Franciszek Zwirko
Encyclopedia
Poland
Poland , officially the Republic of Poland , is a country in Central Europe bordered by Germany to the west; the Czech Republic and Slovakia to the south; Ukraine, Belarus and Lithuania to the east; and the Baltic Sea and Kaliningrad Oblast, a Russian exclave, to the north...
sport and military aviator
Aviator
An aviator is a person who flies an aircraft. The first recorded use of the term was in 1887, as a variation of 'aviation', from the Latin avis , coined in 1863 by G. de la Landelle in Aviation Ou Navigation Aérienne...
. Along with Stanisław Wigura, he won the international air contest Challenge 1932
Challenge 1932
The Challenge 1932 was the third FAI International Tourist Plane Contest , that took place between 12 and August 28, 1932 in Berlin, Germany. The four Challenges, from 1929 to 1934, were major aviation events in pre-war Europe.-Overview:...
.
He was born in Święciany, near Wilno
Vilnius
Vilnius is the capital of Lithuania, and its largest city, with a population of 560,190 as of 2010. It is the seat of the Vilnius city municipality and of the Vilnius district municipality. It is also the capital of Vilnius County...
currently in Lithuania
Lithuania
Lithuania , officially the Republic of Lithuania is a country in Northern Europe, the biggest of the three Baltic states. It is situated along the southeastern shore of the Baltic Sea, whereby to the west lie Sweden and Denmark...
(at that time part of the Russian Empire
Russian Empire
The Russian Empire was a state that existed from 1721 until the Russian Revolution of 1917. It was the successor to the Tsardom of Russia and the predecessor of the Soviet Union...
) and attended school in Wilno. During World War I
World War I
World War I , which was predominantly called the World War or the Great War from its occurrence until 1939, and the First World War or World War I thereafter, was a major war centred in Europe that began on 28 July 1914 and lasted until 11 November 1918...
, he volunteered for the Russian Army
Imperial Russian Army
The Imperial Russian Army was the land armed force of the Russian Empire, active from around 1721 to the Russian Revolution of 1917. In the early 1850s, the Russian army consisted of around 938,731 regular soldiers and 245,850 irregulars . Until the time of military reform of Dmitry Milyutin in...
, graduated from an officer school in Irkutsk
Irkutsk
Irkutsk is a city and the administrative center of Irkutsk Oblast, Russia, one of the largest cities in Siberia. Population: .-History:In 1652, Ivan Pokhabov built a zimovye near the site of Irkutsk for gold trading and for the collection of fur taxes from the Buryats. In 1661, Yakov Pokhabov...
, and served in infantry
Infantry
Infantrymen are soldiers who are specifically trained for the role of fighting on foot to engage the enemy face to face and have historically borne the brunt of the casualties of combat in wars. As the oldest branch of combat arms, they are the backbone of armies...
, fighting against the Germans
Germans
The Germans are a Germanic ethnic group native to Central Europe. The English term Germans has referred to the German-speaking population of the Holy Roman Empire since the Late Middle Ages....
. He was awarded with the Order of St. Anna
Order of St. Anna
The Order of St. Anna ) is a Holstein and then Russian Imperial order of chivalry established by Karl Friedrich, Duke of Holstein-Gottorp on 14 February 1735, in honour of his wife Anna Petrovna, daughter of Peter the Great of Russia...
, 4th class. In 1917 he joined the Polish corps of Gen. Józef Dowbor-Muśnicki
Józef Dowbor-Musnicki
Józef Dowbor-Muśnicki was a Polish military officer and commander, serving with the Imperial Russian and then Polish armies...
, formed in Russia. After the corps was disbanded in 1918, he enlisted in Gen. Anton Denikin's Volunteer Army
Volunteer Army
The Volunteer Army was an anti-Bolshevik army in South Russia during the Russian Civil War of 1918-1920....
and fought against the Bolshevik
Bolshevik
The Bolsheviks, originally also Bolshevists , derived from bol'shinstvo, "majority") were a faction of the Marxist Russian Social Democratic Labour Party which split apart from the Menshevik faction at the Second Party Congress in 1903....
s in the Russian Civil War
Russian Civil War
The Russian Civil War was a multi-party war that occurred within the former Russian Empire after the Russian provisional government collapsed to the Soviets, under the domination of the Bolshevik party. Soviet forces first assumed power in Petrograd The Russian Civil War (1917–1923) was a...
. He completed an air observer course then. After the Bolsheviks' victory in the war in 1921, Żwirko fought his way to Poland across the Soviet-Polish border.
In Poland, he completed an aviation school in Bydgoszcz in November 1923, and a higher pilotage school in Grudziądz
Grudziadz
Grudziądz is a city in northern Poland on the Vistula River, with 96 042 inhabitants . Situated in the Kuyavian-Pomeranian Voivodeship , the city was previously in the Toruń Voivodeship .- History :-Early history:...
. He became a fighter
Fighter aircraft
A fighter aircraft is a military aircraft designed primarily for air-to-air combat with other aircraft, as opposed to a bomber, which is designed primarily to attack ground targets...
pilot in the 18th Fighter Squadron of the 1st Air Regiment, with a rank of porucznik pilot (flying lieutenant). He also became active in sports aviation. Żwirko distinguished himself as a very skilled and calm pilot. In August 1927, flying a Breguet 19
Breguet 19
The Breguet 19 was a light bomber and reconnaissance plane, also used for long-distance flights, designed by the French Breguet company and produced from 1924.-Development:...
military plane, he took the 2nd place in the 1st air contest of the Little Entente
Little Entente
The Little Entente was an alliance formed in 1920 and 1921 by Czechoslovakia, Romania and Yugoslavia with the purpose of common defense against Hungarian revision and the prevention of a Habsburg restoration...
and Poland in Yugoslavia, and the 1st place in its rally part. From 1929 he was assigned as a liaison officer in the University Aeroclub (Aeroklub Akademicki) in Warsaw.
Thanks to his new post, he could increase his sporting activity, meeting young aviation enthusiasts - mostly students of Warsaw University of Technology
Warsaw University of Technology
The Warsaw University of Technology is one of the leading institutes of technology in Poland, and one of the largest in Central Europe. It employs 2,453 teaching faculty, with 357 professors . The student body numbers 36,156 , mostly full-time. There are 17 faculties covering almost all fields of...
. He especially made friends with young engineer Stanislaw Wigura
Stanislaw Wigura
Stanisław Wigura was a Polish aircraft designer and aviator, co-founder of the RWD aircraft construction team and lecturer at the Warsaw University of Technology. Along with Franciszek Żwirko, he won the international air contest Challenge 1932.He was born in Warsaw...
, one of designers of the RWD
RWD (aircraft manufacturer)
RWD was a Polish aircraft construction bureau active between 1928 and 1939. It started as a team of three young designers, Stanisław Rogalski, Stanisław Wigura and Jerzy Drzewiecki, whose names formed the RWD acronym.-History:...
team. They often flew together from then, Wigura as a mechanic and second pilot. Between August 9 and September 6, 1929, Żwirko and Wigura flew the RWD-2
RWD-2
-See also:-References:* Glass, Andrzej: Polskie konstrukcje lotnicze 1893-1939 , WKiŁ, Warsaw 1977, p. 286-288 -External links:*...
prototype across Europe, on Warsaw
Warsaw
Warsaw is the capital and largest city of Poland. It is located on the Vistula River, roughly from the Baltic Sea and from the Carpathian Mountains. Its population in 2010 was estimated at 1,716,855 residents with a greater metropolitan area of 2,631,902 residents, making Warsaw the 10th most...
–Paris
Paris
Paris is the capital and largest city in France, situated on the river Seine, in northern France, at the heart of the Île-de-France region...
–Barcelona
Barcelona
Barcelona is the second largest city in Spain after Madrid, and the capital of Catalonia, with a population of 1,621,537 within its administrative limits on a land area of...
–Milano–Warsaw 5000 km route, and on October 6 they won in the 1st Rally of South-Eastern Poland. On October 16, 1929, Żwirko and Antoni Kocjan
Antoni Kocjan
Antoni Kocjan , was a renowned Polish glider constructor and a contributor to the intelligence services of the Polish Home Army during World War II....
set an international FAI
Fédération Aéronautique Internationale
The Fédération Aéronautique Internationale is the world governing body for air sports and aeronautics and astronautics world records. Its head office is in Lausanne, Switzerland. This includes man-carrying aerospace vehicles from balloons to spacecraft, and unmanned aerial vehicles...
altitude record of 4,004 m (13,136 ft) in the light tourist plane class (below 280 kg or 616 lb empty weight) on that plane.
In July 1930 Żwirko and Wigura took part in the International Tourist Plane Competition Challenge 1930
Challenge 1930
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....
, flying the RWD-4
RWD-4
|-See also:-References:* Glass, Andrzej: "Polskie konstrukcje lotnicze 1893-1939" , WKiŁ, Warsaw 1977 -External links:*...
, but they had to withdraw on July 25 due to engine failure, after an emergency landing in Spain. In September and October 1930 they won two contest in Poland (the 2nd Rally of South-Eastern Poland flying RWD-2 and the 3rd Light Aircraft Contest, flying RWD-4), and in October 1931 they won the 4th Touring Planes Contest, flying on a prototype RWD-5
RWD-5
|-See also:-References:* , retrieved on 2008-07-06.* Glass, Andrzej: "Polskie konstrukcje lotnicze 1893-1939" , WKiŁ, Warsaw 1977...
. On August 7, 1931 Żwirko and Stanisław Prauss tried to break another altitude record, on RWD-7
RWD-7
-See also:-References:*Andrzej Glass: "Polskie konstrukcje lotnicze 1893-1939" , WKiŁ, Warsaw 1977...
, climbing at 5,996 m (19,672 ft), but it was not recognized by the FAI
Fédération Aéronautique Internationale
The Fédération Aéronautique Internationale is the world governing body for air sports and aeronautics and astronautics world records. Its head office is in Lausanne, Switzerland. This includes man-carrying aerospace vehicles from balloons to spacecraft, and unmanned aerial vehicles...
due to a non-standard recording device.
In December 1931 Żwirko was assigned a training escadre
Squadron (aviation)
A squadron in air force, army aviation or naval aviation is mainly a unit comprising a number of military aircraft, usually of the same type, typically with 12 to 24 aircraft, sometimes divided into three or four flights, depending on aircraft type and air force...
commander in an aviation school in Dęblin
Deblin
Dęblin is a town, population 19,500 , at the confluence of Vistula and Wieprz rivers, in Lublin Voivodeship, Poland. Dęblin is the part of the agglomeration with adjacent towns of Ryki and Puławy, which altogether has over 100 000 inhabitants....
. In April 1932 he was selected for the Polish team for the International Tourist Plane Competition Challenge 1932
Challenge 1932
The Challenge 1932 was the third FAI International Tourist Plane Contest , that took place between 12 and August 28, 1932 in Berlin, Germany. The four Challenges, from 1929 to 1934, were major aviation events in pre-war Europe.-Overview:...
, taking place between August 20-August 28 1932, and he chose Wigura as his crewmate. They won the competition, over favourite German and other teams, flying the new RWD-6
RWD-6
-See also:-References:*Andrzej Glass: "Polskie konstrukcje lotnicze 1893-1939" , WKiŁ, Warsaw 1977...
, and became heroes in Poland. The success was brought by Żwirko's pilotage skills and high quality of the plane, designed among others, by Wigura.
On 11 September 1932, flying to an air meeting to Prague
Prague
Prague is the capital and largest city of the Czech Republic. Situated in the north-west of the country on the Vltava river, the city is home to about 1.3 million people, while its metropolitan area is estimated to have a population of over 2.3 million...
, and Wigura fatally crashed in their RWD-6
RWD-6
-See also:-References:*Andrzej Glass: "Polskie konstrukcje lotnicze 1893-1939" , WKiŁ, Warsaw 1977...
in the forest at Cierlicko near Cieszyn
Cieszyn
Cieszyn is a border-town and the seat of Cieszyn County, Silesian Voivodeship, southern Poland. It has 36,109 inhabitants . Cieszyn lies on the Olza River, a tributary of the Oder river, opposite Český Těšín....
in Czechoslovakia, when the wing broke in a heavy storm. The two men were buried in the Avenue of the Meritorious in Powązki Cemetery in Warsaw.
Honours and awards
On September 14, 1932 the President of Poland posthumously awarded Żwirko the Knight's Cross of the Order of Polonia Restituta "for his contribution in the field of propaganda in the international aviation" and, on March 12, 1933, he received a posthumous promotion to captain with seniority from 1 January 1933.He had also been decorated with the Gold and Silver Crosses of Merit and the Russian Order of St. Anna
Order of St. Anna
The Order of St. Anna ) is a Holstein and then Russian Imperial order of chivalry established by Karl Friedrich, Duke of Holstein-Gottorp on 14 February 1735, in honour of his wife Anna Petrovna, daughter of Peter the Great of Russia...
, class IV (combat merit).