Jerzy Dąbrowski, Date of Birth, Place of Birth, Date of Death

    

Jerzy Dąbrowski

Polish aerospace engineer

Date of Birth: 08-Sep-1899

Place of Birth: Gmina Nieborów, Łódź Voivodeship, Poland

Date of Death: 17-Sep-1967

Profession: engineer, aerospace engineer

Nationality: Poland

Zodiac Sign: Virgo


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About Jerzy Dąbrowski

  • Jerzy Dabrowski (September 8, 1899 – September 17, 1967) was a Polish aeronautical engineer.
  • He was the lead designer of the famed PZL.37 Los medium bomber. Dabrowski was born in Nieborów, west of Warsaw to a railway clerk family.
  • He studied architecture and then transferred to mechanical engineering at the Warsaw Technical University (Polytechnic).
  • The department offered aviation speciality and had an aviation fan club.
  • Dabrowski designed and built his first aircraft, biplane ultralight D.1 Cykacz (Ticker) in 1924 at the Centralne Warsztaty Lotnicze (Central Aviation Workshops) in Warsaw.
  • In 1925 Dabrowski obtained a special permission to complete pilot training at the 1st Air Regiment. Due to financial difficulties Jerzy left the Polytechnic in 1926 and started working at the Plage & Laskiewicz company contributing to the design of the Lublin R.VIII, R.IX.
  • and DUS-III.
  • In 1928 he was asked to join the PZL aviation works in Warsaw.
  • There, with Dr.
  • Franciszek Misztal he designed the all-metal PZL.19 and the PZL.26 for the Challenge 1932 and Challenge 1934 contests. Dabrowski's greatest achievement was the design of a very advanced medium bomber PZL.37 Los, even though he had not worked on an airplane of this type and size.
  • PZL submitted a proposal in response to the specification issued by the Departament Aeronautyki (Department of Aeronautics) in 1934 for a twin motor bomber capable of carrying a load of 2000 kg (including 300 kg bombs) with speed in excess of 350 km/h and a range of 1200 km.
  • Dabrowski's preliminary design won an internal PZL contest for the new plane and in the fall of 1934 Dabrowski became chief engineer of the project.
  • The all-metal aircraft with a large elliptical wing and aerodynamically profiled fuselage had superb flying qualities.
  • The requirement to cary bombs in the wing resulted in the development of an elongated aerodynamic cross-section with excellent qualities, later identified as a laminar flow airfoil.
  • The PZL.37 could carry more than 5000 lb of bombs (2500 kg) over a distance of 900 miles (1500 km) and 2200 lb (1000 kg) over 1400 miles (2200 km - to Moscow and back?), however the Polish Air Force did not have a clear philosophy for the use of such plane.
  • Over 100 were produced by the outbreak of World War II, the last few being the first aircraft manufactured at the new Mielec plant in southern Poland.
  • Only 36 Los' were in active bomber units before the Invasion of Poland.
  • A further 18 were in reserve at the Malaszewicze base and a dozen in training.
  • The remainder of the aircraft was being finished slowly at the PZL factories in Warsaw and Mielec, with the main emphasis shifting to the production of fighters.
  • During that time Dabrowski designed a very promising low-wing fighter with inline engine, PZL.62, but the war prevented its development. During the World War II Dabrowski was evacuated to Romania and then to England where he was a technical officer with the Polish Air Force.
  • After the war ended he completed his degree, worked at Percival Aircraft and Folland Aviation.
  • In 1955 he moved to the United States working initially at the Cessna Aircraft Co., then Stanley Aviation and finally Boeing where he specialized in advanced studies.
  • He died while working in Renton, Washington on September 17, 1967.

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