The Challenge 1932 was the third International Tourist Plane Contest (French: Challenge International de Tourisme), that took place between 12 and August 28 1932 in Berlin, Germany. Four Challenges, from 1929 to 1934, were major aviation events in pre-war Europe.
Germany organized the contest, because a German pilot Fritz Morzik won the previous contest Challenge 1930. A number of aircraft that took part in 1932 Challenge was smaller - 43 comparing to 60, because a contest was getting much more difficult with time, demanding high pilotage skills and more advanced aircraft. This time, most countries developed special aircraft specially in a purpose of the Challenge.
Teams from six countries entered the Challenge in 1932: Germany (15 crews), France (8 crews), Italy (8 crews), Poland (5 crews), Czechoslovakia (4 crews) and the Swiss (2 crews). English pilot Winifred Spooner entered the contest in the Italian team, being the only women among pilots (flying Breda Ba-33 ).
The contest was open on August 12 1932 at Berlin-Staaken airfield. The contest consisted of three parts: technical trials, a race over Europe and maximum speed trial. Since one of the aims of the Challenge was to generate a progress in aircraft building, it was not only pilots' competition, but technical trials also included a construction evaluation, to build more advanced tourist planes.
Aircraft
The Challenge was to be a contest of tourist aircraft, so competing aircraft should be able to take at least 2 persons aboard, start from a short field and cover a distance with a good cruise speed. In practice, Germany, Poland, Czechoslovakia and Italy developed modern sport aircraft to meet the Challenge demands. On contest beginning, German fast Heinkel He 64c 's were considered favourites. Most numerous German aircraft was 3-seater Klemm Kl 32 . Both were wooden low-wing planes. Italy and Czechoslovakia developed similar low-wing monoplanes, Breda Ba 33 and Praga BH-111 . Poland developed a high-wing plane RWD-6 and all-metal low-wing plane RWD-19 . All these aircraft had closed crew cabs, fixed landing gear and advanced wing mechanization (flaps and slats). The other aircraft, especially French, modified from serial designs, were less modern and had lower chances in technical trials.
Technical trials
On August 13 there took place a technical evaluation of competing planes' construction. Since it was a tourist plane contest, such features, like comfortable cab with a good view, seats placed next to each other, rich set of controls, modern construction, safety devices and folding wings were also pointed. Most points was given to the Polish designs (86 pts to RWD-6 and 84 pts to PZL-19), behind them Italian Breda Ba-33 (83 pts). It gave them a dozen-or-so points advantage over most feared German designs, and placed them as favourites from this point.
On August 14 there was a short start trial, demanding flying over a 8m-high gate. The German pilot Wolfram Hirth was the best, starting from the lowest 91.6m distance; other Klemms and Bredas were also at the head. Next, a short landing trial was proceeded. The best result, 92.4m, was made by Winifred Spooner. After technical evaluation and these two trials, leaders in general classification were: the Italian Ambrogio Colombo and the Pole Franciszek Zwirko on the RWD-6, with 161 points both. Next places were taken by the Italian team, then by the Germans and Poles, then by the rest.
On August 15 there was a minimal speed trial, to evaluate the aircraft safety. Flying on the edge of falling, Franciszek Zwirko was the slowest with 57.6 km/h speed, the second was other Pole on the RWD-6, Tadeusz Karpinski. After them were the Italians and the German He 64c's with good results below 65 km'h, and then the rest.
On August 16 there was a trial of quick folding of wings, which was a feature to save place in hangars, and then a trial of quick engine starting. The general classification changed little after these trials, the first were still Zwirko and Colombo jointly.
On August 19 was a fuel consumption trial on a 300km distance, and the best were German aircraft. After all technical trials part, the first in the general evaluation was Ambrogio Colombo (247 pts), second: Franciszek Zwirko (245 pts), third: Francesco Lombardi (Italy, 242 pts), fourth/fifth: Winifred Spooner and the Italian pilot (241 pts both), sixth: Tadeusz Karpinski (Poland), then two other Italians. The best German pilot, Reinhold Poss was on the 9th place with 234 pts. Before the next part, Winifred Spooner was forced to land due to sabotage of her fuel, and she decided to withdraw.
Race over Europe
The second part of the Challenge was a 7363 km race over Europe, on a path: Berlin - Warsaw - Kraków - Prague - Vienna - Zagreb - Vicenza - Rimini - Rome - Bellinzona - Cannes - Lyon - Stuttgart - Bonn - Paris - Rotterdam - Hamburg - Goteborg - Berlin. 39 aircraft took part in race. Main waypoints were Roma and Paris.
The race started on August 21. From the beginning, the German crews tried to make advantage of faster aircraft and make up for the points lost in technical trials. The Italians tried to be the first in Rome, racing against the Germans. On the other side, the Poles, having slower planes, tried to keep a good cruise speed and flight regularity. On the first day, most crews reached Viena or Zagreb, while the Italians reached Vicenza. Ambrogio Colombo and three Germans reached as far, as Rimini. On August 22, the competitors landed in Rome, but the first was the German pilot. Only 33 crews reached Rome, 6 withdrew due to breakdowns and accidents.
On August 23, the competitors started from Rome. On this day, two Italian Bredas had accidents due to wing construction (one mechanic died). As a result, all the Italian team was withdrawn from the Challenge. On August 24, 25 remaining crews reached Paris. On August 27, the competitors finnished in Berlin. The first pilot in Berlin, and the fastest in a whole race, was the German Hans Seidemann with a cruise speed of 213 km/h, flying the Heinkel He 64c . Next seven results were also German. Franciszek Zwirko reached the 11th place, with a cruise speed of 191 km/h.
After technical trials and the race, the first place in the general classification held Franciszek Zwirko with 456 points, behind him Reinhold Poss with 451 pts. Fritz Morzik was the fifth with 444 pts.
Maximum speed trial
The last part of the Challenge was a maximum speed trial, on a 300km triangular course. The beginning and landing was on August 28 on Berlin-Staaken airfield.
The fastest was the German Fritz Morzik (He 64c) with 241.3 km/h, next four places were also occupied by the Heinkles. The closest rival of Zwirko, Reinhold Poss flying the Klemm Kl 32 , was on the 7th position (220.7 km/h). The fastest Pole was Tadeusz Karpinski (8th position, 216.2 km/h, RWD-6), while Franciszek Zwirko took the 13th position with 214.1 km/h.
The minutes could decide of the whole Challenge victory. Starting 12 minutes after Zwirko, Morzik landed 83 seconds after him - if he had overran Zwirko, he would have been a winner. Poss, starting 5 minutes after a leader, was short of 2 minutes, 30 sec.
Results
After maximum speed test, on August 28 there was an ending ceremony. The winners were the Polish crew: pilot Franciszek Zwirko and mechanic Stanislaw Wigura , with 461 points. Their success was not only a result of aviation skills, but also of a technical level of the Polish-designed RWD-6 (of which Wigura was one of co-designers). Due to Zwirko victory, the next Challenge 1934 was organized in Warsaw.
The second and third place was occupied jointly by the Germans: Fritz Morzik (Heinkel He 64c , the winner of the Challenge 1930) and Reinhold Poss (Klemm Kl 32 V) with 458 points. The 5th place was taken by the Swiss Robert Frenz flying German Klemm Kl 32. Tadeusz Karpinski flying other RWD-6 took the 9th place. The best Czech, Josef Kalla, took the 16th place, the best French Raymond Delmotte - 20th place. The Challenge was completed by 24 crews out of 43: 12 German, 4 Polish, 4 French, 3 Czechoslovak and 1 Swiss.
1. Franciszek Żwirko (Poland) - RWD-6 - 461 pts
2/3. Fritz Morzik (Germany) - Heinkel He 64c - 458 pts
2/3. Reinhold Poss (Germany) - Klemm Kl 32 - 458 pts
4. Wolfgang Stein (Germany) - Heinkel He 64c - 453 pts
5. Robert Fretz (Swiss) - Klemm Kl 32 - 452 pts
6. Wolf Hirth (Germany) - Klemm Kl 32 - 450 pts
7/8. Otto Cuno (Germany) - Klemm Kl 32 - 447 pts
7/8. Hans Seidemann (Germany) - Heinkel He 64b - 447 pts
9. Tadeusz Karpiński (Poland) - RWD-6 - 443 pts
10. Robert Lusser (Germany) - Klemm Kl 32 - 437 pts
11. Jerzy Bajan (Poland) - PZL.19 - 433 pts
...
16. Josef Kalla (Czechoslovakia) - Praga BH-111 - 408 pts (the best Czech)
...
20. Raymond Delmotte (France) - Caudron C.278 - 265 pts (the best French)
Less then month after Challenge, Franciszek Zwirko and Stanislaw Wigura died in an accident, flying in storm their RWD-6 to Czechoslovakia, on September 11 1932. Also Reinhold Poss died in an accident in 1933. Winifred Spooner died the same year.
See also: Challenge 1929, Challenge 1930, Challenge 1934
Last updated: 05-09-2005 19:13:16
Last updated: 05-13-2005 07:56:04
