Franciszek Jarecki (born September 7, 1931 – died October 24, 2010[1]) was a pilot in the Polish Air Force, who became famous in early 1953 when he escaped Soviet-controlled Poland in a MiG-15 jet, which was one of the best planes owned by the Soviets at that time.
Jarecki was born in 1931 in Gdów, a town near Kraków. He was a graduate of a 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.
On the morning of March 5, 1953 (coincidentally, the day of Joseph Stalin's death), Jarecki escaped Poland in the MiG-15 trainer. The decision was a very risky one, as the Polish People’s Army had previously shot those who tried to escape. For example, Edward Pytko, an instructor at Dęblin, tried to escape to Western Germany in 1952, but was stopped by Soviet aircraft over Eastern Germany and handed back to the Poles; Pytko was charged with high treason and executed.
Jarecki flew from Slupsk to the field airport at Rønne on the Danish Bornholm island. The whole trip took him only a few minutes. There, specialists from the United States, called by Danish authorities, thoroughly checked the plane. According to international regulations, they returned it by ship to Poland a few weeks later. Jarecki stayed in the West. From Denmark he moved to London, where General Władysław Anders gave him an order, and then to the USA, where he provided crucial information about modern Soviet aircraft and air tactics. Among those who shook his hand was President Dwight Eisenhower. Jarecki received a $50,000 prize for the person who was first to present a MiG-15 to the Americans and became a U.S. citizen.
A few months later, another Polish pilot, Zdzisław Jazwinski escaped with a MiG-15 to Bornholm. Three years later, four students of Deblin's school escaped in two Yak-18 planes, crossing Czechoslovakia to land near Vienna. The leaflets used in Operation Moolah during the Korean War carried a photo of Jarecki.[2]
Jarecki lived in Pennsylvania until his death on October 24, 2010. He owned a factory in Fairview, Pennsylvania, called Jarecki Valves. The uniform in which he escaped can be seen at the National Air and Space Museum in Washington, D.C. In 2006, Polish TV Station TVN made a film, Jarecki, which is part of the “Great Escapes” series. The series shows stories about Poles who escaped the country between 1944–1989 and chose freedom in the West.