Lieutenant General František Fajtl (20 August 1912 – 4 October 2006) was a Czech fighter pilot of World War II.

He was dismissed from the Czechoslovak Air Force and was held in prison for a year and a half without a trial after the Communists came to power in 1948, and was only fully rehabilitated after the Velvet Revolution in 1989.

He wrote many autobiographical books about his wartime experiences, and was an inspiration for the 2001 film Tmavomodrý svět (Dark Blue World).

After the Fall of France he escaped to North Africa through Port-Vendres, and travelled to Great Britain via Gibraltar, where he joined the Royal Air Force.

On 5 May 1942 his Spitfire was shot down over northern France while escorting bombers attacking Lille, and crash-landed near Hazebrouck, within the heavily defended Atlantic Wall.

As a result of British diplomatic intervention Fajtl was released after a few weeks and returned to his squadron in England via Gibraltar.

The government-in-exile's intentions were to support the rebellion in occupied Czechoslovakia, which become later known as the Slovak National Uprising launched on 29 August 1944 in Banská Bystrica.

Shortly after World War II, František Fajtl was awarded many orders and medals and served as a lieutenant colonel in the Czechoslovak Army.

Fajtl was treated as a hero on his return to Prague in 1945, but was dismissed from the Czechoslovak Air Force after the Communists' seizure of political power in February, 1948.