Wsiewolod Jan Jakimiuk

1905 (1902?) — 1991      aviation engineer, aircraft designer

He was born in the Vilnius region. He graduated in mathematics from the Stefan Batory University in Vilnius. He also took on engineering studies in Paris at the Ecole Nationale Superieure d’Aeronautique and at the Sorbonne. In 1930 he started work at PZL in Warsaw in the engineering team of Zygmunt Puławski, the famous builder of fighters with the “Polish wing” or “Pulawski wing”. After Puławski’s tragic death, Jakimiuk became the head of the construction team and worked on development versions of the PZL P.11, PZL P.24, PZL P.8 and PZL P.28 aircraft. He also designed the PZL.44 Wicher airliner.

After war broke out, he was evacuated along with PZL’s technical personnel through Romania to France. He worked there as manager of a team of Polish engineers at the Societe Nationale des Constructions Aéronautiques – Sud Est (SNCA-SE) aircraft factory.

The British de Havilland company offered him the position of chief designer at its subsidiary in Canada (DHC). Jakimiuk led the conversion of the Avro Anson there; constructed a wooden wing for the NA-66 Harvard II training aircraft; and designed the mounting for the Menasco engine in the DH.82 Tiger Moth training plane. In 1942, he launched the production of the DH.98 Mosquito.

After the war, along with W. Stepniewski, he custom designed the DHC-1 Chipmunk training aircraft (1292 built) for the RAF, followed by the DHC-2 Beaver (1718 built) and drew up a preliminary design for the DHC-3 Otter. In 1948, he moved to the de Havilland factory in the UK, where he developed the DH.112 Sea Venom jet fighter. From 1951 he again worked with SNCA-SE, designed the SE-5000 Baroudeur fighter jet (not manufactured), and was a consultant on the construction of the SE-210 Caravelle jet airliner.

Because of the merger of French air manufacturers, Jakimiuk continued his career in the resulting Aerospatiale corporation, dealing with technical-economic and commercial affairs. He participated in the Concorde project. From 1966-1972 he was President of the French Aerospace Corporation (a subsidiary of Aerospatiale in the U.S.). After retiring, he remained a technical and economic consultant at Aerospatiale.

The aircraft: DHC.1A Chipmunk

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