Józef Borzęcki was born on March 19, 1928 in Olszany near Stary Sącz, as a son of Jan and Wiktoria. It was the Father who awakened the five-year-old boy’s imagination and interest in flying, telling about the famous flight of Stanisław Skarżyński across the Atlantic in 1933. The pre-war atmosphere of worship for aviation reached every corner of reborn Poland. The pilots were the heroes of meetings and legends.
Just before the outbreak of World War II, Józek, as a high school student, received a state guardian for his clearly targeted abilities. However, the outbreak of war changed the path of life for all Poles. Instead of studying at his dream school in Austria, 14-year-old Józef spent four years under German occupation, experiencing hunger, hard work in the factory, inhuman humiliation, fear and rebellion.
In 1945, after liberation of the country from the Nazi occupation, he went to Wrocław and began his education at the Technical Secondary School of Mechanical Engineering, obtaining a diploma as a technician in the design of internal combustion engines. In 1947 he completed glider training at the Aero Club of Wroclaw (at that time he performed flights on SG-38 and Grunau “Baby II” gliders). In a sense of lost youth and the desire to fly, he gives up his technical studies, however, the politicised atmosphere of the Aero Club once again turned his thought to independent aviation constructions. In 1951, he began the first calculations and made experimental models.
In the library, reaching for Russian-language textbooks on aviation technology, he meets his future wife – Aniela Plucinska, born in Nieśniew, who knows Russian. In December 1952 he married Aniela. In 1953, her daughter Elżbieta was born. The young couple are moved, together with the wife’s parents, to a new apartment. This is where the first construction begins to appear. In 1954, daughter Barbara was born.
In 1960, the trial take-off of the first glider “Stratus” took place. There are years of balancing passion with family responsibilities.
In July 1966, the designer invited the pilot of the flight and the editor of the newspaper Polish Word – editor Andrzej Macko to perform a test flight in the Stratus. He made several test flights, issuing a very favorable opinion about him. Articles by A. Macko published in Kulisach and the Polish Word about Józef Borzęcki’s motor glider started a nationwide discussion on amateur aviation in Poland. The construction and piloting of own aircraft were strictly prohibited in Poland at that time. In September 1966, J. Borzęcki wrote a letter to the well-known Soviet designer Oleg K. Antonov, who was a great enthusiast of amateur aircraft and glider construction. After two months, he received an answer, Antonov warmly congratulated him on the achievements in construction and encouraged him to continue working.
In May 1967, an extensive article on amateur aviation was published in Winged Poland, a lot of space was devoted to the glider “Stratus”. In the press and everywhere where there were people interested in aviation, from aeroclubs to the Department of Aviation, there was a discussion about the future of amateur aviation in Poland. Some spoke in favor of amateur aviation, others against him. There were moderate voices, but there were also those aimed at causing sensation. Most opinions, however, were evidence of a thorough reflection on the substance, seeing Stratus as a precedent. In Winged Poland of May 21, 1967 there was an article sharp in tone. It expressed views that the development of amateur aviation in Poland has no justification and is not simply needed, and the amateur construction of gliders, airplanes or even helicopters is today an archaic obsolete, economically unjustified and socially unnecessary. Not only with us. And therefore there will be no green light for this movement. J. Borzęcki received a lot of letters from supporters of amateur aviation that came from home and abroad. Everyone wanted to build a small amateur plane that made their innermost dreams come true. They wrote warmly, friendly. He became an example for them. It was the greatest payment for the designer for many years of effort. The letters confirmed his belief that there were many like him and that it was worth working for them.
In 1967, the second motor glider “Cirrus” was completed and flown, and Józef Borzęcki receives the honorable distinction “Blue Wings” from the editorial team of the weekly Skrzydlata Polska for his aviation activities. Until now it was awarded only for outstanding achievements, for his creative contribution to the development of Polish aviation in the professional and sport fields. Awarding them to an amateur, who was often embarrassing, set a precedent for those who had dreamed of their own wings for years. In the press competition for “Good Work” he was selected by the inhabitants of Wrocław to be “Big Twenty Winners”. In 1969, the motor glider “Cirrus” was recognized as the “Wrocław Work” this year. The Wroclaw Aviation Senior Club also awarded J. Borzęcki.
In 1972, the success of the next, third glider – “Altostratus” – is mixed with the sadness of the designer after losing both his parents. In 1974, Polish Television Wroclaw broadcast a film titled Cirrus. At that time, Józef Borzęcki becomes the initiator of the Amateur Constructors’ Club and a co-organizer of amateur air rallies. Domestic press and foreign magazines have published dozens of interviews as well as problem-technical and adventure articles of his authorship.
Borzęcki kept in touch with the Soviet designer Antonov and translated the diary of Antonow into Polish. Ten times from the beginning. An album published in 1976 in West Germany 50 Moderne Motorsegler, which was a kind of review of the world technique in the field of motor-sailing, contained photographs and technical descriptions of Cirrus and Altostratus. Also, the West German airline with international reach, Der Flieger from 1976, posted an extensive article about J. Borzęcki’s micro-planes and a 24 HP 2 RB engine.
In 1980, the Ossolineum Publishing House of Wrocław published his autobiographical book titled On own Wings. He chooses Olesno Śląskie as his place of residence. There, he also designs and builds the fourth ultra-light structure called JB-4 “Skowronek”.
Józef Borzęcki was a co-designer (next to Tadeusz Dobrociński) of the first “Pterodaktyl 1” soft-wing in Poland. In the 1980s, Józef Borzęcki received from the Amateur Club of Constructors (Aeroclub Opole) glider SZD-10 “Czapla” registered SP-2187. It was a thank you for help in constructing and building amateur aerial constructions. J. Borzęcki wanted to motorize “Heron”. For this purpose, he wanted to use his own drive, based on two MZ-250 engines. The project has not been implemented.
In the fall of October 29, 1989, in the presence of Elżbieta’s daughter, “Skowronek” made several successfully completed take-offs and landings. A year later, on October 14, 1990, he made his last flight. From a height of 200 m, while descending to land, the left wing girder was broken. On this day, Józef Borzęcki died. Grandfather of Magdalena and Samantha.
