The crews took off between 9 and 9.59 AM on Sunday, July 20, from Berlin-Tempelhof. Despite poor weather, on the first day, fifteen crews reached Saint-Inglevert near Calais, 1058 km away (among them, 6 British crews, 4 French, 3 Polish and only 2 German). One Spanish and one Polish crew damaged aircraft (CASA C-1 and PWS-52) and had to withdraw, the other Pole from the fastest group Tadeusz Karpiński (RWD-4) got ill from appendicitis. On July 21 the weather enabled flying only about mid-day, but then most crews flew over the English Channel, and the fastest 23 planes managed to return to France. Three British and three French crews reached Paris that day, flying 843,5 km. One French crew destroyed the plane during forced landing (PM XI), several other planes got damaged on that or the previous day, but could be repaired.