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 sidekick 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 XIII (S7984) 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 reburied at the Romagne Military Cemetery. Luke Air Force Base was named in his honor.

Name:     Frank Luke, Jr.
     
Medal of Honor
Distinguished Service Cross with Oak Leaf Cluster (DSC - United States)

Country:    United States
Rank:    2nd Lieutenant
Service:    United States Air Service
Units:    27th Aero
Victories:    18
Born:    19 May 1897
Place of Birth:    Phoenix, Arizona
Died:    29 September 1918    Killed In Action
Place of Death:    Near Murvaux
Cemetery:    Meuse-Argonne American Cemetery, Romagne, France Plot A Row 26 Grave 13

......viva la France..... ...

Pilot jel to bila praksa da se slalo pilote na obuku u Franciju.........

Kada je poceo prvi svetski rat SAD je imala sest borbenih aviona a Kraljevina Srbija trinaest. Dok smo mi imali itekako ozbiljne i spremne neprijatelje kao sto je Turska i Austrougarska njima je glavni neprijatelj bio Meksiko. Francuska je bila jedna od zemalja gde je mogla da se dobije dozvola za letenje a u tom trenutku je za razliku od SAD imala i borbeno iskustvo. Takva je situacija i danas na neki nacin- mnogi probni piloti zavrsavaju skolu u Francuskoj.

Inace napad na balone iako se cini bez veze, bio je itekako opasan. Te balone je branila itekako jaka i mocna PVO a tu su bili i protivnicki avioni. Frank Luk je dobio pogodak kroz grudi. Prinudno je sleteo avinom koji je dan pre toga stigao u jedinicu iz fabrike. Inace celu ilustraciju koja je prikazana gore, sam uradio na zelju jednog americkog istrazivaca koji ce uskoro izbaciti knigu o ovom pilotu i ilustracija mu treba za njegov sajt radi promocije.

......a šta da kažem lepo si ti to uradio........trebao si staviti koji svoj logo.....

 

Odlicna ilustracija,i jako zanimljiva prica...

 

Zaboravio sam da stavim link za knjigu o ovom pilotu...

http://www.sopwithmotorsports.com/thestandfrankluke/id12.html

inache i frank luke je bio nemachkog porekla kao i njegov vingman .wehner je chak imao problema sa "bezbednjacima" i zamalo da ga ne poshalju u francusku (shto bi verovatno bilo bolje za njega   )

  odlican rad pilot