On March 5, 1953, (coincidentally, the day of Joseph Stalin's death) Polish Lt. Franciszek (Frank) Jarecki flew from Słupsk (Polish Air Force Base) to Rønne Airport on Bornholm Island in a MiG-15 (No. 346). NATO air specialists inspected the aircraft and several days later the MiG was returned to the People's Republic of Poland by ship, disassembled into pieces, in crates. Jarecki received a $50,000 reward for the theft of the plane and was awarded U.S. citizenship.
Upon his defection, Jarecki in the beginning, remained in Western Europe, first living in Denmark, then moving to London, where General Władysław Anders awarded him the Cross of Merit. Finally, Jarecki arrived in America and provided crucial information about modern Soviet aircraft and air tactics. Among those who shook his hand was President Dwight D. Eisenhower.
Jarecki had family in Erie that arrived a century earlier, they owned the Jarecki Foundry on West 12th and Chestnut Streets. Jarecki settled in Erie and eventually became the owner of Jarecki Valves, located in Fairview Township, and Commodore Downs, a local horse racing track.
Jarecki was born in 1931 in Gdów, a town near Kraków, Poland. He was a graduate of the prestigious Polish Air Force Academy in Dęblin. Some time in the early 1950s he was moved to Słupsk in northern Poland, near the Baltic Sea. There he flew MiG-15s, as a few of them were operated by the Polish Air Force.
In 2006 Polish TV Station TVN made a film about Jarecki, which was part of the Great Escapes series. The series aired stories about Poles who escaped the country between 1944–1989 seeking freedom in the West
Frank Jarecki passed away on October 24, 2010.
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| NATO air specialists inspecting Jarecki’s MiG-15 aircraft. |