The Challenge 1929 was the first FAI International Tourist Plane Contest (French : Challenge International de Tourisme), that took place between August 4 and August 16, 1929 in Paris, France. Four Challenges, from 1929 to 1934, were major aviation events in pre-war Europe.
The contest was conceived by the Aéro-Club de France, inspired by the International Light Aircraft Contest, in France in 1928. The idea of a tourist plane contest was approved by the FAI, and the first Challenge was to be organized by the French.
The contest was opened on August 4, 1929 in Paris. It consisted of two parts: technical trials of aircraft and a rally over Europe. 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.
55 aircraft entered the Challenge in 1929, from six countries: Germany (24 crews), Italy (12 crews), France (9 crews), United Kingdom (5 crews), Czechoslovakia (3 crews), and Switzerland (2 crews). In some teams there were also foreign aviators, e.g. in the German team there was the Canadian John Carberry, flying a German RK-25 aircraft; in the French team there were two Belgians. Among the British team, there was one woman Winifred Spooner (the second, Lady Mary Bailey, eventually flew the rally apart from the contest). All planes flew with two-men crews, pilot and passenger or mechanic.
The aircraft in the contest were popular sport planes of the late twenties years, like de Havilland Gipsy Moth (DH-60G), which was the main aircraft of the British team. These aircraft had mostly open cabs, built in low-wing, high-wing or biplane layout. Unlike in the following years, there were no aircraft built specially for a Challenge contest, only the Czech Avia BH-11B's "Antilopa" were improved by adding folding wings. All aircraft in the contest had fixed landing gear and had no wing mechanization. The most numerous were German BFW M.23b (9 aircraft) and Klemm (6 of the L.25 Ia model, including 2 in the Swiss team, and 2 of the L.26 model). BFW's and Klemms were wooden low-wing planes with open two-seater tandem cabins.
The first part of the contest were technical trials, starting on August 4. Unlike the following Challenges, it was not too complicated and consisted of a technical evaluation, quick engine start test, quick wing folding test and fuel consumption trial only.
The first was a technical evaluation of competing planes' construction. Such features, like twin controls, rich set of controls, wheel brakes, fire safety devices and a room for parachutes, could bring up to 18 points. Most points was given to the Italian Breda Ba-15s (11.75 to 12 pts) and German all-metal Junkers A50s (11.75 pts). Very good result of 11.25 points was obtained also by the Italian Fiat AS.1s and Romeo Ro-5s. The German BFW M.23b were given only 9.5 points, DH-60s - from 9.5 to 10.5 points, and the lowest result was 8 points (Caudron C.113).
After quick wings' folding and quick engine starting tests, the classification leader was the Czech Josef Novak flying an Aero A.34 biplane, with 17.5 pts. Behind him, there were three Italians flying Romeo Ro-5 biplanes (17.25 pts), then the rest. The best German pilot, Wolf Hirth, had 16.25 pts (12th place, Klemm L.25), but most Germans had a few points less. Some planes were handicapped, not having folding wings. Some crews completed wings' folding trial on 6 August.
The last was a fuel consumption test, on 6 x 50 km closed circuit, on 5 August. It could bring up to 20 points. The best result was obtained by the German Johannes Nehring flying a Darmstadt D-18 biplane (18.5 pts), then the Swiss Hans Wirth (Klemm L.25), three German Junkers A50 and two Czech Avia BH-11s, with 15-17 pts. The German Klemms also were good at this trial, with 12-14.5 pts.
The fuel consumption trial changed the general classification order. The three leaders, with 32 pts each, became Johannes Nehring (Darmstadt D-18), the Swiss Hans Wirth (Klemm L.25) and the Czech František Klepš (BH-11). Further places, from the 4th to the 10th, were occupied by the German crew of Klemms and Junkers', with 29,5 - 30,5 pts, the best of them was Robert Lusser. The best Englishman, Hubert Broad, was on the 15th place, while Winifred Spooner was on the 25th place (22.5 pts). The German BFW M.23b's occupied poor positions, the best result of the BFW was 25 pts, while Fritz Morzik flying BFW gained only 19.5 pkt, what gave him the 30th place. John Carberry, flying the German RK-25, occupied the last 47th place with mere 12 pts. The point differences were not high, but they were not easy to level during the next part of the contest.
| Top results of the technical trials: | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Pilot | country | aircraft | points | |
| 1-3. | Johannes Nehring |  Germany | Darmstadt D-18 | - 32.5 |
| 1-3. | Hans Wirth |  Switzerland | Klemm L.25 Ia | - 32.5 |
| 1-3. | František Klepš |  Czechoslovakia | Avia BH-11 | - 32.5 |
| 4. | Robert Lusser | Germany | Klemm L.25 Ia | - 30.5 |
| 5-6. | Waldemar Roeder | Germany | Junkers A.50 | - 30.25 |
| 5-6. | Reinhold Poss | Germany | Klemm L.25 Ia | - 30.25 |
| 7. | Friedrich Siebel | Germany | Klemm L.25 Ia | - 30 |
| 8. | Johann Risztics | Germany | Junkers A 50 | - 29.75 |
| 9-10. | Wolf Hirth | Germany | Klemm L.25 Ia | - 29.5 |
| 9-10. | Franz Kneer | Germany | Junkers A.50 | - 29.5 |
| 11. | Václav Vlček | Czechoslovakia | Avia BH-11 | - 29 |
| 12. | Federico Guazetti |  Italy | Romeo Ro-5 | - 28.5 |
| 13. | F. Kirsch | Germany | Klemm L.26 | - 27.75 |
| 14. | Mario Stoppani | Italy | CANT 26 | - 27.25 |
| 15. | Hubert Broad |  United Kingdom | DH-60 | - 26.25 |
Eight crews dropped out during technical trials, mostly due to engine malfunctions during the last trial. After having dropped out in a fuel consumption trial, the German Arado L.1 was crashed by its designer H. Hoffmann, while trying to show some aerobatics over the airfield.
The second part of the contest was a 5942 km rally over Europe, on a path: Paris - Basil - Genova - Lyon - Marseille - Saint Raphael - Turin - Milan - Venice - Zagreb - Belgrad - Bucharest - Turnu Severin - Budapest - Vienna - Brno -Prague - Wrocław (Breslau) - Warsaw - Poznań - Berlin - Hamburg - Amsterdam - Brussels - Paris. Main waypoints were: Belgrad, Warsaw and Paris. It was not a mere rally, but rather a trial of aircraft capability on such a long path. Important factors were: keeping a good cruise speed, a regularity of flight (covering at least 1 stage daily and spending nights at appointed airfields), and lack of major repairs. Maximum number of points to obtain in a rally was 119 (70 for a cruise speed, 35 for regularity, 14 for reliability).
The rally started on at 9 am on August 7, from Orly airfield in Paris. Two crews dropped out during the start, including the Czech Josef Novak, flying an Aero A.34 whose engine failed and the plane turned over upon crashing. Though maximum speed was not important, most crews tried to make their best, and a group of the nine fastest crews reached Belgrad just at noon on August 8. Among them were: Hubert Broad, Winifred Spooner, František Klepš (Avia BH-11), Johannes Nehring (D-18), Raymond Delmotte (Caudron C.191) and John Carberry (RK-25). This group was in the lead at the next airfields, too. Other groups were five German crews, with Fritz Morzik (BFW M.23b), and two groups of Italians; most other crews flew separately. Some crews dropped out on the way, mostly due to faults and unplanned landings.
On August 9, starting from 9 am, most crews took off from Belgrad, though some crews had not reached this point yet. On August 11, the leading group took off from Brno and reached Warsaw. Flying to Poznań, Johannes Nehring was forced to land and damaged his Darmstadt D-18, one of the contest's fastest machines. Some other crews dropped out as well.
Since competitors were not allowed to land in Paris before August 14 at 3 pm, the leading group took off from Brussels and flew over Orly airfield minutes before 3 pm. A few minutes later, just as the jury started work, 19 aircraft landed in Paris. The first to touch the ground was the Italian Batista Botalla flying a Fiat AS.1. On that day, four more crews arrived. On August 15, three crews finished, and on the next day the remaining ones. Only 31 crews out of 47 finished the rally.
Only two crews reached the maximum 119 pts for the rally: the German Fritz Morzik (BFW M.23b) and the Canadian John Carberry (RK-25). The next score was 109 pts for Hubert Broad (DH-60G). Good results, 99-104 pts were obtained by five Italian crews, flying in a group. Winners of the technical trials gained less points for the race, taking further positions (Robert Lusser - 97.75 pts, František Klepš - 94 pts, Hans Wirth - 81.75 pts).
| Top results of the rally: | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Pilot | country | aircraft | points | |
| 1. | Fritz Morzik | Germany | BFW M.23b | - 119 pts |
| 2. | John Carberry |  Canada | Raka RK-25 | - 119 pts |
| 3. | Hubert Broad | United Kingdom | DH-60 | - 109 pts |
| 4. | Wolf von Dungern | Germany | BFW M.23b | - 106.5 pts |
| 5. | Umberto Gelmetti | Italy | Romeo Ro-5 | - 104 pts |
| 6. | Federico Guazetti | Italy | Romeo Ro-5 | - 99 pts |
| 7. | Winifred Spooner | United Kingdom | DH-60 | - 99 pts |
| 8. | Gustavo Castaldo | Italy | Romeo Ro-5 | - 99 pts |
| 9. | Francesco Lombardi | Italy | Fiat AS.1 | - 99 pts |
| 10. | Batista Bottalla | Italy | Fiat AS.1 | - 99 pts |
After a rally, on August 16 there was a closing ceremony. After counting of points, the first place was given to the German, Fritz Morzik. The second place was taken by Hubert Broad.
| Top 10 results of the contest | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Pilot | country | aircraft | registration / starting number | points: technical + rally | = total | |
| 1. | Fritz Morzik | Germany | BFW M.23b | D-1673 / A4 | 19.5 + 119 | 138.5 |
| 2. | Hubert Broad | United Kingdom | DH-60G | G-AAHS / H5 | 26.25 + 109 | 135.25 |
| 3. | John Carberry | Canada ( Germany) | Raka RK-25 | D-1701 / B3 | 12 + 119 | 131 |
| 4. | Robert Lusser | Germany | Klemm L.25 Ia | D-1714 / C2 | 30.5 + 97.75 | 128.25 |
| 5. | Federico Guazetti | Italy | Romeo Ro-5 | ? / M3 | 28.25 + 99 | 127.25 |
| 6. | Wolf von Dungern | Germany | BFW M.23b | D-1674 / A3 | 20.25 + 106.5 | 126.75 |
| 7. | František Klepš | Czechoslovakia | Avia BH-11 | L-BABG / T1 | 32.5 + 94 | 126.5 |
| 8. | Gustavo Castaldo | Italy | Romeo Ro-5 | I-IACE / M2 | 25.25 + 99 | 124.25 |
| 9. | Umberto Gelmetti | Italy | Romeo Ro-5 | ? / M1 | 18 + 104 | 122 |
| 10. | Winifred Spooner | United Kingdom | DH-60G | G-AAAL / H6 | 22.5 + 99 | 121.5 |
| Some other results | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Pilot | country | aircraft | registration / starting number | points: technical + rally | = total (notes) | |
| 11. | Waldemar Roeder | Germany | Junkers A50be | D-1683 / D5 | 30.25 + 90.25 | 120.5 |
| 12. | Carlo Benasatti | Italy | Romeo Ro-5 | I-FARO / K8 | 19.25 + ? | 117.75? |
| 13. | Francesco Lombardi | Italy | Fiat AS.1 | ? / K3 | 18.5 + 99 | 117.5 |
| 14. | Batista Bottalla | Italy | Fiat AS.1 | ? / K4 | 18 + 99 | 117 |
| 15/16. | Hans Wirth | Switzerland | Klemm L.25 Ia | ? / S2 | 32.5 + 81.75 | 114.25 (the best Swiss) |
| 15/16. | Reinhold Poss | Germany | Klemm L.25 Ia | D-1713 / C6 | 30.25 + 84 | 114.25 |
| 22. | M. Weiss |  France | Potez 36 | F-AJGT / F5 | 23.75 + 74.75 | 98.5 (the best French) |
| 26. | Maurice Finat | France | Potez 36 | F-AJGW / F6 | 18.50 + 72.75 | 91.25 |
| 27. | Werner Junck | Germany | Albatros L 82b | D-1706 / B9 | 25.25 + 64.75 | 90 |
| 28. | Raymond Delmotte | France | Caudron C.191 | F-AJGH / E7 | 12.75 + 72.75 | 85.5 |
| 31. | Jacques Maus |  Belgium | St Hubert G.1 | OO-AKY / H2 | 18 + 54.5 | 72.5 (the best Belgian (in the French team), the last classified competitor) |
The first prize in the Challenge was 100,000 French franc, the 2nd - 50,000 FRF, the 3rd - 25,000 FRF, 16 other crews would get 7,350 FRF.
The contest was a German success, including John Carberry, but only 12 out of 24 German crews finished the contest. Very good result was obtained by the Italian team - 9 out of 12 crews finished, and on good places.
Due to German victory, the next Challenge 1930 was organized in Germany. The new regulations of 1930 put more accent to technical part, demanding more advanced aircraft.
The Arado Ar 80 was a pre-World War II fighter aircraft, designed by Arado Flugzeugwerke to compete for the Luftwaffe's first major fighter contract. The Ar 80 was uninspiring in terms of performance and also suffered a number of failures. The contest was eventually won by the Messerschmitt Bf 109, and the Ar 80 prototypes ended their days as test aircraft.
The Klemm Leichtflugzeugbau GmbH was a German aircraft manufacturer noteworthy for sports and touring planes of the 1930s.
This is a list of aviation-related events from 1930:
The Challenge 1932 was the third FAI International Tourist Plane Competition, that took place between 12 and August 28, 1932, in Berlin, Germany. The four Challenges, from 1929 to 1934, were major aviation events in pre-war Europe.
The International Touring Competition in 1930 was the second FAI international touring aircraft contest, that took place between July 18 and August 8, 1930 in Berlin, Germany. Four Challenges, from 1929 to 1934, were major aviation events in pre-war Europe.
PZL.19 was a Polish sports aircraft built in 1932 in the PZL works. Ordered by the Ministry of Communications, it was specifically designed for the upcoming Challenge 1932 contest held that year in Germany.
PZL.26 was a Polish sports plane built in 1934 by the Państwowe Zakłady Lotnicze. Ordered by the Ministry of Defence, it was specifically designed for the upcoming Challenge 1934 International Touring Aircraft Contest.
The PZL-5 was a Polish two-seat touring and sports aircraft of 1930 constructed and produced by the PZL.
The Challenge 1934 was the fourth and last FAI International Tourist Plane Contest, that took place between August 28 and September 16, 1934, in Warsaw, Poland. The four Challenges, from 1929 to 1934, were major aviation events in pre-war Europe. The 1934 Challenge was won by the Polish pilots, who had also won the previous year.
The Darmstadt D-18 was a German light sports aircraft that was designed and built in the late-1920s by the Akaflieg Darmstadt of the Technische Universität Darmstadt.
The Darmstadt D-22 was a sports-plane of Germany, designed and built by Akaflieg of Technische Universität Darmstadt.
The Udet U 12 Flamingo was an aerobatic sports plane and trainer aircraft developed in Germany in the mid-1920s.
The de Havilland Moths were a series of light aircraft, sports planes, and military trainers designed by Geoffrey de Havilland. In the late 1920s and 1930s, they were the most common civilian aircraft flying in Britain, and during that time every light aircraft flying in the UK was commonly referred to as a Moth, regardless if it was de Havilland-built or not.
The Klemm Kl 36 is a 1930s German four-seat cabin touring and competition monoplane. It was designed by Klemm and Friedrich Fechner and built by Klemm.
The Klemm Kl 32 was a touring aircraft, developed in Germany in 1932, based on the Klemm Kl 31 as a competitor in the Challenge 1932 touring aircraft competition.
The BFW M.23, sometimes known as the Messerschmitt M 23, was a 1920s two-seat sporting aircraft designed by Willy Messerschmitt, and produced by Bayerische Flugzeugwerke (BFW). Examples won several prestigious races in 1929 and 1930.
The BFW M.21 was a single-engined biplane trainer designed by Willy Messerschmitt for the German Ministry of Transport. It was one of only two biplanes Messerschmitt designed, neither reaching production.
StabsfeldwebelJohann Risztics (1895-1973) was an Austro-Hungarian World War I flying ace credited with seven reliably confirmed aerial victories. After his wounding early in World War I, he switched to aviation duty as a mechanic. He went for pilot training in 1915. Once trained, he shot down seven enemy fighter planes, winning five Medals for Bravery in the process. Postwar, he became a record-setting test pilot for Junkers.
The Volksflugzeug was a grand Nazi-era scheme for the mass-production of a small and simple airplane in the 1930s. It was one of the attempts of the Nazi regime to use consumer technologies as a propaganda tool. Unlike the Volkswagen car, the showpiece of the Nazis’ attempt to appear to work for the good of the average German, as well as the less-known Volksempfänger radio, the Volkskühlschrank refrigerator and the Volksgasmaske gas mask, the Volksflugzeug project was contemplated but never fully realized.
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