The Carreidas 160 was a legendary plane that appeared during the second to last issue of Tintin (a famous Belgian comic series), “Flight 714 to Sydney”. At the time, Hergé’s (the creator of Tintin) drawing hand had been suffering from eczema (a group of diseases that result in inflammation of the skin), so he let his younger colleague at Studios Hergé, Roger Leloup, draw the plane. Leloup was an artist and aviation expert and it was also he who had drawn the rocket in Tintin’s journey to the moon. Not only is the exterior of the Carreidas 160 beautifully and painstakingly drawn, but the interior is a brilliant illustration of what flying in a private jet is like, and I think that the addition of a secret camera that billionaire Laszlo Carreidas (the owner of the Carreidas 160 and the man who designed the plane) uses to spy on his opponents when playing battleship is a really insightful peek at the reality behind luxury and money. Hergé was a genius, even though he was criticized by many people for not being politically correct. It is interesting to see how comics were developed back then and how now they are mainly made by computers and are drawn in such a robot-like fashion (that is not true for all comics, but many are too perfect to be human). My favourite character in the series is Captain Haddock, the typical French “matelot” who is witty and wise but not exactly conscious of the dangerous results of his actions. His love for whisky entraps him in a lot of ridiculous dilemmas, but there is always the normal, plain character of Tintin to save him at the last minute. I don’t think that “Flight 714 for Sydney” is the best comic in the series, but I do believe that it differs from Hergé’s other pieces of work, as it penetrates into the deeper scheme of things, away from the brutal firing of guns and into the positive and negative effects of the latest advances in technology. 25th of April 2020.
Aeronews24 