Josip Križaj (13 March 1911 – 8 October 1948), also known by the Italianized name Giuseppe Krizai, nicknamed Pepi, was a Slovene (Yugoslav) military pilot and a veteran of the Spanish Civil War.
Due to his Slovene ethnic origins, he was not allowed into the regular Italian Royal Air Force, but he was nevertheless granted a place in the reserves. Because of the physical hardships endured during the training and his pro-Slovenian and pro-Yugoslav national political stance, he flew a Fiat AS.1 airplane on 25 June 1932 from Udine to Ljubljana, crossing the border of Yugoslavia, which led to much media interest. In 1934, he became a Yugoslav citizen. Following the outbreak of the Spanish Civil War, he joined the Yugoslav volunteers that fought on the side of the Spanish Republic. He was a member of the Squadron España, and was shot down once and captured during the war. After his return to Yugoslavia, he moved to Serbia, where he lived during World War II.
After the war, he became a SFR Yugoslav Air Force military pilot. His life ended on 8 October 1948, when his aircraft, a Yakovlev Yak-3, crashed into Mount Snežnik in southwestern Slovenia because of poor visibility in dense fog.
Today, the Ajdovščina Flying Club is named after Josip Križaj, and there is a monument to him at Portorož Airport.
Sources
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Stanonik, Tončka, Brenk, Lan: Osebnostiː veliki slovenski biografski leksikon, Mladinska knjiga, Ljubljana, 2008 COBISS241136128
Kladnik, Darinka: Zgodovina letalstva na Slovenskem, ZIP - Zavod za intelektualno produkcijo, Ljubljana, 2008 COBISS242534912ISBN978-961-91035-6-2
