Frank Luke, nicknamed The Arizona Balloon Buster, was born in Phoenix, Ariz. He enlisted in the U.S. Army in Sep. 1917, learned to fly, and arrived on the Front in France in July 1918 where he was assigned to the 27th Aero Sq. His exceptional bravery earned for him a reputation for being "wild and reckless" but his fellow pilots soon realized that he possessed that certain element which distinguished a great fighter pilot from the others - complete fearlessness. In Sep. 1918, Luke began a personal campaign against German observation balloons and airplanes. During a seven-day period, Sep. 12-18, two days of which he did not fly, he scored 13 confirmed victories, including an amazing five victories (two balloons and three airplanes) on the last day. At sunset on Sep 29, 1918, Luke took off from an advance aerodrome at Verdun to attack balloons in the area of Dun-sur-Meuse. He never returned. http://usfighter.tripod.com/frames1.htm
