“Lieut. Luke believed that if he could get across the opposing
lines unobserved and far enough, he would be able to take the enemy
formations unaware and swoop down upon the unsuspecting rear man, shoot
him down and get away in safety. Accordingly one day he went off on his
own at great altitude and crossed over into enemy territory. Far below
him he spied an enemy formation of six machines dropping down to land
on their own aerodrome. Perfectly aware of the odds against him, he
swooped from 15,000 feet to 3,000 feet in one long dive, speeding at
approximately 200 miles an hour, closed in on the rear man, and from a
distance of no more than twenty yards sent him crashing down.
“The enemy formation had been taken completely by surprise. Before they
could realize what had happened or engage Luke in combat the latter
dropped to an elevation of less than 400 feet, and, zigzagging, made
his way home, dodging anti-aircraft fire and machine-gun nests until he
crossed the lines. By then he was completely out of gasoline and was
compelled to make a forced landing near the front line. He had seen
the enemy machine crash to earth, but was unable to give the location,
and therefore he could not get from eye-witnesses on the ground the
confirmation required to make the victory official.”
That feat indicated the man. It was very soon apparent that on the
occasions when he was “lost” he was off on adventures of his own,
planning actions and studying the means to execute them,—qualifying
himself for what he conceived to be his most valuable and effective
service. He was a veritable hunter.
The morning set for the opening of the St. Mihiel offensive, Sept. 12,
1918, the clouds hung low and the weather was such that ordinarily it
would have been regarded as altogether unfit for flying. But Luke was
not to be deterred by it. He was off at dawn in quest of enemy planes
or balloons and after many vain explorations he finally discovered
a German balloon at the extreme right of the American sector, but
operated against a portion of the line allotted to other flyers. He
returned to his aerodrome, and on reporting the balloon learned that
it had been doing great damage by an enfilading fire, but that it had
been attacked repeatedly without success both by American and French
aviators. Luke offered to destroy the balloon and set off with Lieut.
Fritz Wehner, his flying partner. The statement of eye-witnesses from
the ground was that Luke dived suddenly out of the clouds taking the
balloon wholly by surprise, but the balloon-gun which he was handling
for the first time jammed when he attempted to discharge it. He rose
into the clouds, got the gun free, immediately dived again and fired
the heavy incendiary bullet that sent the balloon down in flames.