Dąbrowski designed and built his first aircraft, biplane ultralight D.1 Cykacz (Ticker) in 1924 at the Centralne Warsztaty Lotnicze (Central Aviation Workshops) in Warsaw.

Due to financial difficulties Jerzy left the Polytechnic in 1926 and started working at the Plage & Laskiewicz company contributing to the design of the Lublin R.VIII, R.IX.

The requirement to cary bombs in the wing resulted in the development of an elongated aerodynamic cross-section with excellent qualities, later identified as a laminar flow airfoil.

The remainder of the aircraft was being finished slowly at the PZL factories in Warsaw and Mielec, with the main emphasis shifting to the production of fighters.

In 1955 he moved to the United States working initially at the Cessna Aircraft Co., then Stanley Aviation and finally Boeing where he specialized in advanced studies.