New Reviews of "Across the Atlantic" On Polish Aviation Pioneers in America

The biography of brothers Joe and Ben Adamowicz who flew across the Atlantic in 1934, from New York to Warsaw, only seven years after Charles Lindbergh has attracted critical attention.  Written by Zofia Reklewska-Braun and Kazimierz Braun, and published in 2015, the book presents the background and detailed description of this incredible feat, as well as circumstances that led to its disappearance from the pages of history.

Ben and Joe Adamowicz with U.S. Ambassador in Poland, Mr. Cudahy, 1934.

REVIEW BY PETER J. OBST ON POLES.ORG

Peter J. Obst published the review on the website, Poles.org, and amply illustrated the text with historical photographs. With the author's permission, the entire text of the review is reprinted below.

The 1920s and 30s are primarily remembered for prohibition, jazz, flappers and the growth of aviation - and there was a part to be played by Poles in all of these categories. In 1934, only seven years after Lindbergh's solo trans-Atlantic flight, two Polish immigrants, brothers Ben and Joe Adamowicz from Brooklyn, made a flight over the ocean with a landing in Warsaw at the end of their journey.

The historical context and details of this flight are examined in a recently published book Across the Atlantic - The Adamowicz Brothers, Polish Aviation Pioneers by Zofia Reklewska-Braun and Kazimierz Braun. What is remarkable about this story is that two men, ordinary guys quite unknown in the then-existing aviation community, managed to accomplish something that, at the time, was still regarded as a dangerous and daring feat.

Even before their excursion into aviation these two "everymen" were part of the immigrant success story. They started a soft-drink bottling plant, made money, acquired property - and hobbies. From bicycling they moved to motorcycles, then automobiles - where they had quite a few mishaps - and finally airplanes. The flying bug got a hold of them and planning for a flight to Poland started. After mastering pilotage on an old Waco airplane, they purchased a slightly used Ballanca Pacemaker single-engine monoplane and had it outfitted with long range tanks.

It was a wise choice as, at the time, aircraft designer Guiseppe Mario Bellanca was the leading manufacturer of aircraft with long distance capabilities. According to records the plane carried about 430 gallons of high test aviation fuel - plus 21 additional 5 gallon canisters, just in case. They paid somewhere between ten and twelve thousand dollars for the plane. Ten thousand dollars in 1934, adjusted for inflation, would be $178,000 today, and this did not include all the additional expenses connected with the trip.

Starting from New York on June 28, 1934 they landed at Harbour Grace, Newfoundland, and flew on for over 30 hours above the ocean, at one point encountering stormy weather and icing conditions. The plane landed on a field in France and refueled, then continued, making a landing in Germany. Flying east, they sighted and followed the Vistula to Torun, and after some delays were finally cheered by exuberant crowds as they landed in the capital city of Warsaw, the plane's namesake. Apparently the Adamowicz brothers were not short on courage or piloting skills, it was their navigation that was less than perfect.

For ten weeks Poland cheered as Ben and Joe made a tour of the country. Nothing was too good for them. Every Polish city wanted to give them a parade. Newspapers around the world picked up the story of two ordinary men, brothers, who made a spectacular journey. They were given medals, toasted at banquets, housed in the best hotels. Then they sold the Bellanca to the Polish Aero Club and came home to America.

Unfortunately, there were no parades awaiting them in New York. Instead, there was a warrant for their arrest. The authorities found a still for the production of alcohol in the soda water bottling plant. Though prohibition was over, the brothers had operated without the required permits and licenses. In the end a jury found them guilty and they were sentenced to 15 month prison terms and confiscation of the bottling plant.

Newspaper reports that came from the trial were unsympathetic to the brothers who had fallen from grace as "conquerors of the Atlantic" to the status ordinary bootleggers. Even Harold Ross, editor of The New Yorker magazine, took a swipe at the brothers in print. The Polish press was mostly silent about their disgrace.

Over time the story faded into obscurity, both the glory of the accomplishment and the humiliating brush with American justice that followed. It was not the first time that a noble pursuit was financed by illegal means. The brothers paid for breaking the law, and their brave adventure was tainted by the deed. Yet, it is good that the book brought back the memory of these immigrant men, Ben and Joe, who dared to fly, as they said, "for the greater glory of Poland."

(c) by Peter J. Obst

Historical commemorative envelope signed by the Adamowicz brothers.

Maja Trochimczyk Collection.

REVIEW BY SALLY BOSS IN THE SARMATIAN REVIEW

The January 2016 Issue of the Sarmatian Review (vol. 36 no. 1, p. 1987-1988)  contains an extensive review by Sally Boss, focusing not on the incredible accomplishment of the two "everymen" pilots, whose hobby earned them a place in history, but on the reasons for their disappearance from the annals of history and the discrimination that Polish immigrants suffered in America in the 1930s that was the more important reason for this neglect.  The first, an obvious one, was that the plane was bought with funds obtained from illegal manufacturing and sale of alcohol; the Adamowiczes managed a still and a speak-easy in their home, and used their savings and all profits for their aviation adventures.

The Adamowiczes' Bellanca at the Pola Mokotowskie Airport in Warsaw.

But, as Ms. Boss writes, the second reason was far more important and insidious: "plain old prejudice agains Polish Catholic immigrants to this country, in full display in the 1930s and 1940s." She continues:

"The Adamowiczes fell in love with flying shortly after they arrived in the United States and partly financed the purchase of an airplane by running a soda pop factor. They apparently also ran, or collaborated in running, an illegal whisky still that supplied the considerable funds necessary for engaging in so costly and enterprise as an attempt to fly across the ocean. These were Prohibition times and the production of illegal alcohol was strictly forbidden. someone informed the authorities. [...] While the first trial resulted in a hung jury and should have put an end to the prosecution of the two Poles, the legal authorities decided to retry them.We do not know how this was possible nor do the authors of the book supply the information. It was, we assume, one of the innumerable and mostly invisible acts of bias that hurt certain minorities in the United States and cotinue to hurt them.

"The second trial ended in a conviction. Judde Grover M. Moskovitz personally congratulated the jury after they reached the guilty verdict. The newspapers had a feast: two Polish Americans who aspired to join the refined club of pioneering American aviators were pushed back to where they belonged. Whatever was left of their property was confiscated and the brothers spent several years in jail. Upon their release they never returned to their previous fascination wtih flying. Gone was their love of aviation, their courage and willingness to achieve. They were broken men. Family troubles ensued. From one-time heroes who were greeted in Warsaw by the president of the Polish Republic , they became residents of skid row.[...]

"The legal authorities in the state of New York were not interested in the circumstances. Only the Polish brothers wer stigmatized, ridiculed, and incarcerated. There has never been any "reevaluation," as so often happens with African Americans, no mercy shown to two people who manged to fly over the Atlantic at the time when it was considered a feat. the Adamowiczes' love of airplanes, the sacrifices necessary to built a plane and cover its costs (even if the plane were financed by illegal income) their enthusiasm and success were dropped in the memory hole. [...]

"The book is well documented and edited. It is written in a simple and dispassionate language, perhaps too dispassionate to make a difference. The authors are obviously aware of the injustice that the Adamowiczes and others experiences while trying to realize their dreams, but they choose not to say, with Emile Zola, "J'Accuse!" instead, they merely lay out facts as scrupulously as possible, perhaps hoping that someone with a more pugnacious temperament will pick up where they left of."

(c) 2016 by Sally Boss and the Sarmatian Review

The Adamowicz Brothers with their plane, "Warszawa"

Announcing a Non-fiction Book on Polish Aviation Pioneers, Brothers Joe and Ben Adamowicz

Across the Atlantic: The Adamowicz Brothers, Polish Aviation Pioneers

by Zofia Reklewska-Braun and Kazimierz Braun

Moonrise Press, September 2015 

ISBN 978-0-9963981-2-1, paperback, 240 pages, 

with 56 illustrations, a selected bibliography, and an index, $20.00

ISBN 978-0-9963981-3-8, e-Book (ePub format),  download, 4.97MB, $10.00

During the summer of 1934, two Polish amateur-pilots, Joe (Józef) and Ben (Bolesław) Adamowicz, who immigrated to the US more than twenty years earlier, flew over the Atlantic on a single-engine plane Bellanca. Their trip took them from New York to Warsaw; they were the first Poles to do so. They became instant celebrities, favorites of the journalists, photographers, and the public on both sides of the Atlantic. Alas, their triumph was short-lived, followed by a fall from grace, to imprisonment and bankruptcy. This richly illustrated book brings to life their forgotten story. Written by a historian, journalist and educator Zofia Reklewska-Braun and director, writer, scholar, and author of over 50 books, Dr. Kazimierz Braun, this book was originally published in Poland in 2011.

FROM THE INTRODUCTION

In this volume, we present our readers with the very first, comprehensive history of the lives and deeds of the Adamowicz brothers, Polish-American aviation pioneers. Across the Atlantic is the only comprehensive history of the lives and deeds of Joe and Ben Adamowicz – aviation heroes forgotten by time and the first amateurs, to have crossed the Atlantic by air.  We examine their victories and defeats, years of hard work, crowning achievements,  short-lived  celebrity,  and  their  illicit  business ventures leading to imprisonment and bankruptcy.  At the time, in Europe Hitler rose to power and was mobilizing to invade Poland. In America, Prohibition had only recently been revoked.

During the summer of 1934, two Polish amateur-pilots, Joseph (Józef) and Benjamin (Bolesław) Adamowicz, who immigrated to the United States of America more than twenty years earlier, accomplished an extraordinary feat. While using exclusively their own resources, skills, brains, cleverness, and diligence, and while taking an enormous risk, they flew over the North Atlantic on a single-engine Bellanca aircraft. Their  trip took them from New York to Warsaw.

Their arrival incited euphoria in Poland. Enthusiastic crowds shouting  their  names  met  them  as  they  landed  at  Warsaw’s airport, and then dozens of times during their triumphant tour of their  native  land.  The  highest  dignitaries  of  the  Republic  of Poland received them with honors: President Ignacy Mościcki, Prime Minister Leon Kozłowski, members of the government, mayors of the cities, and generals. During theatrical spectacles actors presented tributes that they designed and rehearsed especially for them. The pilots were amply honored and decorated; both received the “Cavalier Cross of the Order of the Resurrected Poland.” The two pilots were transformed into icons of both   resilient Polish patriots  and  successful  emigrants.  They  became  instant celebrities, favorites of the journalists, photographers, and the public on both sides of the Atlantic. [...]

After the initial enthusiasm, the Adamowiczes adopted country, the United Stated of America, treated them harshly. As non-professionals in the aviation world, distant from the elite pilots of their times, the flights by these Polish-Americans were not included in the registers of major achievements of American pilots. Similarly, the general history of aviation neglected to include them in its annals. When it did so, the Adamowicz brothers received only marginal recognition and were mentioned in a context diminishing their achievement. Lies distorted their real story and fun was made of them.

In fact, they were treated as a curiosity. Americans ironically looked upon the figures of two brothers, uneducated Poles, speaking in broken English, with a heavy foreign accent. These pilots were inexperienced in giving interviews, lacked manners, and did not know how to boast and brag about their feats. To make things worse, the disgrace which they carelessly brought upon themselves resulted in almost complete absence of coverage of their lives after their transatlantic journey. Many publications as well as internet files end their story just after their successful landing in Warsaw and the ten-week-long visit to Poland. Frequently, these incomplete accounts conclude with a variant of a remark:“Their further fate remains unknown.”

In  this  book,  we  break  the  curtain  and  narrate  both  the known and the unknown parts of the Adamowicz brothers’ story. These events deserve to be recalled. The brothers deserve that their true story be told accurately, with attention paid to the historical   detail   ─   not   filled   with   journalistic   gibberish, unconfirmed gossip, or deliberately fabricated lies.

The Adamowicz brothers accomplished something really significant. They conquered the North Atlantic only seven years after Charles Lindbergh. They were the first Poles to fly over the ocean. They were the very first aviators to fly from New York to Warsaw. It is imperative to give them justice and worthwhile to understand their motives. Why would two simple boys from a small village somewhere in eastern Poland who became laborers in Brooklyn find in their hearts such dedication and summon up enough courage and perseverance to do what they did?

ABOUT THE AUTHORS

Zofia Reklewska-Braun is literature and theatre historian, journalist, and educator. She studied Polish Literature at the Warsaw  University,  earning  Master  of  Letters  degree.  She worked as editor at the State Scholarly Publishing House in Warsaw  and  as  literary  manager  at  the  Osterwa  Theatre  in Lublin. She was teaching polish language and literature in Polish and   American   high   schools,   Buffalo   State   College,   and University at Buffalo. She wrote a book,  How It Really Was (about the martial law in Poland) and co-authored, with her husband   Kazimierz   Braun,   a   monograph,   Director   Teofil Trzciński    and  a  historical  book  Good  Priests.  With  theatre scholar and critic, Konstanty Puzyna she wrote a study Jacques Copeau’s “Bare Stage.” She published several articles in literary, religious, sociological, and theatre journals in Poland, and she collaborated  with  Nowe  Życie  in  Wrocław,  White  Eagle  in Boston, Am-Pol Eagle in Buffalo, and New Daily in New York, as well as with Polish radio stations in Chicago, New Jersey, and New York. She was active as an Instructor of Girl Scouts in Poland and as an adviser in various organizations and Roman Catholic parishes in Poland and the USA. Her memoires I Was Born in Between, (Norbertinum, Lublin, 2009) was a bestselling book in Poland. For her merits and achievements in teaching and promoting Polish history, literature, and language she was decorated with  the Cavalier Cross of  the Order of Merit of the Polish Republic by President Lech Kaczyński.

Kazimierz Braun is director, writer,  and  scholar.  He received his Ph. D. in Letters and Ph. D. in Theatre at the Poznań University, Poland, as well as M.F.A. and Ph.D. in Directing  at  the  National School of Drama in Warsaw. He holds the Professor’s title in both Poland and the USA. He was artistic director and general manager of pro- fessional theaters in Poland, including The Contemporary Theater in Wrocław. He directed more than 150 productions, both professionally and academically, in Poland, the United States, Canada, Germany, Ireland, and other countries. He taught both at Polish and at American  universities,  including  Wrocław  University,  Poznań University, New York University, City University of New York, Notre Dame University, University of California Santa Cruz, and University  at  Buffalo.  He  published  more  than  50  books  in Polish, English, and Czech languages, including scholarly works, novels, and plays, which were produced in Poland, Canada, the United States, Ireland, and Russia. He also published extensively in Polish and American literary and theatre journals, as well as in encyclopedias. He received several prizes for theater, literature, and scholarship, including the awards of the Guggenheim, the Fulbright, the Turzańskis, and the Japanese Foundations. He is member of the International PEN Club, International Theater Institute, Polish Writers Association, and Polish Actors Union.

Zofia Reklewska and Kazimierz Braun married in 1962. They have three children: Monika, Grzegorz and Justyna, as well as five granddaughters: Anna, Joanna, Aniela, Zofia and Elżbieta.

ABOUT THIS BOOK

The Adamowicz brothers flew over the Atlantic on a single-engine plane Bellanca. Their trip took them from New York to Warsaw; they were the first Poles to do so. They became instant celebrities, favorites of the journalists, photographers, and the public on both sides of the Atlantic. Alas, their triumph was short-lived, followed by a fall from grace, to imprisonment and bankruptcy. This richly illustrated book brings to life their forgotten story. ~ Maja Trochimczyk, Ph.D., Moonrise Press

Intriguing and diligently researched, Across the Atlantic is a must-read for enthusiasts of aviation history, as well as those interested in Polish American history. The story of the Adamowicz brothers and their deft flight is a story of triumph and disappointment, victory and defeat, fame and oblivion. The authors are giving those aviation pioneers their second chance in history. ~ Anna D. Jaroszynska-Kirchmann, Professor of History

Zofia Reklewska-Braun and Kazimierz Braun’s book narrates the many entanglements and paradoxes of brothers Adamowicz life and achievements, as well the history of their times. Only seven years after Lindbergh, they were the first Poles, to cross the North Atlantic on a tiny Bellanca aircraft. The book is written with passion, care for the details, and perfectly documented; it is based on years’ lasting research in archives and on comparative analysis of various sources. All in all it is a fascinating story of the career, ascent, and catastrophe. ~ G. Eberhardt, author of "The World is Normal Anyway," 2014.