Challenge 1930

The Challenge 1930 was the second FAI International Tourist Plane Contest ( _fr. Challenge International de Tourisme), that took place between July 16 and August 8 1930 in Berlin, Germany. Four Challenges, from 1929 to 1934, were major aviation events in pre-war Europe.

Overview

Germany organized the contest, because the German pilot Fritz Morzik won the previous contest in 1929. 60 aircraft entered the Challenge in 1930, from six countries: Germany (30 crews), Poland (12 crews), United Kingdom (7 crews), France (6 crews), Spain (3 crews) and the Swiss (2 crews). It was the first major international event in which the Polish aviation took part. This time, the Italians did not participate.

In the German team there was first of all Fritz Morzik - a winner of the Challenge 1929. Among the British team, there were pilots: Captain Hubert Broad (2nd place in 1929), the Canadian John Carberry (3rd place in 1929) and two women: Winifred Spooner and Lady Mary Bailey. In the Spanish team, there was prince Antonio Habsburg-Bourbon. Many other known aviators of that time took part in the contest as well.

The contest was open on July 16, 1930, at Berlin-Staaken airfield. It consisted of two parts: a race over Europe and technical trials. Since one of the aims of the Challenge was to generate a progress in aircraft designing, it was not only pilots' competition, but technical trials also included a construction evaluation, to build more advanced touring planes. All planes flew with two-men crews, pilot and passenger or mechanic.

Aircraft

Most of the aircraft in the contest were popular sport planes of the late 1920s, that took part in the previous contest as well, like de Havilland Gipsy Moth DH-60G, which was the main aircraft of the British and Spanish teams. These aircraft had mostly open cabs, built in low-wing, high-wing or biplane layout. On contrary to a previous contest, there appeared also some special aircraft, better suited to meet the Challenge demands. First of all, they were German BFW M.23c and Klemm L 25E, being new variants of successful machines of 1929 - wooden low-wing monoplanes with closed canopy, having better chance in technical trials. All aircraft in the contest had fixed landing gear and had no wing mechanization (slats or flaps) yet.

Aircraft participating: BFW M.23c (10), BFW M.23b (1), Klemm L.25 (4), Klemm L.25E (3), Klemm L 26 (2), Klemm VL 25 (1), Junkers A50 (3), Arado L II (4), Albatros L 100 (1), Albatros L 101 (1), Darmstadt D-18 (1), de Havilland Gipsy Moth DH-60G (6), Avro Avian (1), Spartan Arrow (1), Monocoupe 90 (1), RWD-2 (3), RWD-4 (3), PZL.5 (2), PWS-50 (1), PWS-51 (1), PWS-52 (1), PWS-8 (1), Caudron C.193 (3), Caudron C.232 (1), Mauboussin 11 (1), Saint Hubert G1 (1), Breda 15 (1), CASA C-1 (1).

The aircraft had alphanumerical starting numbers, the German from a range: A2-A9, B3-B9, C1-C9, D1-D8, E1-E9, F1-F2, British: K1-K8, French: L1-L3, M1-M6, Polish: O1-O9, P1-P5, Swiss: S1-S2, Spanish: T1-T7 (numbers were painted in a circle, with inscription: "Challenge International" and "1930").

Rally over Europe

The contest in 1930 was the only "Challenge", in which a rally was the opening phase. It was a 7560 km rally over Europe, on a track: Berlin - Frankfurt - St. Inglevert near Calais - Bristol - London - St. Inglevert - Paris - Pau - Saragossa - Madrid - Sevilla - Saragossa - Barcelona - Lyon - Munich - Vienna - Prague - Breslau - Poznań - Warsaw - Königsberg - Danzig - Berlin. A regularity of flights was the most important factor, the second was a cruise speed.

The rally started on July 20. On the first day, the fastest crews reached St. Inglevert, 1058 km away. On July 21, the crews flew over the English Channel, and the fastest planes managed to return back to France. Three Englishmen and three Frenchmen reached Paris that day.

On July 22 the fastest pilots reached Madrid, 3019 km from the start. They were three Englishmen Hubert Broad, A. Butler (both DH-60G) and Sidney Thorn (Avro Avian), John Carberry (Monocoupe 90), three Germans (Fritz Morzik, Willy Polte - both BFW M.23c, Reinhold Poss - Klemm L.25E) and two Frenchmen (Francis Arrachart, Maurice Finite). Three more crews flew to Saragossa over the Pyrenees. The rest was spread out on the whole track, the slowest pilots being only 800-1000 km away from Berlin. Nine crews had already dropped out, mostly due to breakdowns and crashes.

Eleven fastest crews were the lucky ones to get to Spain, because on July 23 and 24, the whole rest of crews were grounded in Pau due to bad weather over the Pyrenees. On July 25, the weather improved and the rest of crews was allowed to fly to Saragossa. Meanwhile, 4 fastest pilots: Hubert Broad, Sidney Thorn, A.S. Butler and Reinhold Poss, reached Breslau. Four crews dropped out that day, among them the best Polish pilot Franciszek Żwirko, flying RWD-4 (due to engine fault). On July 26, two German crewmen Erich Offermann and E. Jerzembski (BFW M.23c) were killed in a crash landing in Lyon, while the other German crew fell into the sea, but were salvaged by a ship (Rudolf Neininger, Darmstadt D-18).

On July 27 the first pilots finished in Berlin. The first was Hubert Broad (DH-60G), then Sidney Thorn (Avro Avian), and a German, Reinhold Poss (Klem L.25E). In an hour, there flew also Fritz Morzik (BFW M.23c), Maurice Finite (Caudron 193), prince Antonio Habsburg-Bourbon (DH-60G), Georg Pasewaldt, H. Andrews and A.S. Butler. The fastest on the whole track was A.S. Butler (DH-60G - average speed 179 km/h), but due to a propeller exchange in Poznań, he was disqualified and finished the rally off the contest, second fastest was Hubert Broad (176 km/h). On that day, 35 crews were still on the track. On July 28 seven crews reached Berlin, on July 29 - 9 more, and the rest - on next days. The last crews finished the rally on August 1. Some crews dropped out in these last days as well.

The rally over Europe appeared to be quite difficult for aircraft and pilots. Only 35 crews out of 60 finished in time. Further 7 crews finished the rally, but were disqualified due to delay or repairs undertaken. After the rally, a leader in the general classification was Hubert Broad (DH-60G, 270 points), behind him: John Carberry (Monocoupe 90, 268 pts), Reinhold Poss (Klemm L.25E, 264 pts), fourth was Fritz Morzik (BFW M.23c, 263 pts). Seventh was Winifred Spooner (260 pts). The best Swiss crew was on the 13th place, the best Pole Stanisław Płonczyński on the 14th place (RWD-2, 236 pkt).

Top results of the rally:

Due to the German victory, the next Challenge 1932 was organized in Germany as well. The next Challenge, due to regulations' changes, turned out to be more difficult contest. For 1932 contest, most countries developed advanced sport aircraft, with high technical performance.

ee also

*Challenge 1929
*Challenge 1932
*Challenge 1934

References

*Marian Krzyżan: "Międzynarodowe turnieje lotnicze 1929-1934", Warsaw 1988, ISBN 83-206-0637-3 (Polish language)