Raoul Lufbery
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Gervais Raoul Lufbery (March 14, 1885 – May 19, 1918) was a French-American fighter pilot and flying ace in World War I. Because he served in both the French and later the United States Army Air Service in World War I, he is sometimes listed as a French ace and sometimes as an American ace, though all but one of his 17 combat victories came while flying in French units.
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[edit] Early life
Raoul Lufbery was born in Chamalieres, France to an American father and a French mother. When Raoul was an infant, his father returned to America, forcing Raoul to be raised by his grandmother. He later came to America settling in Wallingford, Connecticut. He enlisted in the United States Army to gain American citizenship and saw service during the Philippine-American War. Later, he traveled to French Indochina, where he took a job as a mechanic for French aviation pioneer Marc Pourpe.
[edit] Early French service
When World War I broke out in 1914, Lufbery enlisted in the French Foreign Legion. Originally trained as an infantryman, he was later transferred to an aviation squadron, where he was reunited with his old mentor, Marc Pourpe, who had become a French aviator.
Late in 1914, Lufbery was accepted into the pilot training program and was assigned to fly reconnaissance missions with Escadrille VB 106. He later applied for a transfer to fighter planes and was trained on Nieuports. Despite his future success, Lufbery was not considered a naturally gifted pilot. His success was largely due to perseverance and sheer force of will rather than natural ability.
[edit] Lafayette Escadrille
In 1916, a group of American volunteers formed the Escadrille Américaine (shortly to be renamed the Escadrille Lafayette) to aid France’s war effort against the Germans. The squadron was largely made up of upper-class Americans with little flight experience. Lufbery, as an American citizen with combat experience, was recruited to organize and train the unit. He joined the unit on May 24, 1916 and was assigned a Nieuport fighter.
His first encounters with his unit did not go smoothly. Lufbery spoke English with a thick French accent and had little in common with his comrades, most of whom were from wealthy families and were Ivy League educated. Once in combat, though, his dogged determination and success earned him the respect and admiration of his peers. One night while the squadron was resting in Paris, his fellow pilots gave him a lion cub, which Lufbery raised for several years. The cub's name was Whiskey.
His first two victories came on July 30, 1916 over Verdun. By October 12, 1916, he had downed five enemy planes, making him an ace and the squadron’s leading aviator.
It was during this time that the "Lufbery circle" maneuver became named for him, although most aviation scholars agree that Lufbery did not actually invent it, just popularized it among Allied flyers.
By the time that the Escadrille Lafayette was placed under American command, on February 18, 1918, Lufbery had downed seven enemy planes and had seen his Nieuport replaced by a newer, more capable SPAD S.VII fighter. Although the unit was now under American command, it was still considered a French unit, and the nine planes he would shoot down while flying for the squadron were considered French victories.
[edit] American service
In the spring of 1918, Lufbery was chosen to become an officer in the yet-unformed 94th Aero Squadron with the rank of major. Lufbery’s principal job was to instruct the new pilots such as Eddie Rickenbacker in combat techniques. The United States Army Air Service was equipped with Nieuport 28 fighters, but due to supply problems, many lacked armament. The 94th’s first combat patrol on March 6, 1918, saw Lufbery leading Rickenbacker and fellow flyer Doug Campbell in unarmed airplanes.
[edit] Death
On May 19, 1918, several 94th aviators were patrolling an area north of Nancy when they encountered a group of German Albatros fighters over Saint-Mihiel. Lufbery, who had witnessed the combat from the 94th's base, jumped into a borrowed airplane and joined the fight. He took off after an Albatros that had been damaged in combat and was attempting to return to German lines. He made one pass, but in his recovery he was struck by machine gun fire from the Albatros’s rear machine gun, and his plane caught fire.
What happened next has been a matter of considerable debate. At an altitude variously estimated between 200 and 600 feet, Lufbery either jumped out of the plane (to avoid a fiery death) or was thrown from the cockpit after it flipped over above the village of Maron. Lufbery struck a metal garden picket fence and was killed. (Allied aviators of World War I were not issued parachutes, and Germans wore them only very late in the war.)
He was buried with full military honors at the Aviators Cemetery at Sebastapol, France. His remains were later removed to a place of honor at the Lafayette Memorial du Parc de Garches in Paris. Although he received credit for only 16 victories in his career, his fellow pilots recorded many instances when he shot down German planes that he was not credited for. His actual number of victories is estimated at 25-60.
A sculpture of Lufbery and an airplane form the Harmon International Trophy, an award given annually beginning in 1926 to honor achievements in aviation. In 1998, Lufbery was enshrined in the National Aviation Hall of Fame.
[edit] Trivia
Lufbery is one of the main characters in Jeffrey Shaara's book, To the Last Man.
The character of Reed Cassidy in the 2006 film Flyboys (played by Martin Henderson) is roughly based on Lufbery.
