Franciszek Żwirko

Who was Franciszek Żwirko?

Franciszek Żwirko was a prominent Polish sport and military aviator. Along with Stanisław Wigura, he won the international air contest Challenge 1932.

He was born in Święciany, near Wilno currently in Lithuania and attended school in Wilno. During World War I, he volunteered for the Russian Army, graduated from an officer school in Irkutsk, and served in infantry, fighting against the Germans. He was awarded with the Order of St. Anna, 4th class. In 1917 he joined the Polish corps of Gen. Józef Dowbor-Muśnicki, formed in Russia. After the corps was disbanded in 1918, he enlisted in Gen. Anton Denikin's Volunteer Army and fought against the Bolsheviks in the Russian Civil War. 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. He became a fighter pilot in the 18th Fighter Squadron of the 1st Air Regiment, with a rank of porucznik pilot. He also became active in sports aviation. Żwirko distinguished himself as a very skilled and calm pilot. In August 1927, flying a Breguet 19 military plane, he took the 2nd place in the 1st air contest of the Little Entente 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 in Warsaw.