Capt. pilot
Franciszek Wiedeń (1891–1944) – colonel pilot of the Polish Army, engineer, one of the pioneers of Polish military aviation. After his school-leaving examination in Lwów in 1910 he began studies at the Lwów Polytechnic. In 1914 he was called up to the Austro-Hungarian army, where he served in the infantry and subsequently transferred to aviation, completing the observer course in Wiener Neustadt. After Poland regained independence he joined the Polish Army and underwent successive stages of aviation training. During the Polish-Bolshevik War he held command positions, including in the 21st Fighter Squadron and subsequent squadrons and aviation groups. He served in the 2nd Aviation Regiment in Kraków. In the interwar period he held senior command positions, including commandant of the Aviation Officer Training Centre in Dęblin. After the September Campaign of 1939 he made his way through Romania and France to Great Britain, where he died on 30 September 1944 in Blackpool.
