat. He was due to fight Jack Hyams in Stepney on 11 December. Among the victims was Eugène Samyn, 48-year-old, textile manufacturer, on a business trip