Challenge 1929 The Challenge 1929 was the first 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 French Aeroclub , 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 open on August 4 1929 in Paris . It consisted of two parts : technical trials of aircraft and a race 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 forreign aviators , eg. in the German team there was the Canadian John Carberry , flying a German RK-25 aircraft . Among the British team , there was one woman Winifred Spooner ( the second , Lady Mary Bailey , eventually flew the race 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-11 B '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 ( 12 ) was given to Italian Breda Ba 15 aircraft and German all-metal Junkers A50 ( 11.75 pts ) . The German BFW M.23b were given only 9.5 pts , and the lowest result was 8 pts . 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 . Behing him , there were three Italians flying Romeo Ro-5 biplanes ( 17.25 pts ) , then the rest . The best German pilot , Wolfram 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 . The last was a fuel consumption test , on 6 x 50km track . 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 , flying DH-60G Gipsy Moth , was on the 15th place with 26.25 pts , 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 much , but they were not easy to level during the next part of the contest . Eight crews dropped out during technical trials . 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 . Race over Europe The second part of the contest was a 5942 km race over Europe , on a path : Paris - Basil - Genova - Lyon - Marseille - Saint Raphael - Turin - Milan - Venice - Zagreb - Belgrad - Bucharest - Drobeta-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 race , but rather a trial of aircraft capability on such a long path . Important factors were : a regularity of flights ( at least 1 stage daily ) , keeping a good cruise speed , and lack of major repairs . Maximum points for a race was 119 pts . The race started on August 7 from Orly airfield in Paris . Two crews dropped out during start , including the Czech Josef Novak , flying Aero A.34 whose engine failed and the plane turned over during accident landing . Despite a maximum speed was not important , but most crews tried to make their best , and a group of 9 fastest crews reached Belgrad just on August 8 at noon . Among them were : Hubert Broad , Winifred Spooner , F. Klepš ( Avia BH-11 ) , Johannes Nehring ( D-18 ) and John Carberry ( RK-25 ) . Some crews dropped out on the way , mostly due to faults and accident landings . On August 9 most crews took off from Belgrad , only some crews have not reached it yet . On August 11 the leading group reached Warsaw . Flying to Poznań , Johannes Nehring had to land accidentally and damaged his Darmstadt D-18 , being one of 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 . Few minutes later , just as the jury started work , 19 aircraft landed in Paris . The first touched the ground the Italian Batista Botalla flying Fiat AS.1 . On that day , 4 more crews arrived . On August 15 , 3 crews finished , and on the next day the remaining ones . Only 31 crews out of 47 finished the race and were classified . Only two crews reached maximum 119 pts for the race : the German Fritz Morzik ( BFW M.23b ) and the Canadian John Carberry ( RK-25 ) . The next score was 109 pts of Hubert Broad ( DH-60G ) . Good results , 99-104 pts were obtained by 5 Italian crews , flying in group . Winners of 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 ) . Results After a race , 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 . Fritz Morzik ( Germany ) - BFW M.23b - 138.5 pts Hubert Broad ( Great Britain ) - de Havilland Gipsy Moth - 135.25 pts John Carberry - ( Canada , in the German team ) - Raab-Katzenstein RK-25 - 131 pts Robert Lusser ( Germany ) - Klemm L.25 Ia - 128.25 pts Federico Guazetti ( Italy ) - Romeo Ro-5 - 127.25 pts Wolf von Dungern ( Germany ) - BFW M.23b - 126.75 pts František Klepš ( Czechoslovakia ) - Avia BH-11 B Antilopa - 126.50 pts Gustavo Castaldo ( Italy ) - Romeo Ro-5 - 124.25 pts Umberto Gelmetti ( Italy ) - Romeo Ro-5 - 122 pts Winifred Spooner ( Great Britain ) - DH-60G Gipsy Moth - 121.50 pts Waldemar Roeder ( Germany ) - Junkers A50be - 120.5 pts ... 15/16 . Hans Wirth ( Swiss ) - Klemm L.25 Ia - 114.25 pts ( the best Swiss ) 15/16 . Reinhold Poss ( Germany ) - Klemm L.25 Ia - 114.25 pts ... 22 . M. Weiss ( France ) - Potez 36 - 98.5 pkt ( the best French ) ... 31 . Jacques Maus ( Belgium , in the French team ) - St Hubert G.1 - 72.62 pts ( the best Belgian , the last classified competitor ) The contest was a German success , including John Carberry , but only 12 out of 24 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 . Categories : Aviation competitions and awards In other languages : Polski 