Henryk de Kwiatkowski

Henryk Richard de Kwiatkowski (February 22, 1924 – March 17, 2003) was a Polish-born member of the Royal Air Force who became an aeronautical engineer and made a fortune in business in North America and who owned Calumet Farm, one of the most prestigious Thoroughbred horse breeding and racing farms in the United States.

Biography

Early life

Born in Poznań, Poland, at age 15 Henryk de Kwiatkowski was captured by the Russian Army and sent to a Siberian labor camp. After being imprisoned for two years he escaped and made his way through Iran then to South Africa where in March 1943 he boarded the troopship Empress of Canada heading for England. The ship was torpedoed and sunk by an Italian submarine but de Kwiatkowski survived and eventually reached England where he joined the Royal Air Force, serving until 1947. According to his son, Henryk de Kwiatkowski was the basis for the character Abel Rosnovski in the Jeffrey Archer novel Kane and Abel.

Career

After the War, Henryk de Kwiatkowski worked at a factory job and put himself through university. In 1952 he emigrated to Canada to work as an engineer at the Pratt & Whitney aircraft company in Montreal. In 1957, he went to the United States where he established Kwiatkowski Aircraft Ltd. and Intercontinental Aircraft Ltd. headquartered in New York City making his fortune through leasing and brokering the sale of used commercial airplanes.