Challenge International de Tourisme 1934
During an air show, a Polish fighter PZL P.7a performing aerobatics crashed, but the pilot survived with injuries.
The French team of eight crews resigned from the contest, because a development of a new aircraft, the Caudron C.500 had not finished in time and its weight was too great.
For this Challenge, all countries designed new aircraft especially to meet the contest demands, the only exception was a single de Havilland Puss Moth flown by MacPherson, although this had been was modified for the competition.
All these aircraft were monoplanes with 3 or 4 seats in an enclosed cabin, advanced wing design with (flaps and slats and some other devices) and mixed or metal construction.
An exception were the basic aircraft of the Polish team - high-wing braced monoplanes RWD-9 (7), one of which was also flown by the Czechoslovak crew, and the Puss Moth.
Since it was a tourist aircraft contest, features such as a comfortable cabin with a good view, the presence of the third and fourth seats, seats placed side-by-side, a comprehensive set of controls, ease and time of engine starting, ease of wings' folding, safety devices and modern construction with the use of metal were awarded points.
The view was evaluated by placing a lamp in the cabin while the aircraft was in a dark hangar and examining light area.
All the German aircraft, two Italian and the Puss Moth exceeded the empty weight limit of 560.56 kg (1,235.8 lb) and had to have some unnecessary parts removed.
The best performer was the Czechoslovak Vojtěch Žáček, taking off from the closest distance of 74.5 m (244 ft) (Aero A.200), then Jerzy Bajan (RWD-9) and Ján Ambruš with the second A.200.
Quite good results were scored by the Italians, while the German Fi 97s and Kl 36s and the Czechoslovaks were worst in this trial.
After further trials had been completed, on September 5 the leaders of a general classification changed and remained similar until the end of this part.
Generally, top places were taken by RWD-9s and Fi 97s, while Bf 108s, Kl 36s and PZL.26s proved average, and Italian machines closed a list with 559-801 points.
The second part of the Challenge was a 9537.4 km rally over Europe and northern Africa, on a path: Warsaw - Königsberg - Berlin - Köln - Brussels - Paris - Bordeaux - Pau - Madrid - Seville - Casablanca - Meknes - Sidi Bel Abbes - Algiers (stage waypoint) - Biskra - Tunis - Palermo - Naples - Rome - Rimini - Zagreb - Vienna - Brno - Prague - Katowice - Lwów - Wilno - Warsaw.
That day 24 fastest crews reached Paris, flying 1752.4 km (10 Poles, 8 Germans, 3 Czechoslovaks and 3 Italians).
The German Wolfgang Stein (Kl 36) and the Italian team's captain Ambrogio Colombo (Ba-42) had to land and quit due to engine faults.
On the next day, many crews, who started early, especially flying Bf 108s, had problems with locating an airfield in Bordeaux due to heavy fog and had forced landings, lowering their cruise speed (on that occasion, Theo Osterkamp and Gerhard Hubrich had problems with the local police).
Several crews withdrew that day: Fritz Morzik (the winner of 1929 and 1930 Challenges, flying Kl 36) had three forced landings before Algiers due to a fuel pump fault, also Szczepan Grzeszczyk's PZL.26's engine failed and he had a forced landing before Sidi Bel Abbes.
Fritz Morzik (Kl 36), Tadeusz Karpiński (RWD-9) and Andrzej Włodarkiewicz (PZL.26) finished that day in Warsaw, after repairing their aircraft, flying off the contest.
All participants who completed the rally, scored maximal number of 160 points for regularity, spending nights on appointed airfields only.
Next three places were taken by the Polish RWD-9s: Stanisław Płonczyński, Jan Buczyński, Jerzy Bajan and Henryk Skrzypiński, the later ex aequo with Hans Seidemann (Fi 97).
The Pole Ignacy Giedgowd (PZL.26) and the Italian Ernesto Sanzin (Ba-39S) had to land due to engine faults and scored 0 points.
