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Adamowicz BrothersBrothers Benjamin Adamowicz (1898 ?-?) and Joseph Adamowicz (1893 ?-?), born Bolesław and Jzef Adamowicz, were American businessmen of Polish descent and amateur aviators, who were known their flight across Atlantic in 1934. They were born near Vilnius, in a former Polish-Lithuanian territory under Russian occupation. Before the World War I they emigrated to the USA. After working in a sugar factory, they started their own small business in New York City in 1918, producing soda water and soft drinks. In 1928 they flew a plane for the first time as passenegers, and then started their enthusiasm for aviation. They bought a Waco biplane and learnt to fly at a basic level. Impressed by trans-Atlantic flights, they decided to fly across the Atlantic themselves. In May 1932 they won a minor tourist planes contest at Floyd Bennett airfield, what strengthen them in their plans. Brothers bought long-distance plane Bellanca J300, registration NR797W, c/n 3003, for 22 000 USD. Apart from standard 1627l fuel tanks, it was fitted with aditional 440-galon tank and brothers took an emergency fuel in cans. It had a Polish national White Eagle and a name "City of Warsaw" painted on a fuselage. In August 1933 the plane was damaged by a hired pilot during landing in Harbour Grace, Newfoundland. After repairs, brothers decided to try again. In a meantime, Ben Adamowicz learnt a skill in blind flying. Despite it, both brothers were pure amateur aviators. Moreover, their aircraft was not even fitted with a radio, what made their trip more dangerous. On June 28, 1934 Benjamin and Joseph Adamowicz took off from Floyd Bennett Field in NYC and landed in Harbour Grace, Newfoundland. Another day, on June 29, 5 hours AM they took off from there for an Atlantic trip. After six hours of flight, they encountered problem with icing. Benjamin managed to lower the plane and regain control (Joseph, writing a flight log in English, surprisingly wrote in Polish at one moment: "God, have mercy on us"). Then, for a few hours, they flew in a heavy rainstorm. After they managed to get over clouds, in a half way they noticed, that the main fuel tank was leaking. Luckilly, after pumping an emergency fuel, it was enough to reach Europe. On June 30 in the morning they crossed the shore, but due to fog and clouds, they were unable to determine position, being not very skilled in navigation. After flying for 3 hours without a sight of the Earth, they turned backwards, and, after an additional hour, they fog cleared and brothers decided to land on a small meadow, jumping over a cow herd. It apperaed, that they were near Caen in France. On the next day, after repairing a landing gear, they took off to Paris, than to Germany, where they were forced to land due to fuel leaks. On July 2, brothers arrived in Warsaw, Poland, treated as heroes. They were another Poles, who flew across the Atlantic, after Stanislaw Skarzynski (May 1933). By that time, relatively many persons managed to fly across the Atlantic, but Adamowicz brothers were possibly the first amateur pilots in the world to fly a plane across the Atlantic. Even at that time, it was very risky trip, even for professional pilots. After a celebration, they sold their plane to governmental organization in Poland, and sailed back to their business in the USA. There is no further information about their fates.
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