Janusz Żurakowski

Janusz Żurakowski (12 September 1914 – 9 February 2004) was a Polish fighter and test pilot. At various times in his life he lived and worked in Poland, the United Kingdom, and Canada.

Early life Żurakowski was born in 1914 to Polish parents in Ryżawka near Uman, which had been a village in the Russian Empire since 1793, when it was removed from Poland in the Second Partition. In 1921, following the Polish–Soviet War, the Treaty of Riga established the frontier between Soviet Russia and the Second Polish Republic. The new border placed Ryżawka in Soviet territory, so the Żurakowski family left their home and escaped into the newly established Polish Republic.

Żurakowski was educated at a high school in Lublin, where he learned to fly gliders. In 1934, he joined the Polish Air Force and entered the Polish Air Force Officers' School. After learning to fly powered aircraft, he graduated in 1935 as a sub-lieutenant. He went on to serve as a fighter pilot posted to 161 Fighter Squadron in Lwów, and in 1939 he served as a flying instructor at Dęblin.

After retiring from the RAF as a squadron leader in 1947, Żurakowski was employed as chief experimental test pilot for Gloster Aircraft Company reporting to Chief Test Pilot Bill Waterton. When Waterton was in Canada on assignment, Żurakowski assumed the role of acting chief test pilot, flying the Gloster E.1/44 and experimental versions of the Gloster Meteor and Javelin fighters. He set an international speed record: London–Copenhagen–London, 4–5 April 1950.

At the 1951 at Farnborough Airshow, Żurakowski demonstrated a new aerobatics manoeuvre, the "Zurabatic cartwheel", in which he suspended the Gloster Meteor G-7-1 prototype he was flying in a vertical cartwheel. "This jet manoeuvre was the first new aerobatic in 20 years." The cartwheel used the dangerously asymmetric behaviour the Meteor had with one engine throttled back. It started with a vertical climb to , by which point the aircraft had slowed to only . Cutting the power of one engine caused the Meteor to pivot. When the nose was pointing downwards, the second engine was throttled back. The aircraft continued to rotate through a further 360 degrees on momentum alone, having lost nearly all vertical velocity. Carrying out the cartwheel and recovering from it without entering an inverted spin (which the Meteor could not be brought out of) required great skill.

In April 1952, Żurakowski and his family left for Canada, where he became a test pilot for A.V. Roe Canada,

The most famous aircraft associated with Żurakowski was the Avro Canada CF-105 Arrow.

During the Avro Canada years, Żurakowski continued to fly as an aerobatic display pilot with spectacular results. Especially successful was the 1955 Farnborough Airshow, where he displayed the CF-100 in a "falling-leaf". He was acclaimed again as the "Great Zura" by many aviation and industry observers. In 1958, he was chosen as the chief development test pilot of the new CF-105 Avro Arrow programme. On 25 March 1958, with Żurakowski at the controls, Arrow RL 25201 took off from Malton, Ontario for its first flight. The flight lasted 35 minutes and was problem-free. Żurakowski continued in the flight test program. He flew Arrows RL 201, 202, and 203 over a total of 21 flights, for 23.75 hours, reaching speeds of Mach 1.89 and an altitude of .

After flying Arrow 203 on 26 September 1958, Żurakowski decided to give up test flying for good, fulfilling a promise he had made to his wife to stop experimental flying once he reached the age of 40, although he had already exceeded that age.

Later life Żurakowski retired from active test flying in November 1958 but continued with the Avro Aircraft company as an engineer in the Flight Test Office. On 20 February 1959, the infamous "Black Friday", Żurakowski, along with the approximately 15,000 employees of the Avro and Orenda plants, learned that the Diefenbaker government had precipitously cancelled the Avro Arrow programme and its Orenda Iroquois engine. The five flying examples and the newly constructed RL-206 (slated for a run at world air speed and altitude records) along with all the assorted factory jigs and tools were broken up. Only the nose of Arrow 206 and sections of other Arrows remain. They are currently on display at the Canada Aviation Museum in Ottawa.

After deciding to leave the aviation world altogether, Żurakowski and his family moved to Barry's Bay, Ontario to build Kartuzy Lodge

Honours In recognition of his contributions to Canadian aviation, Żurakowski was inducted into Canada's Aviation Hall of Fame in 1973. He was further honoured in 1996 by the Royal Canadian Mint's release of a commemorative coin, the Avro Canada CF-100 Canuck, which featured an insert of Janusz Żurakowski. In 1997, he was inducted into the Western Canada Aviation Museum "Pioneers of Canadian Aviation" annals. He was profiled the following year in the documentary film "Straight Arrow". On 23 July 1999, CFB Cold Lake (Alberta) Aerospace Engineering Test Establishment named its new facility, the "Żurakowski Building". In September 2000, he became an honorary fellow of the Society of Experimental Test Pilots, joining the ranks of Charles Lindbergh, Neil Armstrong, and Igor Sikorsky, among numerous other luminaries.

Żurakowski received the Commander's Cross of the Order of Merit of the Republic of Poland in 1999.

His adopted hometown built Żurakowski Park in 2003, recognizing his contributions to the community and to the world. Two imposing statues of Janusz Żurakowski and his beloved Avro Arrow dominate the arrow-shaped Żurakowski Park (an elongated triangle evocative of the Avro Arrow's profile). It is located at the crossroads of two main streets in Barry's Bay, Ontario. A future museum and visitor's commemorative centre consisting of a gazebo and display area will be located at Żurakowski Park.

The former Gloster Aircraft company airfield site at Brockworth has become a residential area in Gloucester, UK and has a Zura Avenue.