Most of the exploratory flights of the Wien were piloted by Robert Kronfield,[1] who in 1931 brought it to the French competition held at the coastal site of Vauville.

The French were impressed by the Wien and the Ateliers Vosgiens d'Industrie Aéronautique (Avia) company, founded in 1930, set about designing a similar high performance glider.

Its fin carried a generous, curved edge, fabric covered rudder which extended down to the keel and the separate elevators were similarly rounded.

Its horizontal tail was mounted well forward on top of the fuselage so that the rudder hinge was ahead of the elevator trailing edge root.

[5] In late August its part-designer Eric Nessler began a series of flights setting new French gliding records for distance and for duration.

By the end of the year he had made a flight of 54 km (34 mi) and another lasting 11 hr 27 min,[6] helping him to gain his Silver C badge in 1936.