Name: Frank Luke, Jr. Country: United States Rank: 2nd Lieutenant Service: United States Air Service Squadrons: 27th Aero (Eagle) Victories: 18 Born: 19 May 1897 Place of Birth: Phoenix, Arizona Died: 29 September 1918 Place of Death: Near Murvaux Notes Posthumously awarded the Medal of Honor, the "Arizona Balloon Buster" was the leading ace in the United States Air Service at the time of his death. After aerial combat training at Issoudun, France, Luke was assigned to the 27th Pursuit Squadron under Harold Hartney on 25 July 1918. Often flying alone or with his friend Joseph Wehner, Luke shot down 18 enemy balloons and planes in 17 days before he was killed in action. After flaming three German balloons on 29 September 1918, his SPAD S.XIII was shot down by ground fire. Resisting capture, he shot it out with approaching German soldiers and was killed near the crash site. After the war, Luke's remains were reinterred at the Romagne Military Cemetery. Luke Air Force Base was named in his honor. Medal of Honor "After having previously destroyed a number of enemy aircraft within 17 days he voluntarily started on a patrol after German observation balloons. Though pursued by 8 German planes which were protecting the enemy balloon line, he unhesitatingly attacked and shot down in flames 3 German balloons, being himself under heavy fire from ground batteries and the hostile planes. Severely wounded, he descended to within 50 meters of the ground, and flying at this low altitude near the town of Murvaux opened fire upon enemy troops, killing 6 and wounding as many more. Forced to make a landing and surrounded on all sides by the enemy, who called upon him to surrender, he drew his automatic pistol and defended himself gallantly until he fell dead from a wound in the chest." Medal of Honor citation Quotes "Man, how that kid could fly! No one, mind you, no one, had the sheer contemptuous courage that boy possessed. I know he's been criticized for being such a lone-hander, but, good Lord, he won us priceless victories by those very tactics. He was an excellent pilot and probably the best flying marksman on the Western Front. We had any number of expert pilots and there was no shortage of good shots, but the perfect combination, like the perfect specimen of anything in the world, was scarce. Frank Luke was the perfect combination." Harold Hartney, Commanding Officer, 27th Pursuit Squadron Aces ╖ Aircraft ╖ Books ╖ Chat ╖ Forum ╖ Guests ╖ Links ╖ Medals ╖ News ╖ Search ╖ Vote Copyright ⌐ 1997,1998 The Aerodrome Page revised on 03 May 1998