The International Touring Competition in 1930 () was the second FAI international touring aircraft contest, that took place between July 18 and August 8, 1930 in Berlin, Germany. Four Challenges, from 1929 to 1934, were major aviation events in pre-war Europe.
Overview Germany organized the contest, because the German pilot Fritz Morzik won the previous contest in 1929. The regulation based upon the FAI rules, but details were worked out by the German Aero Club. The international Sports Committee was headed by the German Gerd von Hoeppner. 98 crews applied, but eventually 60 aircraft entered the Challenge in 1930, from six countries: Germany (30 crews), Poland (12 crews), United Kingdom (7 crews), France (6 crews), Spain (3 crews) and the Swiss (2 crews). In the British team there was one Canadian, and in the French team – one Belgian. It was the first major international event in which the Polish aviation took part, with second most numerous team in addition, equipped with own design aircraft. This time, Italy nor Czechoslovakia did not participate.
In the German team there was first of all Fritz Morzik – a winner of the Challenge 1929. Among the British team, there were pilots: Captain Hubert Broad (2nd place in 1929), the Canadian John Carberry (3rd place in 1929) and two women: Winifred Spooner and Lady Mary Bailey. In the Spanish team, there was prince Antonio de Habsburgo-Borbón. Many other known aviators of that time took part in the contest as well.
The contest was open on July 18, 1930, at Berlin-Staaken airfield. It consisted of two parts: a circuit over Europe and technical trials. Since one of the aims of the Challenge was to generate a progress in aircraft designing, it was not only pilots' competition, but technical trials also included a construction evaluation, to build more advanced and reliable touring planes. All planes flew with two-men crews, pilot and passenger or mechanic (apart from the Swiss Charles Kolp, who took two passengers, including one woman, into his Klemm VL.25).
Aircraft
Most of the aircraft in the contest were popular sport planes of the late 1920s, that took part in the previous contest as well, like de Havilland Gipsy Moth DH-60G, which was the main aircraft of the British and Spanish teams. These aircraft had mostly open cabs, and were built in mostly low-wing (29) or high-wing (17) layout, only 13 were biplanes (and 1 mid-wing). Only five were of all-metal construction, most were all-wooden. – three Junkers A50 and two Albatros planes On contrary to a previous contest, there appeared also some special aircraft, better suited to meet the Challenge demands. First of all, they were German BFW M.23c and Klemm L 25E, being new variants of successful machines of 1929 – wooden low-wing monoplanes with closed canopy, belonging to lighter category, yet fitted with powerful Argus engines, having better chance in technical trials. All aircraft in the contest had fixed conventional landing gear and had no wing mechanization (slats or flaps) yet. (aircraft reviews)
Aircraft participating were BFW M.23c (10), BFW M.23b (1), Klemm L.25 (4), Klemm L.25E (3), Klemm L 26 (2), Klemm VL 25 (1), Junkers A50 (3), Arado L II (4), Albatros L 100 (1), Albatros L 101 (1), Darmstadt D-18 (1), de Havilland DH.60G Gipsy Moth (6), Avro Avian (1), Spartan Arrow (1), Monocoupe 110 (1),There are some doubts, if Carberry's plane, registration G-ABBR, was Monocoupe 110 or Monocoupe 110 Special (). Contemporary press described it as Monocoupe Special with Warner Scarab engine (Flight, July 18, 1930, p. 802). RWD-2 (3), RWD-4 (3), PZL.5 (2), PWS-50 (1), PWS-51 (1), PWS-52 (1), PWS-8 (1), Caudron C.193 (3), Caudron C.232 (1), Peyret-Mauboussin PM XI (1), Saint Hubert G1 (1), Breda Ba.15S (1), CASA C-1 (1).
20 aircraft were assigned to the Class II with net weight up to 322 kg (300 kg plus 15%), the remaining 40 to the Class I with net weight up to 460 kg (400 kg plus 15%). Class II aircraft were 11 German BFW M.23s and 5 Klemm L.25s and L.25E's (apart from two L.25 IVa), 3 Polish RWD-2s and one French PM XI. The classes had influence on awarding points for cruise speed and fuel consumption only.
The aircraft had alphanumerical starting numbers, the German from a range: A2-A9, B3-B9, C1-C9, D1-D8, E1-E9, F1-F2, British: K1-K8, French: L1-L3, M1-M6, Polish: O1-O9, P1-P5, Swiss: S1-S2, Spanish: T1-T7 (numbers were painted in a circle, with inscription: Challenge International and 1930).
Circuit over Europe
The contest in 1930 was the only Challenge, in which a rally was the opening phase. It was a 7560 km circuit over Europe, with compulsory stops at: Berlin – Braunschweig – Frankfurt – Reims – Saint-Inglevert – Bristol – London – Saint-Inglevert – Paris – Poitiers – Pau – Zaragoza – Madrid – Seville – Zaragoza – Barcelona – Nimes – Lyon – Lausanne – Bern – Munich – Vienna – Prague – Breslau (Wrocław) – Poznań – Warsaw – Königsberg (Kaliningrad) – Danzig (Gdańsk) – Berlin. Distances ranged from 77.5 km (Lausanne – Bern) to 410 km (Danzig – Berlin). In spite of attempts of many pilots at being the first man home, it was not a race, but rather a reliability test. A regularity of flights was the most important factor, the second was a cruise speed (minimal cruise speed had to be 80 km/h for Class I aircraft or 60 km/h for lighter Class II aircraft. Cruise speeds above 175/155 km/h respectively did not give extra points). The average speed was judged on flying time, so a competitor had to have his log book signed as soon after landing as possible. A competitor was given 75 points for regularity, which were mulcted for spending nights off the control airfield or not covering any stage in a day. One night outside the control or arrival after the official closing time (8 p.m.) costed 15 points, two nights – 45 points, and three failures to reach the control caused a disqualification. Also, for failing to fly any stage in a day, a competitor would lose 10 points, and for the second time – another 20 points.The International Touring Competition, 1930. Summary of Regulations in Flight, February 21, 1930, pp. 230–231 The original time limit for the return to Berlin was 4 p.m. on July 31, but it got extended later for some crews, due to bad weather in Pau.International Touring Competition. British Competitors Doing Well in Circuit of Europe in Flight, August 1, 1930, pp. 857–860 Apart from 75 points for regularity, up to 195 points could be gained for a high cruise speed. Compared with the 1929 competition, the rally could bring only 54% of maximum number of points (in 1929 – 72%), which meant more stress on technical trials.
The crews took off between 9 and 9.59 AM on Sunday, July 20, from Berlin-Tempelhof. Despite poor weather, on the first day, fifteen crews reached Saint-Inglevert near Calais, 1058 km away (among them, 6 British crews, 4 French, 3 Polish and only 2 German). One Spanish and one Polish crew damaged their aircraft (CASA C-1 and PWS-52) and had to withdraw, the other Pole from the fastest group Tadeusz Karpiński (RWD-4) got ill from appendicitis. On July 21 the weather enabled flying only about mid-day, but then most crews flew over the English Channel, and the fastest 23 planes managed to return to France. Three British and three French crews reached Paris that day, flying 843,5 km. One French crew destroyed the plane during a forced landing (PM XI), several other planes got damaged on that or the previous day, but could be repaired.
On July 22 – the third day of the rally, the fastest pilots reached Madrid, 3019 km from the start. They were five British crews: Hubert Broad, Alan Butler (both DH-60G), Sidney Thorn (Avro Avian), John Carberry (Monocoupe 110) and H. Andrews (receiving penalty points for landing after closure), three Germans (Fritz Morzik, Willy Polte – both BFW M.23c, Reinhold Poss – Klemm L.25E) and two Frenchmen (François Arrachart, Maurice Finat – both C.193s). Four more aircraft, including Prince de Habsburgo-Borbon and Georg Pasewaldt, managed to fly to Zaragoza over the Pyrenees, but the French crews of Cornez (C.193) and MacMahon (C.232) crashed their aircraft, while trying to fly farther. The rest was spread out on the whole track, the slowest pilots being only 800–1000 km away from Berlin. Five crews dropped out on that day – apart from the mentioned ones, also one German and Spanish crew damaged their aircraft during flight to Pau. Another German pilot von Oertzen withdrew, when his passenger von Redern was killed by a propeller of their Albatros L.100 in London.
Twelve fastest crews were the lucky ones to get to Spain, because on July 23 and 24, all the remaining crews were grounded in Pau due to bad weather over the Pyrenees. Lady Bailey was the last to try to fly to Zaragoza, but she was forced to return to Pau.Edwin P.A. Heinze, International Touring Competition in Flight, August 29, 1930, pp. 967–968 Due to flight prohibition, there were no penalties for not flying farther, and the return time limit was extended by 24 or 48 hours, depending on time when the crew arrived at Pau. Five crews reached Barcelona on the 23rd, and Lausanne on the next day. On July 25, the weather improved and the rest of crews was allowed to fly to Zaragoza. Meanwhile, 4 fastest pilots: Hubert Broad, Sidney Thorn, Alan Butler and Reinhold Poss, reached Breslau, and Fritz Morzik – Prague. Four crews dropped out that day, among them the best Polish pilot Franciszek Żwirko, flying RWD-4 (due to engine failure), also two German and the only Belgian crew of Jacques Maus (St. Hubert G.1). On July 26, four crews reached Warsaw (Poss, Broad, Thorn and Prince de Habsburgo-Borbon). The fastest of crews, that had been halted by the weather, reached Bern (the Pole Jerzy Bajan and two Germans Aichele and Dinort), being 700 km behind last crews of the first group, resting in Viena. On that day two German crewmen Erich Offermann and E. Jerzembski (BFW M.23c) were killed in a crash landing in Lyon, hitting an aerial mast, while the other German crew of Rudolf Neininger (Darmstadt D-18) fell into the Gulf of Lyon, but were salvaged by a passing ship.
On July 27 the first pilots finished in Berlin. The first came Hubert Broad, then Sidney Thorn followed closely by Reinhold Poss. In an hour, there flew also Fritz Morzik, Maurice Finat, prince Antonio de Habsburgo-Borbon, Georg Pasewaldt, H. Andrews and A.S. Butler. The fastest on the whole track was Alan Butler (DH-60G – average speed 179 km/h), but due to a propeller exchange in Poznań, he was disqualified and finished the rally off the contest. The fastest of qualified crews and the only one to gain full points, was Hubert Broad (176 km/h). On that day, 35 crews were still on the track. On July 28 seven crews reached Berlin (Willy Polte, Oskar Dinort, Winifred Spooner, Mary Bailey, John Carberry, François Arrachart, Stanisław Płonczyński), on July 29 – 9 more (among others, Theo Osterkamp, Jerzy Bajan, Johann Risztics, Robert Lusser, Oskar Notz), and the rest – on next days. The last crews finished the rally on August 1. Some crews dropped out or were disqualified in these last days as well.