Tribute to the Avro Arrow pilot

[lew]

It was such a gorgeous day yesterday my wife and I went for a 250 mile drive up towards the Ottawa Valley.

 

On the way thru Barrys Bay I saw this little park dedicated to Janusz Zurakowski who was the test pilot for the Avro Arrow back in the 50's

 

 

This plaque is hard to read but it tells how he was from Poland and was a fighter pilot for the Polish airforce during WW11 until they were defeated by the Germans and then he made his way to England where he fought in the Battle of Britain and shot down a few Germans planes.

 

After the war he emigrated to Canada to work as a test pilot for Avro and was the chief pilot on the Arrow until the program was scrapped. He set a couple speed records and sounds like he had a pretty illustrious carrer as a jet pilot.

 

He moved to Barrys Bay and opened and ran a tourist resort until his death and is now buried there in the town cemetary.

 

 

 

A few guys got together and made this 15' replica of the Arrow and I hafta tell ya, this thing is VERY impressive.

 

 

 

 

I don't know if any of you guys are interested in this stuff but I thought it was a really nice tribute to a man who added alot to the history of Canadian aviation.

[archer379]

wouldnt have know the name if some one said it to me but defintly a big part of are history. It was shame that they had to distroy all of the arrows would have change the face of are military. very cool thanks for posting

[Roy]

Good call on the visit, Lew. You and I were youngsters when the project was shot down by Deifenbaker but I remember it well. That delta winged interceptor was the best plane on the planet...everyone knew it and outside pressures led to John caving in and scrapping it. It was a sad episode in Canadian military history.

[I'mHooked]

My wife & I had the pleasure of spending time talking with him 'Jan' over dinner a few years before he passed. While we did talk about flying & the Arrow for 15-20 minutes, the remainder of the time was talking about life living in the country and how he turned a forest into a lodge and about the hundreds of trees he harvested himself by hand etc. He was a very humble man. He was so passionate about his life with his family that he made, which was rooted in sighting a plot of land from the air.

To hear the stories from one of his son's, Mark, about how they got made fun of as kids because their dad would come home from 'work' with blood shot eyes. Other kids / people thought he was 'drinking', when it was actually a result of the incredible G's and forces exerted while doing his test flying! They couldn't share the truth with their friends.

 

Jan is a hero of mine. One of my favourite 'keepsakes' is my "1st solo" certificate when I got my pilots license that he autographed for me.

 

I'll try & dig up a picture. (They're all pre-digital unfortunately!)

[Roy]

My wife & I had the pleasure of spending time talking with him 'Jan' over dinner a few years before he passed. While we did talk about flying & the Arrow for 15-20 minutes, the remainder of the time was talking about life living in the country and how he turned a forest into a lodge and about the hundreds of trees he harvested himself by hand etc. He was a very humble man. He was so passionate about his life with his family that he made, which was rooted in sighting a plot of land from the air.

To hear the stories from one of his son's, Mark, about how they got made fun of as kids because their dad would come home from 'work' with blood shot eyes. Other kids / people thought he was 'drinking', when it was actually a result of the incredible G's and forces exerted while doing his test flying! They couldn't share the truth with their friends.

 

Jan is a hero of mine. One of my favourite 'keepsakes' is my "1st solo" certificate when I got my pilots license that he autographed for me.

 

I'll try & dig up a picture. (They're all pre-digital unfortunately!)

 

That is just amazing! A fantastic story! I'd keep the license in a safety deposit box for sure. Both the plane and Jan were WAY ahead of their time. Thanks so much for sharing that.

[Pigeontroller]

Very cool Lew, thanks for posting that!

[irishfield]

Thanks Lew! I'll be over that way on Tuesday to pick up a disabled aircraft and may stop in the park. He was a great man, that I had the honour of meeting about 15 years ago.

[mercman]

definately a favorite part of Canadian history for me.In my mind it showed the rest of the world what we are capable of achieveing.

 

thanks Lew

[Dave Bailey]

He was tagged with the epithet 'The Great Zura' after his displays in a CF-100 at Farnborough, everyone was impressed by his skill at doing things with a jet that hadn't been done before. One of my earliest childhood memories is being at a beach on Lake Simcoe in 1958, when suddenly there was an incredible bang and a roar above us. We all looked up to see the Arrow streaking northward. If you want to see a full scale replica drop in to the Canadian Air and Space Museum at Downsview Park.

[I'mHooked]

That is just amazing! A fantastic story! I'd keep the license in a safety deposit box for sure. Both the plane and Jan were WAY ahead of their time. Thanks so much for sharing that.

 

He was an amazing person.

 

Here's a picture:

 

 

L to R: father-in-law, Jan Zurakowski, me (don't have as many chins now!) & Jim Floyd (V.P. Engineering for the Arrow)

[I'mHooked]

He was tagged with the epithet 'The Great Zura' after his displays in a CF-100 at Farnborough, everyone was impressed by his skill at doing things with a jet that hadn't been done before. One of my earliest childhood memories is being at a beach on Lake Simcoe in 1958, when suddenly there was an incredible bang and a roar above us. We all looked up to see the Arrow streaking northward. If you want to see a full scale replica drop in to the Canadian Air and Space Museum at Downsview Park.

 

Here's the replica from Downsview...It's rather awe inspiring!

 

My son under it

[I'mHooked]

One more full size shot:

 

[Dave Bailey]

He was an amazing person.

 

Here's a picture:

 

 

L to R: father-in-law, Jan Zurakowski, me (don't have as many chins now!) & Jim Floyd (V.P. Engineering for the Arrow)

 

Jim Floyd will be 95 on October 20, and I'll be hoisting a glass to him. He was also involved heavily with the Avro C-102 Jetliner, another Canadian aircraft that got screwed over royally. It flew just 13 days after the de Havilland Comet (the world's first jet airliner), and it was a fine aircraft that could have had us leading the world in regional airliners. Here's a link to the whole sad story.

[lew]

That's a couple more great pictures guys, thanks for adding them to the post.

 

I never realised how big the Arrow actually was.

[Grimace]

Thanks for this post. I love this kind of thing.

[Squid]

thats really cool Lew

[jediangler]

Thanks Lew. I haven't been through Barry's Bay for a long time but I don't remember seeing this park, is it new?

[Tybo]

One of the belief's that the project got scrap.Was it would be to easy for the Soviet's to penetrate

Canadian security.At the time they believed the spies didn't get in.

A short time later the Soviets released the mig25 or might have bin the mig21. A interceptor that resemble and performed

like the comet.

 

Don't hold me to this. It's only a conspiracy theory.

Edited October 11, 2010 by Tybo

[douG]

A. V. Roe folks went to Garrett, who went to Garrett Mfg. These went to Allied, and then Allied Signal, and then to Honeywell, where I currently toil.

 

I bet is was fun.

[bigbuck]

Very, very cool!! The Arrow was waaaay ahead of it's time and if it did enter service, it could well be still flying today with upgraded weapons, radars and avionics. Ike didn't want his poor country cousins in the north to have an aircraft that would have negated our dependance on the U.S. for national defence and northern sovereignty. It's too bad that Diefenbaker was too naive to see this. I wondered what happened to Zurakowski after the Arrow debacle. He settled in Barry's Bay with all of the rest of the Polacks (no offence there). The original parish priest from up there lived with my old boss' family way back when, they sponsored him into Canada from Poland.

Lew, nice piece of Canadiana there. Thank you.