Frank Luke, Jr. was an unlikely pilot. In the Great War, when fliers were still “knights of the air,” Luke was an ungallant loner—a kid from Arizona who collected tarantulas, shot buzzards, and boxed miners. But during two torrid weeks in September 1918, he was the deadliest man on the Western Front. In only ten missions, he destroyed fourteen heavily-defended German balloons and four airplanes, the second highest American tally in the entire war. Author Blaine Pardoe retraces and refreshes Frank Luke’s story through recently discovered correspondence. Frantic, short, and splendid, the life of Frank Luke, Jr. dramatizes the tragic intervention of an American spirit in the war that devastated Europe.

Title Terror of the Autumn Skies

Subtitle The True Story of Frank Luke, America's Rogue Ace of World War I

Authors Blaine Pardoe, Blaine Pardoe

BISAC Subject Heading HIS027090 HISTORY / Military / World War I

Title First Published 27 July 2011