Franciszek Hynek

Franciszek Hynek (1934)

Burzyński and Hynek (1934)

Franciszek Hynek's grave in the Powązki Cemetery in Warsaw

Franciszek Hynek (born December 1, 1897 in Krakow , †  September 8, 1958 near Szatarpy , Poland) was a pioneer of Polish balloon sport . He won the Gordon Bennett Cup in ballooning in 1933 and 1934 .

Life

Franciszek Hynek attended a teachers' college in Cracow until 1914. After the outbreak of the First World War , he volunteered for the Polish Legions , which fought against Russia on the side of the Central Powers . On July 5, 1916, he was wounded in the Battle of Kostiuchnówka . Drafted into the Austro-Hungarian army in 1917 , he was taken prisoner in Italy in December . After the war he joined the Polish army . In 1922 he attended the aeronautical officers' school in Thorn , where he first came into contact with ballooning . In 1925 he was transferred to the 5th Aeronautical Battalion in Jabłonna near Legionowo .

From 1928 Hynek took part in balloon sport competitions. Together with Zbigniew Burzyński , he won the Polish championship in free ballooning for the longest distance covered in Ballon Lwów . He took part in the renowned Gordon Bennett race six times, twice victorious. In 1933 he won with Burzyński, in 1934 with Władysław Pomaski (1895–1981), each with the Kościuszko balloon .

In December 1939, Hynek, now in the rank of major , joined the Polish underground against the German occupation . He was arrested on May 19, 1944, interned for a few weeks in the notorious Warsaw prison Pawiak , then taken to the Groß-Rosen concentration camp and finally to Bergen-Belsen .

When balloon sport resumed in Poland in 1956, he was one of its organizers. He represented the balloon sport division on the main board of the Polish Aero Club. When traveling alone on 7/8 September 1958, his hydrogen balloon got caught in a high-voltage line at night and exploded. Hynek was killed in the process.

Honors

Franciszek Hynek has received numerous high state awards in Poland. Among other things, he was decorated with the Golden Cross of Merit of the Republic of Poland after the first Gordon Bennett victory . He later received the Knight's Cross and posthumously the Officer's Cross from the Order of the Rebirth of Poland .

In many large cities in Poland, e.g. B. in Warsaw , Krakow, Gdansk , Poznan and Wroclaw , streets are named after Franciszek Hynek. A memorial was erected at the scene of the accident in 1969.

literature

• Zygmunt Kozak, Zbigniew Moszumański and Jacek Szczepański: Podpułkownik Franciszek Hynek (1897–1958) . Oficyna Wydawnicza Ajaks, Pruszków 2009. ISBN 978-83-88773-51-8 (Polish)

Web links

• Jacek Szczepański: Francisek Hynek , biography on the lotniczapolska.pl website (Polish)