Captain Marian Kozubski

 

Captain Marian Kozubski, late of the Polish Air Force flew with Aden Airways circa 1966/7.

Writer and TV presenter, Clive James, described the stereotype airline buccaneer of the time, which seems to allude to Kozubski, although it strangely omits his moustache and beard. 

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"I had made the mistake of looking out of the window at the moment when the pilot arrived by Jeep. He was wearing an eye-patch, walked with a stiff leg and saluted the aircraft with what appeared to be an aluminium hand. Around his neck the silver brassard of what appeared to be a Polish Award for bravery gleamed in the weak sunlight" 

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Whatever the truth of this, the real Kozubski was the stuff of anecdotes if not legends. When in dispute with an airport official he was reported as having arranged for that person's car to be towed by tractor to a remote rural location. 

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He drove his own Jaguar in the Monte Carlo Rally and survived one spectacular crash in it while driving to pilot a flight out of Heathrow. 

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He died in 1979.