Franciszek Żwirko

Franciszek Żwirko
Franciszek Żwirko
	Franciszek Żwirko in 1932
Born	16 September 1895; Sventiany, Russian Empire
Died	11 September 1932 (aged 36); Těrlicko, Czechoslovakia
Resting place	Powązki Cemetery
Nationality	Polish
Occupation	Aviator
Signature

Franciszek Żwirko [english pronunciation like: frantsishek zhvirko] (16 September 1895 – 11 September 1932) was a prominent

Challenge 1932

.

Biography

He was born in

Bolsheviks in the Russian Civil War

. He completed an air observer course. 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

Aeroclub

(Aeroklub Akademicki) in Warsaw.

Thanks to his new post, he could increase his sporting activity, meeting young aviation enthusiasts - mostly students of

RWD-2 prototype across Europe, on Warsaw–Paris–Barcelona–Milan–Warsaw 5,000 kilometres (5,000,000 m) route, and on October 6 they won in the 1st Rally of South-Eastern Poland. On October 16, 1929, Żwirko and Antoni Kocjan set an international FAI

altitude record of 4,004 metres (13,136 ft) in the light tourist plane class (below 280 kg or 616 lb empty weight) on that plane.

Cierlicko

, in the place of his fatal crash.

In July 1930, Żwirko and Wigura took part in the International Tourist Plane Competition

RWD-7, climbing at 5,996 metres (19,672 ft), but it was not recognized by the FAI

due to a non-standard recording device.

In December 1931, Żwirko was assigned a training

RWD-6

, 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, while flying to an air meeting in

Cierlicko, near Cieszyn

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 14 September 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 the captain with seniority from 1 January 1933.

He had also been decorated with the

Order of St. Anna

, class IV (combat merit).

References

Konieczny, Jerzy; Tadeusz Malinowski (1983). Mała encyklopedia lotników polskich. Warsaw: Wydawnictwa Komunikacji i Łączności.
ISBN 83-206-0337-4
.

Szczotka, Halina (August 2012). "Start do wieczności". Zwrot: 22–25.

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