- Józef Lewoniewski
Józef Lewoniewski (
1899 -11 September 1933 ) was a Polish military and sports aviator. He was a brother of the Soviet aviatorSigizmund Levanevsky .He was born in Russia to a Polish family. In May 1919 he returned to independent Poland and served in the
Polish Army , in a cavalry, duringPolish-Soviet war . In 1923 he volunteered for the air force and completed an aviation school inBydgoszcz , then in France. He served as a fighter pilot, in a rank of Flying Captain ("kapitan pilot").Lewoniewski was also active in sports flying. In 1930 he participated in
Challenge 1930 International Tourist Aircraft Contest, flyingPWS-51 , but he had to withdraw due to oil pipe damage. He came with an idea of flying around the world inPWS-52 aircraft, but it was abandoned due to lack of funding. He undertook several long distance flights. From March 1933 he worked in Aviation Technical Research Institute in Warsaw as a test pilot.On 11 September 1933 Józef Lewoniewski with Colonel Czesław Filipowicz, attempted at breaking world's record of flight distance in tourist planes category, on Warsaw -
Krasnoyarsk route, flying modifiedPZL.19 plane. After 8 and a half hours, the plane went into a spin due to an air turbulence, it was brought under control, but it was too low and it hit the ground nearKazan . Lewoniewski was killed, while Filipowicz was slightly injured. A coincidence was, that it was year after a crash of Polish aviatorsFranciszek Żwirko andStanisław Wigura .
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