Article

Janusz Zurakowski

Published Online May 26, 2008

Last Edited July 24, 2015

Janusz Zurakowski, aviator (born 12 September 1914 in Ryzawka, Russia ; died 9 February 2004 in Barry's Bay, ON ). Raised in Poland, he joined the Polish Air Force in 1937, escaped to England and took part in the Battle of Britain.
Janusz Zurakowski, engineer
Janusz Zurakowski after the first flight of the Avro CF-105, Arrow, 25 March 1958, Malton, Ontario (courtesy Library and Archives Canada/C-61731).

Janusz Zurakowski, aviator (born 12 September 1914 in Ryzawka, Russia ; died 9 February 2004 in Barry's Bay, ON). Raised in Poland, he joined the Polish Air Force in 1937, escaped to England and took part in the Battle of Britain. In 1945 he tested Britain's first jet fighter. In Toronto, he became Avro Aircraft's chief development pilot in 1952. Zurakowski broke the sound barrier in an Avro CF-100 - the first Canadian aircraft to reach that speed - and made the first flight of the Avro Arrow (CF-105), an advanced supersonic jet, exceeding 1600 km/h on the seventh flight. After the Avro Arrow program was cancelled, he retired from the aviation industry and established a vacation resort near Barry's Bay, Ontario. Zurakowski was awarded the McKee Trophy in 1958 and was inducted into the Canadian Aviation Hall of Fame in 1973. In 1996 his face appeared on a $20 commemorative coin issued by the Royal Canadian Mint.