Jan Oderfeld. Scientist and Jet Aircraft Engine Pioneer Jan Oderfeld. Scientist and Jet Aircraft Engine Pioneer Jan Oderfeld. Scientist and Jet Aircraft Engine Pioneer WARSZAWA 2019 OFICYNA WYDAWNICZA POLITECHNIKI WARSZAWSKIEJ The book was published in Polish by The Warsaw Senior Aviator Club [Warszawski Klub Seniorów Lotnictwa] in the series „Aviation People” [Ludzie lotnictwa]. Joint publication – Authors: Aleksander Cieślak, Andrzej Glass, Marta Hochstim–Łysak, Bohdan Jancelewicz, Krzysztof Kędzior, Marta Kozłowska and her sons Aleksander and Maciej, Jerzy Lewitowicz, Jerzy Madler, Andrzej Moldenhawer, Barbara Oderfeld–Nowak, Wojciech Radomski, Ewa Rembiałkowska and her son Krzysztof Leski, Ryszard Witkowski, and Jan Wyganowski. Edited by Bohdan Jancelewicz Copies of documents and photographs made available from the private collections of: Aleksander Cieślak, Andrzej Glass, Bohdan Jancelewicz, Marta Kozłowska, Jerzy Lewitowicz, Andrzej Moldenhawer, Barbara Oderfeld–Nowak, Ewa Rembiałkowska, Ryszard Witkowski, and Jan Wyganowski. Documents and photographs related to the awarding of the degree of Doctor honoris causa to Jan Oderfeld made available by the Office of the Rector with the consent of the Rector of the Warsaw University of Technology. Translated by Ryszard E.L. Nawrocki Computer set-up by Andrzej Kowalczyk Cover design by Danuta Czudek-Puchalska © Copyright by The Warsaw Senior Aviator Club and Warsaw University of Technology, Warsaw 2019 Publisher: Politechnika Warszawska [Warsaw University of Technology] Oficyna Wydawnicza Politechniki Warszawskiej [Warsaw University of Technology Publishing House] ul. Polna 50, 00-644 Warszawa, Poland, phone (48) 22 234-70-83 Warsaw University of Technology Publishing House Internet Bookstore www.wydawnictwopw.pl phone (48) 22 234-75-03; fax (48) 22 234-70-60; e-mail: [email protected] This work must not be copied or distributed using electronic, mechanical, copying, recording, or other equipment, including publishing and disseminating through the Internet, without the written consent of the copyright holder. ISBN 978-83-7814-936-1 First Edition. Order No. 181/2019. Printing and bookbinding: OWPW Printers, phone (48) 22 234-70-30. Table of Contents Aviation: An Incurable Virus Aviation: An Incurable Virus (Bohdan Jancelewicz) .......................................... 8 The Aircraft Engines of Professor Jan Oderfeld (Andrzej Glass) ................. 54 Jan Oderfeld: Designer and Visionary, Master and Teacher (Andrzej Moldenhawer) ........................................................................................ 67 Doctor Honoris Causa of the Warsaw University of Technology (Bohdan Jancelewicz) ............................................................................................ 79 Memories of Professor Jan Oderfeld Tea at the Professor’s (Jerzy Madler) .............................................................. 102 Remembering Professor Jan Oderfeld (Jerzy Lewitowicz) ........................... 10 Personal Memories of Professor Jan Oderfeld (Elbieta Pleszczyska) ...... 108 Professor Jan Oderfeld and His Technical Knowledge Olympics (Wojciech Radomski) ........................................................................................... 115 The Professor Considered Me His Friend… (Ryszard Witkowski) ............. 121 Five Years with Professor Jan Oderfeld (1950–1955) (Jan Wyganowski) ... 125 Family Memories Dearest Uncle (Mariola Hochstim-ysak) ........................................................ 132 Pride in Grandpa … and Great Grandpa (Marta Kozowska) ..................... 134 Great Gramps (Maciej Kozowski) .................................................................... 136 Great Gramps: First Symptoms of a Researcher-Discoverer (Aleksander Kozowski) ....................................................................................... 139 Uncle Jan (Ewa Rembiakowska) ....................................................................... 141 Letter to D (Barbara Oderfeld-Nowak).............................................................. 144 Oderfeld’s Bench Distinguished Czstochovian (Aleksander Cielak) ....................................... 156 Professor Jan Oderfeld’s Bench (Bohdan Jancelewicz) .................................. 162 5 Aviation: An Incurable Virus Aviation: An Incurable Virus Bohdan Jancelewicz In his quest for safety and stability for himself and his troop, a legend- ary knight known as Chestoch (Czstoch?) founded a settlement in the first years of the 12th century on a river near some small hills. The name of the knight is specified in a papal protective bull issued by In- nocent II and dated July 7, 1136. That river – today called the Warta – is now the site of the Jasna Góra Monastery. Historians consider a document from 1220 to con- tain the first mention of a locality named Czanstochowa. In it Iwo Odrow, Bishop of Cracow, ordered the payment of tribute by the localities it listed. A second village in the hills near Czstochowa was specified at that time as Czstochówka. In the years 1370–1393 this area was a fief of Wadysaw Opolczyk [Vladislaus II of Opole] who, in performance of orders from his liege lord, King Louis the Hungar- ian, made several significant decisions in 1382. First, in June of 1382, he brought in a dozen monks from Hungary to Poland and endowed them with a small timber church. It is there that he settled the newly created Order of Saint Paul the First Hermit. On August 9th he issued a charter that is found in the archives of the Jasna Góra Monastery to this very day. He then conveyed care over a painting of the Blessed Mother of God brought from the castle in Beec to the Order. That painting was revered by the faithful of the Roman Catholic Church and renown for miracles. News of such events spread throughout the country as well as to neighboring lands. It even reached the seat of the papacy. This resulted in an influx of pilgrims. With pilgrims came growth in the revenues of the Czstochowa Pauline Order. As time passed this became a sticking point with the authorities of the more slowly developing town of Czstochowa. The advantageous location 8 on the road of the Cracow–Pozna–Kalisz trade route favored the mu- nicipal economy, but also attracted adherents of easier schemes for getting rich through robbery and banditry. There was no lack of such occurrences in the history of Czstochowa. Fortifications were erected, especially around the hill built-up by the monastery. Known for color- ful descriptions from the period of the Swedish invasions as born of the amazing imagination of Henryk Sienkiewicz, though historically exaggerated, they have their social import. Even today, the “Defense of Czstochowa” is considered synonymous with exceptional bravery. The proactive monastery looked over local development and the vil- lage was granted a municipal charter in 1717 under the name Nowa Czstochowa [New Czstochowa]. Further efforts to connect the two towns into a single organism resulted in the formal creation of the single town of Czstochowa in August of 1826. Its main street, linking both population centers, was the Virgin Mary Avenue. It was laid out in 1819. In terms of population, Czstochowa found itself in the group of the four largest cities in the country. The importance of such a city also increased rapidly thanks to the routing of one of the first railroad lines in Poland through it. This was accompanied by an increase in the intensity of residential tissue, mainly along the new street connecting the two centers. Furthermore, the monastery undertook editorial work as early as the beginnings of the 17th century, which was of importance not only in terms of its own needs. A printing house was built. Its publishing profile was not limited to religious texts, such as prayer books. Although the first major editorial achievement of this publishing house was the Akademia Pobonoci [Academy of devotion], a 720-page work by Mikoaj Mocicki published in 1628, the year 1707 saw the ap- pearance of the Compendium Medicum, a scientific dissertation almost 500 pages in length with numerous illustrations. This publishing house found itself under the special care of King Augustus II. The role of the printing house in propagating Polishness was nationwide in charac- ter as huge masses from the entire country thronged to Jasna Góra in pilgrimage. People learned to read thanks to textbooks on the Polish language printed in this Jasna Góra center. Following the fall of the January Uprising the Jasna Góra monastery found itself in the hands of the Tsar’s repressive authorities that strove to extinguish the political activities of the publisher and print house. In 1864 the print house of Jasna Góra was closed down and the publisher liquidated. 9 The development of the crafts and industry in the early 1870s had a rath- er slow start in Czstochowa. One of the first significant ventures was the startup of a printing house and lithographic workshop in 1869. The initiator and creator of this venture was Berek (Wilhelm) Kohn who arrived there from Wielu and collaborated with Adolf Oderfeld, the owner of the li- thography company. The technological foundations for equipping this plant were the machines of the former Jasna Góra printing house that the busi- nessmen purchased from the Tsarist authorities and installed at new prem- ises at No. 30 Teatralna Street. The Monografia przemysu czstochowskiego [The industry of Czstochowa: A monograph] by Wincenty Szatkowski, published in 1914 by the Gazeta Czstochowska [Czstochowa