Challenge 1929

The Challenge 1929 was the first FAI International Tourist Plane Contest ( _fr. 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.

Overview

The contest was conceived by the French Aero Club, inspired by the International Light Aircraft Contest in France in 1928. The idea of a tourist plane contest was approved by the Federation Aeronautique Internationale (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 the Swiss (2 crews). In some teams there were also foreign aviators, eg. 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.

Aircraft

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 yet, 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 yet. 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.

Technical trials

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 50km 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 differencies were not high, but they were not easy to level during the next part of the contest.

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.

ee also

*Challenge 1930
*Challenge 1932
*Challenge 1934

References

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