Wà Âadysà Âaw Józef Marian Turowicz (; 23 April 1908 â 8 January 1980), usually referred to as W. J. M. Turowicz, was a Polish-Pakistani aviator, military scientist and aeronautical engineer.
He was one of 45 Polish officers and airmen who joined RPAF on contract in the early 1950s. After completion of his initial contract, Turowicz opted to stay on in Pakistan and continued to serve in the Pakistan Air Force. Turowicz was the administrator of Pakistan's Space and Upper Atmosphere Research Commission (SUPARCO), which leads the national space programme, from 1967 to 1970.
Turowicz made significant contributions to Pakistan's missile/rocket program as a chief aeronautical engineer. In Pakistan, he remains highly respected as a scientist and noted aeronautical engineer.
Turowicz was born to an aristocratic family in the village of Wadziejewsko in Siberia (Russia) in 1908, where he graduated from high school. The Polish name of the village may suggest it was inhabited by Poles who were exiled or imprisoned by the Tsar, as it was unusual for Polish aristocrats to live in Siberia for non-political reasons.
From an early age on, Turowicz was fascinated by aviation technology and had collected different models of aircraft. Due to this passion, he moved to Warsaw where he attended the most prestigious engineering institute, the Warsaw University of Technology (WTU) in 1930, majoring in aeronautical engineering; upon graduation, he received his PhD with honours in 1936. He completed an MSc in astrodynamics in 1937 from the same institution.
While at Warsaw University of Technology, Turowicz joined and became a pioneering member of a Aeroklub Polski (better known as Polish Aero Club) where he worked and studied with noted to the field of aerospace engineering. As a member of Polski Club, he had an opportunity to study and work with Ryszard Bartel, Jerzy Drzewiecki and Henry Millicer, amongst others. It was at the Aero Club that Turowicz met his future wife, Zofia Turowicz with whom he would have 4 children. He completed an MSc in astrodynamics in 1937 from the same institution.
Though initially joining the Polish Air Force, Turowicz enlisted as a Royal Air Force reservist during World War II. He was immediately sent to Great Britain where he flew the British-built Handley Page Halifax during the war.
Air. Cdre. Turowicz was involved in a car accident on 8 January 1980 along with his driver. He was quickly taken to the military hospital where he was pronounced dead. He was buried in the Christian Cemetery in Karachi with full military honours.
A documentary film on the life and scientific work of Air Cdre Wà Âadysà Âaw Turowicz was completed in 2008. It was directed by Anna T. Pietraszek, a Polish journalist and filmmaker with an honorary Pakistani citizenship. The film shows how Air Cdre Turowicz and other Polish officers and technicians had contributed in building the PAF soon after independence.
In 2005, the PAF Museum, Karachi, placed a memorial plaque in the honour of Air. Cdre. Wà Âadysà Âaw Turowicz where both Polish and Pakistani civilian and military personnel attended. On this occasion the Consul General of the Republic of Poland in Karachi Ireneusz Makles profoundly thanked the PAF and especially Air Chief Marshal Rao Qamar Suleman and other officers for their efforts to make this memorial a reality.