Franjo Kluz (19 September 1913 – 14 September 1944) was a Yugoslav pilot from Bosnia and a People's Hero of Yugoslavia. He is best known as one of the founders of the Partisan air force, and served as an officer in No. 352 Squadron RAF.
Early life and career
Franjo Kluz was born in Jošik, near Bosanska Dubica. In 1931 he graduated from the Yugoslav reserve officers school as a sergeant-pilot. After the Axis invasion and establishment of Independent State of Croatia in 1941 he was drafted into the Air Force of the Independent State of Croatia and was stationed in Banja Luka.
In the second half of May 1942, like Rudi Čajavec before him, he defected to the Partisans with his Potez 25 aircraft. From the improvised airfield near Prijedor he carried out a number of sorties against Axis forces, the most notable being the attack on an Ustaša column near Orahovo on 4 June. His plane was destroyed by hostile fire on 6 July.
Legacy
A clothing factory in Belgrade was named in his honour. The company Kluz padobrani makes parachutes to this day.
A printing company in Omiš is also named after Kluz. An aero club in Zemun is also named in his honour. Streets in Skopje and in Novi Sad are also named after Kluz. The Franjo Kluz Elementary School also existed in the Koševsko brdo neighbourhood of Sarajevo (since renamed Mehmed-beg Kapetanović Ljubušak elementary school).