# Franz Hrdlicka

Franz Hrdlicka (15 October 1920 – 25 March 1945) was a Luftwaffe ace and recipient of the Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross during World War II. During his career Franz Hrdlicka was credited with 60 aerial victories.

## Career

Hrdlicka was born on 15 October 1920 in Maxdorf in Mähren, present-day the suburb Dvorska of Brno in the Czech Republic. He volunteered for service in the Luftwaffe in late 1939.
On 6 August 1942, Hrdlicka was shot down and wounded in his Messerschmitt Bf 109 F-4 (Werknummer 7021—factory number) near the airfield at Kastornoje, approximately 75 km (47 mi) west of Voronezh.
On 27 September 1944 he was shot down and wounded in combat with Supermarine Spitfires near Arnhem but managed to bail out. Following his 44th aerial victory, he was awarded the Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross (Ritterkreuz des Eisernen Kreuzes) on 9 August 1944. He was transferred to Jagdgeschwader 2 "Richthofen" (JG 2—2nd Fighter Wing) in mid-October 1944. There he first commanded the 1. Staffel as Staffelkapitän (squadron leader).

### Group commander and death

On 18 December 1944, Hrdlicka was appointed Gruppenkommandeur (group commander) of the I. Gruppe of JG 2 "Richthofen". He succeeded Hauptmann Kurt Hoffmann who temporarily had led the Gruppe after its former commander, Major Walter Matoni had been injured on 5 December.
Hrdlicka was shot down by United States Army Air Forces fighters and killed in action on 25 March 1945 near Betzenrod, present-day a suburb of Schotten, Hesse. His remains were recovered on 8 September 1951. He had been nominated for the Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross with Oak Leaves (Ritterkreuz des Eisernen Kreuzes mit Eichenlaub) which was not approved.

## Summary of career
### Aerial victory claims

Mathews and Foreman, authors of Luftwaffe Aces — Biographies and Victory Claims, researched the German Federal Archives and state that he claimed at least 44 aerial victories. This figure includes 24 aerial victories on the Eastern Front and at least 20 over the Western Allies, including three four-engined heavy bombers.
Victory claims were logged to a map-reference (PQ = Planquadrat), for example "PQ 83194". The Luftwaffe grid map (Jägermeldenetz) covered all of Europe, western Russia and North Africa and was composed of rectangles measuring 15 minutes of latitude by 30 minutes of longitude, an area of about 360 square miles (930 km$^2$). These sectors were then subdivided into 36 smaller units to give a location area 3 km × 4 km (1.9 mi × 2.5 mi) in size.
Chronicle of aerial victories :
| This and the # (hash mark) indicates those aerial victories listed by Prien, Stemmer, Rodeike and Bock without an explicit sequence number.  This and the ? (question mark) indicates information discrepancies listed by Prien, Stemmer, Rodeike, Bock, Mathews and Foreman. ||||||||||
| Claim | Date | Time | Type | Location | Claim | Date | Time | Type | Location |
| – 5. Staffel of Jagdgeschwader 77 – Operation Barbarossa — 22 June – 5 December 1941 ||||||||||
| 1 | 6 July 1941 | 12:47 | I-16 | | 5 | 10 October 1941 | 10:10 | Il-2 | |
| 2 | 6 August 1941 | 15:33 | MiG-3 | | 6 | 22 October 1941 | 11:00 | R-5 | |
| 3 | 12 August 1941 | 13:14 | SB-2 | vicinity of Odessa | 7 | 17 November 1941 | 13:39 | I-153 | |
| 4 | 25 September 1941 | 15:00 | I-153 | | | | | | |
| – 5. Staffel of Jagdgeschwader 77 – Eastern Front — 17 March – 30 April 1942 ||||||||||
| 8 | 17 March 1942 | 12:38 | DB-3 | | 10 | 24 March 1942 | 13:00 | I-16 | |
| 9 | 19 March 1942 | 15:20 | I-153 | | | | | | |
| – 5. Staffel of Jagdgeschwader 77 – Eastern Front — 1 May – 7 November 1942 ||||||||||
| 11 | 8 May 1942 | 12:11 | MiG-1 | | 18 | 21 July 1942 | 18:45 | Hurricane | |
| # | 11 May 1942 | 12:28 | DB-3 | | 19 | 21 July 1942 | 19:20 | Hurricane | |
| 13 | 14 June 1942 | 14:51 | I-153 | | 20 | 24 July 1942 | 05:46 | LaGG-3 | |
| 14 | 6 July 1942 | 18:03 | P-40 | | 21 | 24 July 1942 | 05:50 | U-2 | |
| 15 | 12 July 1942 | 17:09 | Yak-1 | | 22 | 25 July 1942 | 18:13 | Pe-2 | |
| 16 | 13 July 1942 | 10:45 | Il-2 | | 23 | 31 July 1942 | 15:47 | Il-2 | PQ 83194 |
| 17 | 21 July 1942 | 16:34 | LaGG-3 | | 24 | 6 August 1942 | 18:04 | Pe-2 | PQ 82153 |
| – 5. Staffel of Jagdgeschwader 77 – Mediterranean Theater, North Africa — 1–31 December 1942 ||||||||||
| 25 | 20 December 1942 | 07:50 | P-40 | PQ 13 Ost 62732 | | | | | |
| – 5. Staffel of Jagdgeschwader 77 – North Africa — 1 January – May 1943 ||||||||||
| 26 | 1 January 1943 | 10:55 | P-40 | 10 km (6.2 mi) southwest of airfield Zazur 20 km (12 mi) northwest of Buerat | 29? | 24 March 1943 | 08:35 | Spitfire | 10 km (6.2 mi) south-southeast of Gabès |
| 27 | 1 March 1943 | 14:58 | P-38? | southeast of Thélepte 20 km (12 mi) northwest of Buerat | 30 | 26 March 1943 | 10:50? | Spitfire | 10 km (6.2 mi) south-southeast of El Hamma |
| 28 | 13 March 1943 | 17:45 | P-39 | 52 km (32 mi) west-southwest of Sfax | 31 | 1 April 1943 | 18:10 | Spitfire | 22 km (14 mi) east of El Guetter |
| – 5. Staffel of Jagdgeschwader 77 – Mediterranean Theater, Italy — June – 31 December 1943 ||||||||||
| 32 | 20 June 1943 | 08:35 | P-38 | PQ 13 Ost 28134, west of Chinisia Airfield | 35 | 9 July 1943 | 07:28 | P-40 | 28 km (17 mi) east-northeast of Castelvetrano Airfield |
| 33 | 4 July 1943 | 11:28 | Spitfire | 90 km (56 mi) east of Syracuse | 36 | 19 August 1943 | 11:12 | P-51 | PQ 03 Ost 59274, east of Stromboli |
| 34 | 5 July 1943 | 11:40 | B-17 | 35 km (22 mi) west of Syracuse | 37 | 9 November 1943 | 12:05 | P-38 | PQ 04 Ost 75712 |
| – 5. Staffel of Jagdgeschwader 77 – Mediterranean Theater, Italy — 1 January – 8 September 1944 ||||||||||
| 38 | 6 February 1944 | 08:10 | P-51 | PQ 14 Ost S/22423 | 42 | 4 June 1944 | 11:20 | Spitfire | PQ 14 Ost UB northwest of Pistoia |
| 39 | 20 March 1944 | 12:15 | Spitfire | PQ 14 OST S/FA-7 south of Elba | 43 | 26 June 1944 | 12:18 | B-24 | PQ 14 Ost N/5338 |
| 40 | 18 April 1944 | 08:12 | P-51 | 2 km (1.2 mi) southwest of Bracciano southwest of Lake Bracciano | 44 | 5 July 1944 | 13:08 | P-47 | PQ 14 Ost S/BE-1/1 Sansepolcro |
| 41 | 29 May 1944 | 11:44 | B-24 | PQ 14 Ost S/66373 southeast of Zagreb | | | | | |
| – Stab III. Gruppe of Jagdgeschwader 2 "Richthofen" – Western Front — 18–31 December 1944 ||||||||||
| 45 | 23 December 1944 | 12:03 | B-26 | PQ 05 Ost ON-5 Roetgen | | | | | |

### Awards and decorations

* Aviator badge
* Front Flying Clasp of the Luftwaffe in Gold
* Wound Badge (1939)
** in Black
* Iron Cross (1939) 2nd and 1st Class
* Honor Goblet of the Luftwaffe on 13 September 1942 as Leutnant and pilot
* German Cross in Gold on 12 July 1943 as Oberleutnant in the II./Jagdgeschwader 77
* Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross on 9 August 1944 as Hauptmann and Staffelkapitän of the 5./Jagdgeschwader 77