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Janusz Zurakowski
Janusz Zurakowski joined the Polish Air Force as a cadet, at the officer's school, Deblin, in 1934. After 3 years training he was commissioned and posted to No. 161 Fighter Squadron at Lvov. In March 1939 he was posted as an instructor to the Fighter Training School at Deblin. In September, during the invasion of Poland, he was flying the obsolete P-7 aircraft but damaged a Dornier Do17. With his country's forces defeated, in 1940 he escaped to England via Romania, Syria and France. Enlisting in the Royal Air Force Volunteer Reserve he was posted to No. 234 Squadron at St Eval. The squadron moved to Middle Wallop in August, and on the 24th he was in combat with Luftwaffe Experten Oberleutnant Hans-Karl Mayer of 1 Staffel JagdGeschwader 53. After landing, Jan's Spitfire, N3279, was found to be damaged beyond repair. Revenge was to come on 15th August when he shared in the destruction of a Messerschmitt Bf110 flown by Feldwebel J Birndorfer of 6 Staffel ZerstorerGeschwader 76. The pilot was thought by some to have baled out, but Jan states that he was chasing the aircraft at treetop height and no pilot would have even considered baling out at that altitude. The Bf110 lost power from both damaged engines and crash-landed on the Isle of Wight. It did not catch fire, and many allied soldiers were seen gathering around the wreckage.
On
6th October 1940, Jan joined 609 (West Riding) Squadron at Middle Wallop, under
the command of Squadron Leader Michael Robinson. His Battle of Britain claims
were for three enemy aircraft destroyed. In March 1941, Jan was posted to No. 57 Operational Training Unit at Hawarden as an instructor. This was followed by postings to No. 61 and No. 58 OTU's, before returning to an operational unit on 8th December 1941, when he joined No. 315 (Polish) Squadron at RAF Northolt.
On
11th April 1942, Jan was posted as a Flight Commander to No. 306 (Polish)
Squadron at RAF Church Fenton, taking command of the squadron on 6th June at
Heston with the rank of Squadron Leader. His next posting was in 1943 to Northolt as Sector Gunnery Instructor. Later, as deputy Wing Leader, he led the Polish Wing on 46 Operational sorties.
In
March 1944, Jan was selected for Course No. 2 at the Empire Test Pilots School,
and in 1945 he was posted to Boscombe Down for test pilot duties with the Fleet
Air Arm Squadron, where he tested over 30 types of aircraft - including, amongst
others, the Tempest, Typhoon, Vampire, Meteor, and Sabre whilst with 'A'
Squadron. Post-war Jan joined the Gloster Aircraft Company in June 1947 as Experimental and Development Test Pilot. On 21st December 1948 he undertook the maiden flight of the Meteor Mk F8. This was followed on March 23rd 1950 with the maiden flights of Meteor Mk FR9, and the next day Meteor Mk PR-10. On 4th April 1950 he set a speed record for the London to Copenhagen return flight. Between 1947 and 1952 he logged over 1000 flights in Meteors, 50 in the E1 / 44 and 14 in the Javelin.
Jan's display flying at the Farnborough airshows was now becoming the talk of the aviation world. He had demonstrated the Martin Baker MB5 fighter back in 1946, the Meteor 4 in 1948, the Meteor TV11 in 1949, the Sapphire Meteor in 1950, and capped it all in 1951 when he flew the ground attack version of the Meteor with a demonstration of a new manoeuvre that he had developed and dubbed the 'Zurabatic Cartwheel'.
Leaving Gloster's at the end of April 1952, he joined Avro Canada at Malton, Ontario, as Chief Experimental Test Pilot, and on 11th October made the first flight in the CF100 Mk4 - which he demonstrated at Farnborough in 1955. On 18th December 1952, he took it through the sound barrier. In 1954, Jan had to eject from an uncontrollable Mk4 and broke a leg in doing so. On 12th October 1955 he made the first flight in the Mk 5. In 1957 Jan tested the Convair F102A and a TF102A. On 25th March 1958 he made the first flight in the CF-105 (25201) and on 1st August he flew the second prototype of the Arrow and reached a speed of Mach 1.89 in the third prototype on 22nd September.
On 18th February 1959 the Canadian aircraft industry suffered an identical catastrophe to that which was to devastate the British one a few years later with the TSR-2 - under intense pressure from the Americans, the Arrow was scrapped by the Canadian Government with the loss of 14000 jobs. Jan retired immediately and moved to Barry's Bay, where he built a 'tourist lodge' in beautiful surroundings and was surrounded by his extended family. |
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