Żwirko was the senior pilot, Wigura the gifted younger designer: together they formed a duo Poland of the late 1920s needed: hungry for success and already crowned with international laurels. They were the idols of our great-grandparents: sometimes in the grease, always among the clouds.

The Last Flight and Death of Żwirko and Wigura in Cierlicko

On 11 September 1932, the aircraft flown by Franciszek Żwirko and Stanisław Wigura crashed at Cierlicko Górne in Zaolzie (now Horní Těrlicko in the Czech Republic). They were flying to Prague for another competition. The flight had been planned for Saturday, but for unknown reasons was postponed to the early hours of Sunday.

Two broken trees: that was the first sight that met the witnesses. In a memoir about his father, Henryk Żwirko describes the scene:

“On the ground, the remains of the plane; next to it, on a forest path, lay the body of a man. He was dead, mutilated. They were looking for another. He was lying a dozen metres away. Documents slipped from his windbreaker; it was Żwirko. Gendarmes and soldiers arrived at the crash site. The bodies of the two airmen were carried on a plain cart, covered with straw, to the cemetery chapel by the church. Two soldiers mounted guard.”

Żwirkowisko in Cierlicko: Commemoration of Żwirko and Wigura

The origin of the name “Żwirkowisko” is uncertain, though it likely reflects that Żwirko’s body was found first at the site. The aviators’ actual graves are at Powązki Cemetery in Warsaw; at Cierlicko, however, there is a symbolic burial place for Żwirko and Wigura, together with a commemorative stone and a monument.

The gravestones are almost identical: low mounds topped by boulders with roughened crowns. A cross is carved near the top; beneath it a granite plaque bears the name “Żwirko”, and on his companion’s grave the plaque reads “Wigura”. Both graves are enclosed by a wrought-iron fence.

Between the graves stands a monument known by several names and interpreted in different ways: some call it a memorial to an aviator, others to Icarus. Its dual authorship is notable – the Polish sculptor-medallist Jan Raszka and the Czech sculptor Julius Pelikán, whose efforts helped the work survive the war. The monument is tripartite: a rectangular stone plinth with plaques in Polish and Czech bearing the inscription “To the memory of Polish aviators Żwirko and Wigura, who died in the crash of their plane on this spot”; a core of stacked stone blocks, broken at about one third of the height by a hoop carved with emblems – the Polish eagle and the double-tailed Czech lion; and a classicising figure of an aviator–Icarus. The youthful figure wears a perizonium, holds a branch, probably a palm of martyrdom, and steadies himself with one hand against an aeroplane propeller; aviator goggles are pushed up on his brow. His feet touch a hemisphere, implying the Earth. A low metal fence encloses the monument.

The ensemble includes a stone inscribed “ŻWIRKO / WIGURA / 11.09.1932”, which scouts hid during the war to preserve a trace of the former cemetery. In 1999, a resident of Cierlicko erected a granite cross as a symbolic token of friendship between the two countries. Also in the town is the Polish House, known not only for its aviators’ memorial chamber but also for its cultivation of Polish traditions and customs.

Franciszek Żwirko and Stanisław Wigura 

Born in 1895 in Święciany (today Švenčionys in Lithuania), Franciszek Żwirko did not at first set his course for aviation. Like many compatriots, he was conscripted into the Tsarist army, attaining the rank of lieutenant. After Poland regained independence he completed pilot training, and from September 1921 he flew aircraft bearing the white-and-red national emblem. Flying became his vocation: he wanted to pilot, race and break records, and to win others to the passion. He met Wigura during outreach events at the Academic Aeroclub. He was posthumously promoted to the rank of captain. 

Historians still disagree about Wigura’s birth: some propose Żytomierz (today Zhytomir in Ukraine) in 1903, others Warsaw in 1901. What is certain is that from an early age he showed technical gifts and an ardour for aviation. He served in a field artillery regiment during the Polish-Bolshevik War; two years later, he founded the Aviation Section of the Student Mechanics’ Circle at the Warsaw University of Technology. With Stanisław Rogalski and Jerzy Drzewiecki, he built the first RWD sports aeroplane, named from their initials. In early September 1929, Żwirko and Wigura made a European tour in the RWD-2; on 6 October, they won the First South-West Poland Flight. Thereafter, the duo were almost inseparable and their following grew with each success.

The Most Famous Polish Pilots

Żwirko and Wigura reached the height of their fame in 1932 after winning the “Challenge” International Tourist Aircraft Competition, held 20–28 August in Berlin. Contemporary newspapers exclaimed: “Everything ceased to matter!”; “Europe’s aviator elite outpaced. Fierce battle in the final contest. Enthusiasm at the aerodrome. ‘Dąbrowski’s Mazurka’ before 50,000 Germans at Berlin aerodrome.”

A few weeks later, triumph gave way to tragedy. The same newspapers thundered: “All Poland shrouded in mourning”; “They died a hero’s death. May the earth be light to the conquerors of the skies.” The coffins were brought to Poland by special trains, which stopped in major cities so mourners could pay tribute. In Warsaw, the funeral at Powązki Cemetery for Żwirko and Wigura was attended by Marshal Piłsudski and, according to reports, up to 300,000 people.

Aerial Cemetery at Cierlicko

The critic Jan Kott observed: “The most visible sign of the dead, their still last presence on earth, is the grave.” So it proved with Żwirko and Wigura. After their bodies were moved to the church at Kościelec, efforts began at once to secure the “relics” left at the site: fragments of the aeroplane, pieces of equipment and, above all, the two trees broken in the crash. Beside them a board was hung reading: “Żwirko and Wigura: start to eternity”.

A committee under the patronage of the Polish consul in Ostrava, together with the local Polish community and the Moravian-Silesian Aero Club, resolved to acquire the site and create a memorial. Polish-Czechoslovak relations, however, were strained: memories of armed clashes and the dispute over so-called Zaolzie still coloured diplomacy.

Plans for a memorial lay dormant for years before they were realised at Cierlicko. A bell was also cast, the Polish state contributing demobilised cannon for smelting. Politics intervened twice: first the Czechoslovak side refused to allow transport of the bell to Cierlicko; later the Germans requisitioned the thirteen-tonne bell for the army. In time, the chapel – often called a mausoleum – the “death-mast” tree stumps and the other elements of the aerial cemetery were destroyed.

Nor did matters ease after the war. The birch cross on the fence disappeared; disputes arose over the memorial inscription. Local authorities are said to have placed the wording “To the airmen killed in the fight against fascism for freedom and democracy”, though the custodian of Żwirkowisko, Jan Przywara, reports no documentary confirmation of this beyond oral testimony. What is certain is that in 1957 a plaque was installed following Polish intervention; although not historically inaccurate, it uses the word “fallen”, which linguists note refers most strictly to death on the battlefield.

On the ninetieth anniversary of the crash, thanks to Polish–Czech cooperation, a commemorative plaque titled “Start to Eternity” was expected to hang again above Żwirkowisko.