Józef Lewoniewski (20 March 1899 – 11 September 1933) was a Polish military and sports aviator. He was a brother of the Soviet aviator Sigizmund Levanevsky. He was born in Russia to a Polish family. In May 1919 he returned to independent Poland and served in the

Polish Army The Land Forces () are the Army, land forces of the Polish Armed Forces. They currently contain some 110,000 active personnel and form many components of the European Union and NATO deployments around the world. Poland's recorded military histor ...

, in a cavalry, during Polish-Soviet war. In 1923 he volunteered for the air force and completed an aviation school in

Bydgoszcz Bydgoszcz is a city in northern Poland and the largest city in the historical region of Kuyavia. Straddling the confluence of the Vistula River and its bank (geography), left-bank tributary, the Brda (river), Brda, the strategic location of Byd ...

, then in France. He served as a fighter pilot, in a rank of Flying Captain (''kapitan pilot''). Lewoniewski was also active in sports flying. In 1930 he participated in

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 pr ...

International Tourist Aircraft Contest, flying PWS-51, but he had to withdraw due to oil pipe damage. On 15 August 1931 he flew a PWS-52 plane around Poland non-stop in 12 hours 35 minutes, covering 1755 km. On 1 September 1931 he flew the same plane from Warszaw to

Saloniki Thessaloniki (; ), also known as Thessalonica (), Saloniki, Salonika, or Salonica (), is the second-largest city in Greece (with slightly over one million inhabitants in its Thessaloniki metropolitan area, metropolitan area) and the capital cit ...

and back (2700 km). Next he came with an idea of flying around the world in PWS-52 aircraft, but it was abandoned due to lack of funding. From March 1933 he worked in Aviation Technical Research Institute in Warsaw as a test pilot. On 11 September 1933 Józef Lewoniewski with Colonel Czesław Filipowicz, attempted at breaking world's record of flight distance in tourist planes category, on Warsaw -

Krasnoyarsk Krasnoyarsk is the largest types of inhabited localities in Russia, city and administrative center of Krasnoyarsk Krai, Russia. It is situated along the Yenisey, Yenisey River, and is the second-largest city in Siberia after Novosibirsk, with a p ...

route, flying modified

PZL.19 PZL.19 was a Polish sports aircraft built in 1932 in aviation, 1932 in the Państwowe Zakłady Lotnicze, PZL works. Ordered by the Ministry of Communications, it was specifically designed for the upcoming Challenge 1932 contest held that year in G ...

plane. After 8 and a half hours, the plane went into a

spin Spin or spinning most often refers to: * Spin (physics) or particle spin, a fundamental property of elementary particles * Spin quantum number, a number which defines the value of a particle's spin * Spinning (textiles), the creation of yarn or thr ...

due to an air turbulence, it was brought under control, but it was too low and it hit the ground near

Kazan Kazan; , IPA: Help:IPA/Tatar, ɑzanis the largest city and capital city, capital of Tatarstan, Russia. The city lies at the confluence of the Volga and the Kazanka (river), Kazanka Rivers, covering an area of , with a population of over 1. ...

. Lewoniewski was killed, while Filipowicz was slightly injured.Glass, A. (1977), p.243-244

References

* *Romeyko, Marian (ed.) (1937) (in Polish). ''Polska lotnicza'', Warsaw. 1899 births 1933 deaths Aviators killed in aviation accidents or incidents Military personnel from Saint Petersburg Polish people of the Polish–Soviet War Polish aviators Victims of aviation accidents or incidents in 1933 Victims of aviation accidents or incidents in the Soviet Union People from the Russian Empire of Polish descent {{Poland-bio-stub