Antoni Janusz

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Antoni Janusz (30 January 1902 – 28 August 2000) was a Polish sportsman, soldier and pilot.

Janusz was an officer in the

As a balloonist, Antoni Janusz participated in six Gordon Bennett races and won in 1938.

Biography

Antoni Janusz was born in

After the end of Polish-Soviet War Antoni Janusz remained an officer of the Polish Army. He was assigned to the 1st Balloon Battalion in Toruń. Just at the beginning of World War II, he was transferred to the Polish Military Ministry as a duty officer at Warsaw Airport. He also trained balloon pilots and participated in military balloon construction projects during his work in Legionowo, near Warsaw. He also took up aircraft piloting training.

In the period before World War II Antoni Janusz was engaged in ballooning sport development in Poland. He was its propagator. He participated in most events of Polish Ballooning. In the 1930s he was classified among the leaders of world ballooning.

On 25 October 1925 Antoni Janusz won the First Domestic Balloon Cup (Poland). Together with lieutenant Jan Zakrzewski they reached the distance of 142 km in time of 2 hr 47 min in balloon Poznań.

Starting from 1927, Antoni Janusz began participating in international balloon cups. His first important success was the second place in 1929 Poland Cup. He started in balloon "Gdynia" reaching the distance of 354 km in time of 22 hours. In years 1932–1938 he regularly participated in

On 17 September 1939 (when

While working at the Air Ministry, Antoni Janusz met Jean Oilier, whom he married in 1949. He settled in London. His interests were quite broad: he was an amateur mathematician, philosopher and astronomer. The Gordon Bennett Balloon-Races were officially reinstated in the year 1983 and Antoni Janusz had an honour to decorate the winners: Stefan Maknè and Ireneusz Cieślak from Poland.

Antoni Janusz died on 28 August 2000 in London. According to his last wish the urn with his ashes was buried in the family tomb in Christ the King churchyard in his native town Jarocin.

Antoni Janusz participation in Gordon Bennett Balloon-Races

Bibliography

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Antoni Janusz.

• Captain Antoni Janusz photography taken from National Digital Archive of Poland
• Captain Antoni Janusz (pictured left) and lieutenant Stanisław Brenk during Gordon Bennett Cup 1936.
• The crew of balloon SP-AMY during Gordon Bennett Cup in 1937 (Antoni Janusz pictured right)
• Antoni Janusz (Gordon Bennett Cup winner 1938) and Stefan Makné (Gordon Bennett Cup winner 1983) during the meeting in 1983
• Antoni Janusz's grave, Jarocin (Poland)