Witold Edward Koneczny was born 25 October 1905 in Armawir, Armenia. He grew up in Warsaw. In 1928, he received his diploma in Aviation Engineering from the University of Michigan, after which he returned to Warsaw. In March 1939, he emigrated to the US with his American wife, Esther Backman, and their son, settling in Virginia, not far from Washington DC. He worked for several American government bodies until 1973, including the Federal Aviation Administration, where he represented the US in the 1962 negotiations with the USSR on the first Aeroflot flights between Moscow and Washington. He died on 24 March 1974 in the USA.