Jan Nagórski

Who was Jan Nagórski?

Jan Nagórski, also known by his Russified name of Ivan Nagurski was a Polish engineer and pioneer of aviation, the first person to fly an airplane in the Arctic and the first aviator to perform a loop with a flying boat.

Jan Nagórski was born on January 27, 1888 in Włocławek, then part of the Imperial Russia. He completed a local trade school and in 1909 graduated from an infantry junker school in Odessa and the All-Russian Aeroclub in 1912. The following year he accomplished his training at the Naval Engineering School in Gatchina near St. Petersburg where he earned his wings. He was among the first pilots of the Imperial Russian Navy. In 1914 Nagórski was tasked with the difficult mission of locating the expedition of Georgy Sedov, Georgy Brusilov, and Vladimir Rusanov in the Russian Arctic. In a Maurice Farman MF11 plane, specially purchased for that purpose in France, Nagórski embarked on a ship in Arkhangelsk and arrived to Novaya Zemlya, whence he initiated a series of reconnaissance flights in difficult Arctic conditions.