The coach building firm Vanden Plas was founded in 1870 in Belgium and employed a total workforce of 750 before the Great War. Albert Victor Vanden Plas tried his hands in designing aeroplanes, first resulting in a Belgian patent for a "Héli-Orthoptère-Planeur", which was not proceeded with.

 

The second try was the "Médiaplan", subject of Belgian Patent 237.925 of 22 July 1911.