Kraków 2022-08-28
90 Years of Victory Challenge.
Polish Aviation Day.
After a three-year break, an Air Show was organized again at the Polish Aviation Museum in Krakow. The occasion was the 90th anniversary of Franciszek Żwirka and Stanisław Wigura’s victory in the Challenge 1932 competition.
On August 28, 1932, pilot officer Franciszek Żwirko and designer engineer Stanisław Wigura won the "International Tourist Aircraft Competition Challenge 1932", the largest interwar aviation event. It was another success of Polish Sports Aviation in the interwar period. Polish aviators achieved this success on the Polish RWD-6 aircraft, which was a construction of a Polish company owned by engineers: Stanisław Rogalski, Stanisław Wigura and Jerzy Drzewiecki. The third international competition for tourist aircraft, Challenge International de Tourisme, was held on August 20-28, 1932 in Berlin. In memory of Żwirka i Wigura’s victory in the III Challenge, August 28 is celebrated as the Polish Aviation Day.
On September 11, 1932, that is two weeks after the success in the Challenge competition, airmen Captain Franciszek Żwirko and engineer Stanisław Wigura died in a plane crash in a forest near Cierlicek Górny near Cieszyn. The reason was a sudden storm that damaged the wing of the plane.
Air Show 2022 year.
On August 27-28, 2022, an Aviation Picnic called Challenge was organized at the Polish Aviation Museum. During the event there were: air shows in the air and on the ground, occasional exhibitions, film screenings, remembrance appeal, Holy Mass, concert of the Krakow Philharmonic and the Air Force Orchestra.
The most attractions were on Sunday, August 28, 2022. I must admit that the weather was extremely favorable. Rains and storms had been predicted from the morning. It was overcast. Fortunately, around 3:00 p.m. the clouds parted and the sun shone. It didn’t rain until around 7:00 p.m., when the air shows were over.
We could see many attractions in the air. Few of the aircraft were allowed to take off and land from the RWY fragment remaining in Czyżyny. Shortly after the concert of the Air Force Orchestra, at 12:30, three sports planes from the Krakow Aero Club from the Pobiednik airport appeared above the museum, on a parade flight.
At 1.20 p.m. above the museum, the Zlin Z-142 SP-KSW plane gave an individual show. The aircraft is of Czechoslovak production and was built in 1990.
O godzinie 13;40 indywidualny pokaz dał samolot AT-3 SP-ICY Nr 024.
At 1:50 p.m., two planes appeared above the museum: PZL TS-11 Iskra nb 1214 and 1402, giving a very nice air show. The planes are privately owned. On July 27, 2022, after 58 years, the Polish Air Force said goodbye to the perfect Polish PZL TS-11 Iskra training and training aircraft. On that day, the last show was given by the Biało Czerwony Iskry team, and three years earlier, training on these aircraft in Dęblin was completed. In the future, it will be more and more difficult to see the PZL TS-11 Iskra in the air.
At 2:00 p.m., the first planes from the 8th Transport Aviation Base in Balice appeared in the sky. These were two PZL M-28 Bryza Nb 0218 and Nb 0225 planes.
Rainbow Skyreach BushCat SP-SMOG No.CH235C. The plane is adapted to emit colored smoke, fireworks and to care for sound signals.
At 2:25 p.m., viewers saw two Piper L-4 Cub planes in the air. One in American colors, the other in Israeli colors. These planes are frequent visitors to air shows.
The Lockheed C-130 Hercules plane and two CASA C-295 M planes were also present at the show.
At 2:30 p.m., the high altitude flight was reached by the PZL An-2 Nb 7447 "Viennese" plane, from which 10 parachute jumpers in groups of 5 jumped out. After completing the task, the PZL An-2 plane landed on the RWY in Czyżyny.
At 2:45 pm a flying monument was presented above the museum; Yak-18 SP-YYY plane.
The following aircraft were still in the air: Boeing Stearman N2S-3. The SP-XGLI gyroplane. PZL-104 Wilga SP-ACC. Jakowlew Jak-12 M. Extra 330 aerobatic plane. FireBirds team on Morane-Saulnier MS-880B Rallye Club planes, SP-CYC, SP-PIC, SP-CAC registrations.
Written by Karol Placha Hetman