Pelagia Majewska

Pelagia Teresa Majewska (26 April 1933 – 12 July 1988) was a Polish aeroplane and glider pilot-instructor, who won many national and world glider records. She was also a social activist.

Early life and education

Pelagia Teresa Pietrzak was born on 26 April 1933 in Rowne (now Rivne) in Volhynia to Stanisława (d. 1985) and Jan Pietrzak (d. 1942 in Mauthausen concentration camp). After the Second World War, the surviving family settled in Lublin following the incorporation of Volhynia into the Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic. After completing primary school, she attended the III Liceum im. Unii Lubelskie (Unia Lubelska Secondary School).

She earned her secondary school-leaving certificate in 1950.

At school, she belonged to the Polish Scouting and Guiding Association, taking part in athletics and swimming.

She earned 17 world records and 21 national records. Her total gliding flying hours were 3,500 hours and the distance covered was close to . She was the first glider pilot in the country to be awarded the highest Polish gliding decoration, the Tański Medal (pl), in 1956. (Marcelle Choisnet was the first woman to receive the award, in 1951). She was a Polish Distinguished Master of Sport and was awarded the Medal for Outstanding Sports Achievements three times. She was buried on 21 July 1988 in the family grave in the Roman Catholic cemetery on Lipowa Street in Lublin (plot no. 30A, row XXI, no. 27). She was survived by her husband Tadeusz Zbigniew Majewski (1929–2002) and their son, Sławomir.

Awards and commemoration For her achievements in Polish aviation, Majewska was awarded both the Gold and Silver Cross of Merit and the Silver and Bronze Medal of Merit for National Defence. She was posthumously awarded the Officer's Cross of the Order of Polonia Restituta.

In 1989, at the request of the Polish Aero Club, the Fédération Aéronautique Internationale's General Conference established the Pelagia Majewska medal in honour of her memory. It is an annual award given to a female glider pilot to reward: a particularly remarkable performance in gliding during the past year, or eminent services to gliding over a long period of time.

On 8 January 2002, the Board of the Central Gliding School in Leszno voted to name the AP Central Gliding School after Pelagia Majewska. In 2014, roundabouts were named in her honour in Lublin and Mełgwia.

In 2008, the ALTAIR Aviation Agency published a book by Irena Kostka, Majewska's sister and fellow pilot, entitled Szybowniczka Świata (Gliderwoman of the World), dedicated to Pelagia Majewska's sporting and professional career.