Frank Luke, the Arizona Balloon Buster, and the Seventeen Days That Made Him the Most Dangerous Pilot of the First World War

In seventeen days of combat during September and October 1918, Second Lieutenant Frank Luke of the 27th Aero Squadron destroyed 14 German observation balloons and 4 aircraft - a total of 18 aerial victories that no American pilot in the war would match. He was 21 years old. Eddie Rickenbacker, America’s official ace of aces, called him the greatest American aviator the war produced. Rickenbacker did not use that word lightly.

Who Was Frank Luke?

Frank Luke was born on August 19, 1897, in Phoenix, Arizona, the second of nine children in a family with German immigrant roots. He grew up in the Sonoran desert, self-reliant in the way that environment demands, comfortable alone and uncomfortable in crowds.

His squadronmates found him arrogant, boastful, and impossible to manage. He filed aerial victory claims that other pilots disputed, largely because his habit of attacking deep over enemy territory left no Allied witnesses to confirm what he had done. He was not built for institutional life.

He was, however, built for an airplane.

The SPAD XIII and the 27th Aero Squadron

When the United States entered the war in 1917, Luke was 19. He enlisted, trained as a pilot, and was assigned to the 27th Aero Squadron, First Pursuit Group, flying the French-built SPAD XIII. The aircraft was powered by a Hispano-Suiza engine producing well over 200 horsepower, had a service ceiling around 22,000 feet, and a top speed approaching 135 mph. Twin Vickers guns fired through the propeller arc.

The SPAD was heavier than many fighters of its era, formidable in a dive, and demanded a committed, aggressive pilot. It suited Luke exactly.

The Problem of Loyalty and the Partnership with Joe Wehner

Luke struggled early. His German surname drew suspicion in an army at war with Germany, and several of his initial victory claims were rejected or questioned. The reputation forming around him in the 27th was not flattering, and not all of it was deserved.

Then he met Joseph Wehner - a quiet, methodical pilot from Massachusetts, also the son of German immigrants, who understood without explanation what Luke was dealing with. They were opposites in temperament. Wehner was steady and careful where Luke was impulsive and loud.

They became the closest of friends, and more practically, they became a combat team. Wehner flew as Luke’s wingman, holding off enemy fighters while Luke executed the attacks. That division of labor was the engine behind what happened next.

Why Frank Luke Targeted Observation Balloons

Observation balloons - the Germans called them Drachen, Allied pilots called them sausages - were among the most valuable assets on the Western Front. Tethered at altitudes of 4,000 feet or higher, they carried observers in baskets who could direct artillery fire with a precision that was killing men in the trenches by the thousands.

Every balloon was defended accordingly. Machine gun nests on the ground, anti-aircraft batteries, and fighter patrols orbiting above made a balloon attack among the most dangerous missions a pilot could accept. German ground crews could winch a balloon down in seconds when an attacker was spotted. To guarantee ignition of the hydrogen gas inside, incendiary rounds had to be fired at nearly point-blank range - which meant holding an attack run while every weapon in the area converged on one aircraft.

Most experienced pilots found other things to shoot at. Luke looked at those balloons and saw the most important targets on the Western Front.

The Seventeen Days: September 1918

Luke began his campaign before the Meuse-Argonne offensive - the largest American military operation of the entire war - even opened on September 26, 1918.

September 12: Two balloons destroyed in a single mission
September 14: One balloon and one aircraft
September 15: Two balloons and one aircraft

He had developed a specific technique. He timed his attacks for dusk, when the setting sun sat low on the horizon and anti-aircraft gunners were looking into the glare. He came in fast and low, out of the light, hit the balloon on the first pass before the ground crews could respond, and was gone. The burning balloons were visible from both sides of the lines. The German crews knew who was coming.

Wehner stayed on his wing through all of it.

The Death of Joe Wehner

On September 16, the partnership ended. During a fight over the lines, the engagement broke apart the way air combat does - simultaneously and without warning. Luke destroyed his target. When he turned back, Wehner’s airplane was going down.

Wehner’s body was not recovered until after the armistice.

The Final Weeks and the Last Mission

What followed Wehner’s death does not fit a conventional narrative arc. Luke did not slow down. He became more reckless, more solitary, and increasingly unwilling to operate within any institutional structure. His commanding officer, Major Harold Hartney, was managing a pilot who was simultaneously the most effective man in the American air service and a constant disciplinary problem.

Luke went absent without leave multiple times. He would disappear for days, turn up at other airfields, and then reappear. He was eventually grounded and placed under something close to arrest, awaiting whatever the Army would decide to do with him.

On September 29, 1918, Frank Luke walked out to his aircraft, climbed in, and flew away.

Before he left, he dropped a handwritten note to American ground troops near the village of Murvaux in the Meuse valley. The note said he was going to attack three enemy balloons in the area.

He destroyed all three.

The Last Fight Over Murvaux

French civilians in Murvaux watched it happen. A lone SPAD diving through the last light of the day, hitting each balloon in sequence while German anti-aircraft fire, machine guns, and scrambling fighters tried to bring him down. Three balloons. Three pillars of fire rising over the German lines.

His airplane was hit badly and he was wounded. He came down in a field near the village. Enemy soldiers were closing in.

Luke climbed out of his airplane, drew his pistol, and fought.

He was 21 years old, alone in occupied France, surrounded. A German officer’s report from that evening recorded that the American pilot had fought to the last against superior forces. The villagers of Murvaux buried him where he fell.

The Final Accounting

When post-war investigators gathered French civilian testimony and cross-referenced German records, Luke’s total for seventeen days of combat stood at 18 aerial victories: 14 balloons and 4 aircraft. The United States Army awarded him the Medal of Honor posthumously. His citation notes that his final mission was flown at twilight, alone, in territory so far inside enemy lines that assistance from friendly aircraft was impossible.

Eddie Rickenbacker, who ended the war with 26 kills as America’s official ace of aces, returned repeatedly to the same word when he spoke about Luke in the years after: greatest. The most daring aviator the air war had produced.

There is a bronze statue of Luke in Phoenix. A young pilot looking at the sky.

Key Takeaways

Frank Luke destroyed 14 German observation balloons and 4 aircraft in just 17 days in September 1918 - 18 aerial victories total
He flew the SPAD XIII with the 27th Aero Squadron, First Pursuit Group, and developed a dusk attack technique that exploited sun glare to suppress anti-aircraft fire
His wingman and closest friend, Joe Wehner, was killed on September 16 after flying cover for Luke through every balloon attack
Luke was effectively under arrest when he flew his final mission on September 29, 1918, leaving behind a note telling friendly troops exactly what he intended to do
He was awarded the Medal of Honor posthumously; Eddie Rickenbacker, America’s ace of aces, called him the greatest American pilot of the war