In 1996, a silver 20-dollar coin was issued in Canada with the bust of Janusz Żurakowski. He was a Polish fighter pilot during the Second World War, and after its end became a test pilot in the UK and Canada. In the latter country, he was the first to cross the sound barrier. 

Janusz Żurakowski was born on 12 September 1914 in Ryzhavka (now Ukraine). In 1921, he and his family arrived in free Poland. The Żurakowski family lived initially in Garwolin and later in Lublin. In 1934 Janusz graduated from the local Stanisław Staszic Gymnasium. Already in his teenage years he was passionate about aviation, greatly influenced by his older brother Bronisław, who graduated from the Warsaw University of Technology and began working as an aircraft designer. It comes as no surprise that Janusz, after passing his high school diploma and completing his military service in 1935, enrolled in the ” Eagle School” in Dęblin. He graduated from it in 1937 as a fighter pilot. Unfortunately, his career was interrupted by the outbreak of the Second World War.

During the defensive war in 1939, the young pilot made several combat flights. He then evacuated via Romania to France, and from there was sent to the UK in January 1940. There, during the Battle of Britain in 1940, he flew as a pilot in British fighter squadrons, shooting down at least three German aircraft. A year later, after training at training centres, he transferred to Polish fighter squadrons, taking command of the 316th Fighter Squadron. 

Towards the end of the war, he attended a course for test pilots. He mastered his skills he had acquired there. In 1947, he began working as a pilot for the Gloster aircraft factory, flying the “Meteor” and “Vampire” jet aircraft, breaking many records in the process, and performing a new aerobatic figure later called the “Zurabatic Carthweel”. In 1952, he emigrated to Canada, where he began working at the Avro Canada plant. There, he was the first pilot to exceed the speed of sound. His achievement was also the flight of the ‘Arrow’ fighter aircraft, which was then considered to be the most modern in the world. Unfortunately, the Canadian government decided to terminate this project. At that point, an embittered Żurakowski gave up his job as a pilot and settled in the north of the country, opening a small tourist guesthouse. He died on 9 February 2004.