Pranas Hiksa

Pranas Hiksa (23 May 1897 – 4 April 1966) was a Lithuanian businessman, car racer, and captain of the Lithuanian Army who was the first Lithuanian military pilot. Due to his successful racing and business career, Hiksa was a known millionaire in interwar Lithuania.

Biography Early life Pranas Hiksa was born on 23 May 1897 in the Verkiai Palace in the Vilna Governorate of the Russian Empire. In 1900 his family moved to another manor at Norvaišiai near Šiauliai, where he was educated at the Šiauliai Men's Gymnasium. Later he attended the Liepāja commercial school. In 1905, Hiksa's mother died, soon followed by his father. Hiksa was subsequently raised by his adopted sister's Ona Zubovienė's family.

World War I During World War I, he lived with his adoptive family in their residence in Moscow, where he attended the Tsarevich Alexei Commercial School and also finished drivers' courses in 1915. On 1 October 1916, he began his military service in the Russian Imperial Army's 23rd Army Corps Aviation Detachment stationed near Riga. On December 3, he was sent to the Gatchina Military Flying School. On 3 June 1922, he was promoted to captain, and three months later on 25 September was discharged from the army to study.