Maj. pilot
Józef Hendriks (1896–?) was a major pilot of the Polish Army and an officer of the Polish Air Force in the West, Knight of the Silver Cross of the Virtuti Militari Order.
He was born on 13 March 1896 in Świątki Małe. After graduating from gymnasium he studied at polytechnics in Hanover and Wismar. He began his military service in 1914 in the German army, in the 9th Infantry Regiment, and in 1917 underwent aviation training.
After the end of World War I he joined the Polish military formations, participating in the Polish-Ukrainian War and the Polish-Bolshevik War as a fighter pilot. In the interwar period he served in Polish military aviation, among others as commander of a fighter group in the 3rd Aviation Regiment in Poznań and in the 2nd Aviation Regiment in Kraków. After the outbreak of World War II he made his way to Great Britain, where he served in the Polish Air Force in the West. He held command positions, including commandant of the air station at Hucknall, as well as in aviation administrative structures in 1943–1946. After the war he returned to Poland, where he was arrested by the Security Office and sentenced to prison. He was released in 1953. The exact date of his death is not known.
