For those interested in Frank Luke's unbelievable combat record, he was the second highest scoring American ace of the war, with 4 planes and 14 balloons shot down, (only Rickenbacker had more).   He was posthumously awarded the Congressional Medal of Honor, and Luke AFB is named after him.

By Paul Romans

I once thought that observation balloons were an easy kill, but they were actually the most heavily defended of all targets, with concentrated anti-aircraft fire from the ground, machine guns aboard the balloon itself, and usually plenty of fighters in the area protecting them.   Bringing one down and living to tell about it was quite an accomplishment, as you had to fly through a lot of concentrated fire to do it.   Luke shot down 14 of them.

This is even more amazing considering how short his career was.   Luke was born in 1897, in Arizona, worked in the local copper mine, and signed up for service a few months after America's entry into World War I. Trained, commissioned, and shipped to France, Luke found himself in the 27th Aero Squadron by July of 1918.   He saw combat for the first time in August, claiming his first kill on the 16th.   Unfortunately, it couldn't be confirmed, and some of Luke's squadron mates dismissed it as braggartism.   Such behavior was not well received, and Luke rankled at having the claim dismissed.   He kept to himself, making few friends.   Luke was a cocky, outspoken, self-assured young man, and his attitude irritated the older, more experienced pilots in the squadron.   He spent the next few weeks practicing his marksmanship, riding his motorcycle around the airfield, and typing up confirmation forms for future kills.   He flew only a few patrols over the next few weeks, and saw no combat.

A frequent topic of discussion at base was shooting down the German observation balloons, how fighters were always nearby, how well protected they were, and how dangerous they were.   Intrigued, Luke boasted that he'd be the next man to get one.   On Sept. 12th, Luke spotted one, and made three passes at it, with the ground crew desperately winching it down.   The third pass was made when the balloon was nearly on the ground, and the defensive fire was fierce.   It burst into flames, dropping on the winch and ground crew.   Luke landed nearby, just behind his own front lines, had an Army observer sign a confirmation form, then took off to fly home.

His damaged engine would not make it, so he returned to the frontal airfield and rode a motorcycle back to base.   Luke had bagged his first balloon.

On the morning of the 14th, he found another, and made six diving passes at it, constantly dodging ground-fire.  It finally went down, but Luke's squadron mates claimed at least part of the credit for the kill.   Luke requested confirmation and full credit, irritating his fellow flyers still further.   Up to this point, Luke had been characterized as an unwelcome braggart, his arrogance rubbing most of his fellow fliers the wrong way.   When orders came down that another patrol needed to be flown the same day, the officers in the squadron suggested that Luke be given the dangerous assignment.   If he succeeded, they'd let him stay; if he failed, he'd be shipped out.   If he were killed, well, that would be just too bad.   Luke accepted.

Flying his second combat patrol of the day, Luke spotted the offending balloon over the town of Buzy.   He left formation, dove on it with only one other plane covering him (flown by Luke's only friend in the outfit, Lt. Joe Wehner), and proceeded to shoot it down.   In the process, he was jumped by eight Fokkers, which he managed to evade after getting his plane badly shot up.   He returned to base vindicated, now with two confirmed kills to his credit.   He was still considered crazy and arrogant, but no longer a braggart.   He even tried to go up a third time that day, on an unauthorized dusk patrol in another man's plane, but was ordered down by his commanding officer.

The next day, on the 15th, Luke and Joe Wehner went up at dawn, and each of them amazingly bagged two balloons, with Wehner also getting two Fokkers that were trying to shoot down Luke.   Not a bad morning's work.   During these flights, Luke noticed that the balloons were most heavily defended in the daytime, but at dusk, the defenses were much lighter.   He went up again that evening, depending on a well lit-up airfield to land safely.   Flying near Verdun, he spotted a light in the sky, and approaching it, he found it to be a Hun balloon.   It was attacked and shot down, the kill being confirmed later by German records.   Losing his way in the dark, he was forced to land in a French wheat field at about 9:30pm.   By the time Luke made it back to his base the next morning, word was spreading rapidly of the Luke / Wehner rampage, and Luke was already being referred to as the "Arizona Balloon Buster".

Another attack was planned for following evening, and some of the Army brass showed up in the afternoon to watch the "Luke and Wehner show".   Luke laid his plans carefully, intending to swoop down on two balloons near Verdun at exactly 1900 hours.   Among the visitors that day was Col. Billy Mitchell, who was skeptical of Luke's ability to pull off this stunt.   As evening came on, Allied artillery opened up, and German balloons could be seen going up to get a better view.   Luke and Wehner took off and headed towards the front, with everyone scanning the sky to see what would happen.   Dusk fell.   The clock slowly moved to 1900, and everyone watched intently.

At exactly 7:00pm, a flash of flame from an exploding balloon lit up the distant sky.   Within a few minutes, another balloon flared up and exploded.   They had done it!   Luke's plane was riddled with anti-aircraft fire, but he was unhurt.   In the space of only four short days, Frank Luke had become the most amazing flyer of the war.

On Sept. 18th he was up again, but it would be both the best and worst day of his short career.   Luke and his partner Joe Wehner went up at 1600 hours in the afternoon, hoping to spot more enemy balloons.   Finding two, they dove in to the attack, setting fire to both of them.   Their luck was running out however, as they were jumped by German fighters, most of whom concentrated on Wehner's plane.   Luke tried to climb up and join the fight, but he found two Fokkers on his own tail, and while he was busy evading them, Wehner was shot down and killed.   Luke turned on his attackers and shot them both down.   He spent a few minutes looking for Wehner's crashed plane but could not locate it, so he turned back towards his own lines.   Noticing another German scout plane, he gave chase and shot it down as well.   Luke had shot down two balloons and three planes, along with losing the only real friend he'd had in the war, all within about 10 minutes.

Luke was inconsolable.   The loss of his friend Wehner was a severe blow, and even though Luke was now confirmed as America's leading ace, he became more withdrawn and morose.   His commanding officer sent him to Paris the next day for some needed R&R.   After six days, Luke returned to the front, saying that in Paris "...there was nothing to do."   He'd thought about combat the entire time, and had devised a new method of attacking the German balloons, one that he was eager to try out.   Assigned a new partner, a Lt. Roberts, Luke went up again on the 26th, patrolling for German observation balloons.   Before any were spotted, Luke and Roberts were jumped by five German fighters, and Luke spun his SPAD around, getting one of planes in his sights and sending it down out of control.   His guns jammed so he didn't get any others, but in the melee Roberts had been shot down as well.   Luke had lost another partner, and sunk into a deep depression, harboring a suicidal urge to shoot down enemy balloons until he was himself killed.

Luke submitted a daring plan to attack the deadly German balloon over Bethenville, but spent the 27th on the ground while his superiors debated his request.   On the 28th, he took off on his own, attacked the Bethenville balloon and sent it down in flames.

Now his commanding officer was faced with a difficult decision: Luke was apparently the only man in the outfit crazy enough to go after these important targets, but now he was out there operating without orders, and according to his own agenda.   Anticipating trouble, Luke filed his flight report late in the day, and then took off before his C.O. could catch him.   He flew to a nearby French unit, spending the night there.   This made him technically AWOL, and with a government plane to boot.   On the morning of the 29th, his C.O. determined that he'd have to place Luke under arrest.   Luke knew what was waiting for him back at base, so he simply never went back there.   Later that day, he flew to a forward airfield near Verdun, refueled, and then took off flying towards the enemy.   Over the American lines, he dropped a note that read "Watch 3 Hun balloons on the Meuse.   Luke."   It was his last communication.

September 29th marked the end of Luke's vicious, short career.   All three balloons he referred to in his note were shot down, and they were later added to his score.   It is also believed that he shot down two more attacking Fokkers, but these were not confirmed.   All that was known for certain was that he did not return from this last flight.   Three months would pass without any definite word of his fate.   Then in January of 1919, a letter was received from an American Graves Registration who had investigated an unmarked grave in the village of Murvaux, the same area where Luke had last flown.   The description of the body matched Luke, and the local residents said that the flier had been shot down on Sept. 29th, after shooting down three German balloons.

The story of Luke's final flight slowly emerged; while shooting at the balloons, he was caught in heavy ground fire, and wounded in the shoulder.   After making a forced landing and climbing out of his plane, he was confronted by German infantry who ordered him to surrender.   Luke drew his pistol, stood defiantly facing the Germans, and started shooting, fighting back until he was killed.   His body was hauled off to the local cemetery and buried.

So ended Luke's short but brilliant career.   His totals were four planes and fourteen balloons, all accomplished in only 10 flights over the 17 days from September 12th through the 29th, and this included the six days he spent in Paris.

Frank Luke came to epitomize the reckless, undisciplined, loner image of the fighter pilot.   One can only wonder what he might have accomplished had he lived longer.