Janusz Zurakowski

Janusz (Jan) Zurakowski was born on September 12, 1914, in Ryzawka, Russia, and moved to Poland seven years later where he was educated at Garwolin and Lubin. As a youth he was interested in aviation and won a 1929 national competition for building model airplanes. The prize was a ride in a plane, Zurakowski's first flight. In 1932, while attending high school, he learned to fly gliders built by his older brother.

In 1934 he joined the Polish Air Force, and in 1937 was posted to No. 161 Fighter Squadron at Lwow, Poland. At the outbreak of World War II in September 1939, he was an instructor in a Polish fighter squadron.

When Poland was defeated by Germany in 1939, Zurakowski escaped to England. He flew for the British Royal Air Force (RAF), and during the Battle of Britain, while flying with Nos. 234 and 609 Squadrons, he was credited with destroying three enemy aircraft in combat. In April 1942, he was promoted to Flight Lieutenant and several months later took command of NBo. 316 Polish Fighter Squadron. The following year he was named Deputy Wing Leader of the Northolt Wing. For his wartime services he was awarded the Polish Virtuti Militari and Polish Cross of Valour, with two Bars. He was twice Mentioned in Despatches for his conduct during engagements with the enemy.

In 1944, after completing the Empire Test Pilot's Course, Zurakowski was posted to the RAF's Aircraft and Armament Experimental Establishment, test flying de Havilland's Hornet fighter. In 1947 he joined the Gloster Aircraft Company as an experimental test pilot. He test flew the later models of the Meteor fighter, which was first flown in 1943 and was Great Britain's first jet fighter. He also test flew the Javelin, a delta-wing model. On April 4, 1950, he established a new international air speed record between London-Copenhagen-London in a Meteor Mk 8.

Zurakowski immigrated to Canada in 1952 to join Avro Aircraft Limited at Toronto, Ontario, as Chief Development Test Pilot. For the next few years, he worked as test pilot on the development of the CF-100 fighter aircraft which was being built at that time. In 1952 he flew the CF-100 Mk.4 in a power dive through the sound barrier, a feat previously thought impossible. It was the first Canadian designed aircraft to reach that speed.

During this period, initial work on a new Canadian supersonic aircraft was in progress, the Avro CF-105. The idea of a supersonic interceptor, known later as the Arrow, originated in 1951 when the Avro team in Canada under Jim Floyd submitted a brochure to the Royal Canadian Air Force (RCAF) containing proposals for supersonic fighters. In March 1952, an operational requirement was received from the RCAF for an all-weather interceptor. In June 1952, the company presented two proposals: a single and a twin-engine delta-wing interceptor with a two-man crew. In June 1953, the company presented the CF-105 proposal and obtained instructions to go ahead with the design study. This aircraft was meant to defend Canada's Arctic against possible Soviet attack and was designed to meet specifications that hold up today, including flying at Mach 2, twice the speed of sound.

After six years at Avro, Zurakowski was chosen to be the first pilot to fly the Arrow. On March 25, 1958, he completed the first flight of the prototype, checking the response of controls, engines, undercarriage and air brakes, handling qualities at speeds of up to 400 knots, and low speed in a landing configuration. He flew Arrow models 1, 2, and 3 on a total of 21 test flights, climbing higher and flying faster. He flew it at Mach 1.89, another Avro test pilot, W. 'Spud' Potocki took it to Mach 1.98, but it was never tried at maximum speed. On February 20, 1959, production of the aircraft was halted by the Canadian government and the five existing planes and others in production were ordered to be destroyed, along with all blueprints, brochures, reports and photographs.

Zurakowski was awarded the Trans-Canada (McKee) Trophy for 1958 in recognition of this experimental work and two years later retired from aviation to engage in the tourist business at Barry's Bay, Ontario.

On March 20th, 2000, was honoured when the new hangar of the Aerospace Engineering Test Establishment (AETE) at Cold Lake, Alberta was named ‘Janusz Zurakowski’. He was honoured again the same year at Los Angeles, California, when he was named an Honourary Fellow in The Society of Experimental Test Pilots, it was noted at the time: “there are not many test pilots whose total flying careers included fighting for two countries, winning the highest award for wartime valour given by his native country, and going from biplanes to Mach 2”.

In 2003, Zurakowski Park was officially opened on July 26th in his honour at Barry’s Bay, Ontario. The Park consists of a large-scale replica of the Avro Arrow with a statue of Zurakowski, as well as a tourist pavilion with interactive displays.

Just before his death at Barry’s Bay, Ontario on February 9, 2004, Jan Zurakowski’s assisted Bill Zuk in writing the book: Janusz Zurakowski: Legend in the Skies.

Janusz 'Jan' Zurakowski was inducted as a Member of Canada's Aviation Hall of Fame in 1974 at a ceremony held at Edmonton, Alberta.

In 1951, while flying a Meteor fighter at the Farnborough Air Show in England, Jan Zurakowski demonstrated a new aerobatic manoeuvre. With a fully loaded Meteor, including rockets and wingtip fuel tanks, he climber vertically until the aircraft was almost stationary in the vertical plane, then, by cutting one engine, he made the aircraft cartwheel int he vertical plane, wing over wing, as it fell. This became known as the "Zurabatrix Cartwheel".