I dedicate a copy of one of my paintings by "Barrie A. F. Clark" to Wing Commander Jan Falkowski, VM, KW, DFC.. Jan .... my dear old friend with the legendary spirit of a Knight of Old in a Twentieth Century World torn apart by a madman named Adolph Hitler. Jan and many like him made it so people like you could live in relative safety and peace today. Even historians cannot aptly describe what horrors were done to the people Hitler and his regime inflicted on them during his rampage. Jan ... yes and his wife Alma LIVED through that regime .... fought back ... in each their own way and eventually became "Canadians extraordinaire" when the war was finally over in 1945. We all owe him not only our thanks but our very lives for his valiant efforts as a fighter pilot. .......... "the author" ... Harry Heatherington, Former Flt. Lt., R.C.A.F - R. Ed. Br.
Tonight there are tears in my eyes as I write this notice. I have lost an old and dear friend, Wing Commander Jan Falkowski. A newspaper lady, Tamsin Mc Mahon of the Peterborough Examiner telephoned me at around 8:00 pm tonight, 31st July, 2001 to advise me that Jan had passed away on 27th July, 2001. Among other things, he suffered from Alzheimer's Disease but apparently died of other complications. Not too sure of his age but he lived a good long life to be sure. He leaves his wonderful wife, Alma, the former "Countess Tanski" of Poland and his family. Our hearts go out to them about their great loss. The world has lost one of its genuine World War Two Heroes and also one of the best pilots I have ever had the pleasure of flying with. ["Jan .... you surely now have "The Wind In Your Face" forever and can now look down ... as you so often did before and still watch over us from your new vantage point. We should feel comfortable that you are there .... perhaps as "Guardian Angel" of all pilots in the skies of today."]
"Bon Voyage Jan ... Dovidizenia my good friend"
]
Wing Commander Jan P. Falkowski, V.M., K.W., D.F.C.
World War Two Polish Fighter Pilot In The R. A. F.
This is a small biography of one of my very best friends and perhaps one of the most interesting
characters I have ever met. His name is Jan Falkowski, a Polish immigrant that has gone through so many devastating experiences
and survived that movies could be made about him!
As a matter of fact he approached me many years ago (1964) to "ghost-write" a book for him about some of his World War Two
encounters as a Fighter Pilot, plus the two times he was shot down over enemy territory. After looking over his rough draft manuscript,
I realized it was mostly old photos and no more than a diary of him and his "comrades-in-arms." As they were all very Polish
I told him that the reader would have great difficulty with so many non-pronounceable names! I also told him if I were to write the book
for him, I would have to "make it more interesting" for the reader or it wouldn't sell.
When he asked me what I meant, looking at me somewhat skeptically, I told him I would at least have to "shack him up with a
couple frauleins" while escaping, just to spice it up to keep the reader's attention. He looked at me in dismay and said in his
terribly heavy Polish accent, "No, no Harry I couldn't do dat because momma vouldn't like it!" (Momma is his wife of many years and is the former very elegant Countess Tansky from the "Old Poland", well before Hitler's time.)
He eventually found another ghost writer and the book, even though it received great accolades from people like Pierre Berton and Gordon Sinclair, plus Gordon always plugging it on his radio show, never came to much and Jan lost money on it. It had a wonderful title,"With The Wind In My Face" and can be found in the library I am sure to this day. I have several personally autographed books from him somewhere in my closet I suppose ... one especially addressed to me, "his best friend."
The picture of Jan below was taken in 1965
Among other things Jan did was fight in the Battle of Britain as a Spitfire Fighter Pilot when England was having a rough time with
Hitler and his bunch. I would have to look it up but I know he shot down many German planes. He held every possible medal a man
could get for his heroism. He won the DFC twice and that in itself is some accomplishment. He held Poland, France and Russia's
highest Military medals of honour but good old England, even after all he did for them would not give him the Victoria Cross, Britain's
highest Medal, which he qualified for! Why? Can you believe it .... because he was not a British subject! A nice thank you, Your Majesty!
The Avro Arrow
Although I had been a pilot long before I met Falkowski, he did undertake to teach me some special areobatics later in life.
I must say we both had a lot of fun "dog-fighting" each other up there, often to the chagrine of many farmers, etc.. We would zoom
around their farm buildings, etc., dodging shrubs and trees in an effort to elude each other, scaring the wits out of them. How many
times we "beat up a train" or zipped past someone's dining room window while they were eating lunch. Kind of a shock to see two
aircraft zip right past your dining room window one behind the other, especially in the middle of lunch!
Below is a typical WW2 Spitfire Fighter Aircraft and I wouldn't be surprised
if it wasn't Jan himself in the cockpit!
Picture of an actual combat Spitfire taken in the early forties.
*** ADDENDUM ***
A month or so ago (it's now 5th December, 2001) I received an e-mail from Holland inquiring about a copy of Jan's book ... "With The Wind In My Face." He had apparently been bidding for one on E-Bay but was unsuccessful. He did note that E-Bay ... in their advertisement for the book made reference to my write-up about Jan. He came over to my Web Site, read this page and saw that I had made mention of having a few copies personally autographed by Jan. He subsequently e-mailed me asking if I had a copy he might purchase as his wife was Polish and they were both trying to gather as much information about the WW2 Polish Fighter Pilots that had to escape to England so they could fight the Nazis.
After several communications back and forth with these nice folks in Holland, I was pleased to give them a new book with Jan's autograph on it as a gesture from my friend Jan. He would have liked that I know. Further to this, Wim and Jadwiga (I'll skip the last names for now), asked me if they could use my name as the sponsor for Jan's name in the Battle Of Britain Museum in England. This Museum has been built privately by a group of dedicated people in order to make sure that history does not forget the heroic pilots that turned the tide against Hitler early in WW2. They contribute their own time and expertise in building this Museum and raise their own money to fund it. I figured if Jadwiga and Wim were so interested and dedicated to do so much research on the Polish Fighter Pilots, it would be more fitting if they donated the balance of books I had to the Battle of Britain Museum on behalf of Jan so they can auction them to help raise money for their project. I know Jan would have liked that. This was done because Jadwiga, although married to Wim (a Hollander) was born in Poland and they both wanted to find out more about what the people of her country had contributed towards winning WW2. In my humble opinion they were the logical ones to present them.
It is the 3rd January, 2002 at this writing and I am so pleased and honored that Wim and Jadwiga , after first getting my permission, sent me a beautiful Certificate from the Battle Of Britain Pilots' Museum with my name as the sponsor for Jan Falkowski's name to be added to all those other heroes. I shall frame it and put it proudly in my "den of iniquity" where my mementos are kept. Thank you Wim and Jadwiga and thank you all at the Battle of Britain Museum. I'm touched and honored.
*****Update***** 5th March, 2002*****
I am so very touched that so many people have been e-mailing me enquiring about Jan. He surely was a well known man and loved by all. His life touched so many people from so many different backgrounds and his zest for flying literally exuded from his every breath. I have answered all who have e-mailed me and will be happy to continue to answer any questions you may have. The messages I have received from so many people have made it so very obvious how much the Polish people contributed to the ultimate Victory against the tyrant Hitler and his evil crowd. Unfortunately there always seems to be others like Hitler to take his place but as long as we have brave people like Jan and his countrymen around to be "Guardians Of Democracy", we will ultimately prevail over the "evil idiot fringe" so intent on wreaking death and destruction on anyone that does not think the way they do.
I finally found the book Jan autographed to me so I thought perhaps you might like to see his inscription on the inside cover. I scanned it and reduced it so it wouldn't take too long to load. I hope it will let you see just how good friends Jan and I were.
The picture on the left is of course of the cover of his book "With The Wind In My Face" and the picture on the right is of the inside cover where he autographed back in the Sixties when we were doing a lot of flying together, both with the R.C.A.F and teaching students privately as well ... mostly on our weekends. Ahh .... the "good old days!!"
I dedicate a copy of one of my paintings by "Barrie A. F. Clark" to Wing Commander Jan Falkowski, VM, KW, DFC.. Jan .... my dear old friend with the legendary spirit of a Knight of Old in a Twentieth Century World torn apart by a madman named Adolph Hitler. Jan and many like him made it so people like you could live in relative safety and peace today. Even historians cannot aptly describe what horrors were done to the people Hitler and his regime inflicted on them during his rampage. Jan ... yes and his wife Alma LIVED through that regime .... fought back ... in each their own way and eventually became "Canadians extraordinaire" when the war was finally over in 1945. We all owe him not only our thanks but our very lives for his valiant efforts as a fighter pilot. .......... "the author" ... Harry Heatherington, Former Flt. Lt., R.C.A.F - R. Ed. Br.
*** ADDENDUM ***
I finally found the book Jan autographed to me so I thought perhaps you might like to see his inscription on the inside cover. I scanned it and reduced it so it wouldn't take too long to load. I hope it will let you see just how good friends Jan and I were.