Capt. pilot
Franciszek Rudnicki (1894–1952) – colonel engineer-pilot of the Polish Air Force in Great Britain, Knight of the Order of Virtuti Militari, associated with the 2nd Aviation Regiment. He began military service in the Russian army, and subsequently in the Polish Army in France, where he underwent flying training and in 1919 was assigned to the 16th Reconnaissance Squadron. He took part in the Polish-Bolshevik War, serving as a pilot and temporary squadron commander. In the interwar period he served in the military aviation of the Second Polish Republic, commanding squadrons and directing aviation training. He was, among others, commandant of the Mechanics School in Bydgoszcz and the Central Aviation Mechanics School. He supplemented his education in France, obtaining an aviation engineering diploma. In the 1930s and before 1939 he held senior positions in aviation training and technical structures, including at the Aviation Technical Institute in Warsaw. After the outbreak of World War II he evacuated to the West and served in the Polish Air Force within the RAF structures, including as commandant of Polish technical schools in Great Britain. After the war he remained in exile in Great Britain. He died on 2 May 1952 in Edgware.
