Lt Frank Luke Jr. (May 19, 1897 – September 29, 1918) was ranked behind Captain Eddie Rickenbacker, as America's second highest ace of the first world war, with 18 official aerial victories (Rickenbacker was credited with 26 victories).Attachment 160639
Luke specialized in the toughest of all targets, heavily defended German observation balloons.Attachment 160640
In September, 1918, in just nine days of combat flying (ten missions) and only thirty hours of flight time, Luke shot down fourteen enemy balloons and four aircraft (seven planes according to some sources). Attachment 160641
He was the most daring aviator and greatest fighter pilot of the entire war, according to Captain Rickenbacker
posted to the 1st Pursuit Group's base at Rembercourt, France, Flying the SPAD XIII, Luke's final flight took place during the first phase of the Meuse-Argonne Offensive.Attachment 160642
Luke flew to the front to attack three balloons in the vicinity of Dun-sur-Meuse, six miles behind the German lines.Attachment 160643Attachment 160644 He first dropped a message to a nearby U.S. balloon company, alerting them to observe his imminent attacks. Luke shot down the enemy balloons, but was then severely wounded by a single machinegun bullet fired from a hilltop above him, a mile east of the last balloon site he had attacked. Luke landed in a field just west of the small village of Murvaux- after strafing a group of German soldiers on the ground - near the Ruisseau de Bradon, a stream leading to the Meuse River. Although weakened by his wound, he made his way toward the stream, intending to reach the cover of its adjacent underbrush, but finally collapsed some 200 meters from his SPAD. Approached by German infantry, Luke drew his Colt Model 1911 pistol and fired a few rounds at his attackers before dying.
Luke was awarded the Congressional Medal of Honour (the first pilot of the war to receive this honour) And on September 30th the Germans buried Luke in the Murvaux cemetery, from where his body was retrieved two months later by American forces. His final resting place is the Meuse-Argonne American Cemetery and Memorial, located east of the village of Romagne-sous-Montfaucon.Attachment 160645
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