The exhibition presents the course of the Challenge 1934 tournament, in which the top two places were taken by Polish crews flying RWD-9S aircraft designed and built in Poland specifically for this competition — Jerzy Bajan and Gustaw Pokrzywka, who won first place, and Stanislaw Plonczynski and Stanislaw Zientek, who took second place.
The International Tourist Aircraft Competition Challenge was not only the largest sport aviation competition of the interwar period. The fourth edition of this extraordinary event was a symbol of Polish technical genius and competitive spirit on the eve of the coming war. Following the historic victory of Zwirko and Wigura in 1932, Poland was granted the right to host the next edition. From 28 August to 16 September 1934, Warsaw became the aviation capital of Europe.
The richly illustrated archival panels cover topics including:
The most important exhibit presented as part of this exhibition is the Challenge trophy, donated in 1929 by the Aero Club of France, which in 1934 — following the victory of Bajan and Pokrzywka — was awarded permanently to the Aero Club of Poland. Preserved through the war years, it remains today the most valuable sports trophy of the Polish Aero Club, entrusted on deposit to the Polish Aviation Museum in Krakow.
The Challenge International d’Avions de Tourisme trophy, permanently awarded to the Aero Club of Poland in 1935, is displayed in a showcase in Hangar No. 5, as part of the permanent exhibition “With the Wind and Against the Wind — Civil Aviation”. Another noteworthy exhibit, a memento of the Challenge 1934 competition, is a commemorative plate inlaid with amber.
The panel exhibition can be viewed in the Main Building of the Polish Aviation Museum. We warmly invite you to visit the Museum — the Challenge 1934 exhibition awaits to tell you the story of a triumph that has forever been inscribed in the history of Polish aviation.
Project team: Ewa Cuber-Strutyńska, Jarosław Dobrzyński, Piotr Kolasiński, Piotr Wilk, Aleksandra Blachnicka, Mateusz Tułodziecki
Graphic design: PIXEL Arkadiusz Morawski
