Franjo Kluz - Early Life and Career

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 June 4. His plane was destroyed by hostile fire on July 6.

He then became a member of the Partisan command for Bosanska Krajina region. As a member of the command staff, he was required to be a Party member and on August 14, 1942 he was accepted as a member of the Communist Party of Yugoslavia.

On October 14 Kluz became the station commander of the First Air Base of the Yugoslav National Liberation Army (YNLA) in Livno. After the German offensive, Kluz was sent, with 200 men, to Allied-controlled Italy, where they received training, equipment and aircraft from the RAF. Kluz was commissioned as a Pilot Officer in the RAFVR, with the service number 178171.

Kluz became a member of the 1st Air Squadron of YNLA (Prva eskadrila, NOVJ), otherwise known as No. 352 Squadron RAF. On September 14, 1944, he was shot down in his Spitfire and killed (unfortunately CWGC misspells his first name) by German AAA over Omiš. For his wartime service, Franjo Kluz was posthumously awarded the Order of a People's Hero of Yugoslavia.