We are saddened to announce the passing of Alfred Baron, a chief constructor of the Polish jet trainer I-22 Iryda and a composite plane I-23 Manager. Mr Baron passed away on December 10, 2017 at age of 85. The ceremony combined with the cremation will take place on Wednesday, December 13, 2017 at 2:15 p.m. at the Northern Communal Cemetery in Warsaw, Wóycickiego 14 Street. The funeral will take place on December 18, 2017 in Poznań.
He has worked professionally for 60 years, including 38 years at the Institute of Aviation, leaving indelible marks in the field of aircraft construction – as an engineer, scientist, visionary and as a man who honestly carries out his calling.
Alfred Baron was born on April 4, 1932 in Saint-Aybert in France. He graduated from the Aviation Institute in Moscow in 1957.
In 1957 he started working at WSK Mielec, where he worked until 1971, holding various managerial positions and carrying out construction and research works. He was the head of the aerodynamic section, the chief constructor in the project of a two-engine agricultural aircraft M-12, the head of the design office developing the serial documentation of the Mi-2 helicopter, a co-author of the M-7 supersonic plane concept, the organizer and the head of the Diesel Engine and Fuel Apparatus Testing Department at WSK-Mielec, which was created after the purchase of a license for the production of Leyland diesel engines.
In the years 1972-1979 he was the director of the Rail Vehicles Research and Development Center in Poznań. During this time, he defended his doctoral thesis at the Poznan University of Technology on the study of aerodynamic resistance of rail vehicles.
In 1979, he was transferred to the Institute of Aviation for the position of the Deputy Director for Construction Development and at the same time appointed the Chief Constructor of the I-22 Iryda jet trainer. He held these positions until the completion of the initial flight tests of the I-22 Iryda in 1987. Then he initiated an innovative program to build a small four-seater disposable aircraft made entirely of composite materials in pre-impregnation technology and became its chief constructor. The aircraft designated as I-23 Manager in 2002 received the certificate of compliance with the FAR 23 regulations from the Civil Aviation Authority.
From 2003, he dealt with the issues of small aircraft in air transport. He initiated the European research project “European Personal Air Transport System” (EPATS) – implemented in 2007-2008 and the national “Small Air Transport System” (STMS)– implemented in 2008-2009.
In the years 2010-2016, he wrote four books in which he summed up his aviation experience as a constructor of airplanes: I-22 “Iryda” and I-23 “Manager” and about the Small Aircraft Transport System.
In the 1960s, he trained in England at Leyland Motors, and in 1970-71 he studied at the French Petroleum Institute in Paris as a UN scholarship holder. He is the author or co-author of many publications and scientific and research works as well as a beneficiary of national and European grants, including grants of the Scientific Research Committee of the Ministry of Science and Higher Education (1993-1995) entitled: “Optimization of basic training and combat aircraft parameters at a set of operational tasks”.
He was awarded with numerous prizes and distinctions, including the Knight’s Cross of the Order of Polonia Restituta and the highest Polish distinction for the most outstanding achievements in Polish aviation – the “Blue Wings”.
