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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.
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 64 c'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 ( flapThe word Flap can refer to several things. Flapping is a repetitive up-and-down motion most commonly associated with a bird's wing. A flap (aircraft) is a hinged surface on the trailing edge of an airplane wing. Flap in (archaic) computer science jargon,s and slatSlats are small aerodynamic surfaces on the leading edge of an airplane wing which, when deployed, allow the wing to operate at a higher angle of attack. Lift is a product of angle of attack and speed, so by deploying slats an aircraft can take off or lans). The other aircraft, especially French, modified from serial designs, were less modern and had lower chances in 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 sabotageDisambiguation This article is about Sabotage the destructive action. The term sabotage can also refer to: an early Black Sabbath album ( Sabotage), a Alfred Hitchcock film ( Sabotage), a Beastie Boys song, or a type of shock site. Sabotage is a deliberat of her fuelFuel is material with potential energy which can be transferred into kinetic energy, or as heat or mechanical work. In most cases this is just something that will burn. There are many different types of fuel. Solid fuels include coal, wood and peat. All t, and she decided to withdraw.