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Terror of the Autumn Skies

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

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Terror of the Autumn Skies

By: Blaine Pardoe
Narrated by: John McLain
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About this listen

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 10 missions, he destroyed 14 heavily defended German balloons and four airplanes, a rampage unequalled even by the dreaded von Richtofen, and the second highest American tally of the entire war. Cocksure and constantly reprimanded, Luke was actually under arrest on the day of his final flight, but he stole a plane to join the fatal action that won him the first Congressional Medal of Honor awarded to a pilot.

Blaine Pardoe retraces and refreshes Frank Luke's story through recently discovered correspondence. What emerges is a portrait of a life out of an "Old West" that was, by the late Teens, colliding with modernity. Frantic, short, and splendid, the life of Frank Luke, Jr. dramatizes the tragic intervention of an American spirit in the war that devastated Europe.

©2011 Blaine L. Pardoe (P)2012 Audible, Inc. Air Forces Americas Armed Forces Military Military & War World War I War Aviation

Editor reviews

Great War fighter pilot Frank Luke flew a scant 10 missions before his final stand behind enemy lines, but the brazen ace would go to his grave the second most victorious US Airman of World War I. Luke's two-week rampage through the western front skies capped a life marked by struggle and delinquency, from his beginnings as a miner and bare-knuckle boxer, to his near arrest for being AWOL on the penultimate day of his life. Husky-voiced performer John McClain captures Luke's fearless, tough-guy public demeanor, while nevertheless revealing the human sympathies of a young man with hopes, dreams, and an unyielding devotion to his family, comrades, and country.
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Most relevant
Being British I hadn’t heard of Frank Luke Jr before downloading this title.

My grandfather flew with the RFC, and later the RAF on The Western Front so I’d only ever looked at the air war from a British perspective.

I was very impressed by the story told about Frank Luke Jr and also impressed with the narrator’s style. The story is compelling and author Blain Pardoe does a superb job of sifting through the conflicting accounts of Luke’s final hours.

Highly recommended!

Very gripping story

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Didn’t know about this pilot he deserves to be remembered. The author managed to bring this time period to life, the book is full of well researched history well done.

Good book

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Accounts of WW1 air combatants tend to be consigned to a few National Aces interspersed with few other recognised accomplished Allied airmen. Thus I was fully engrossed in this detailed account of a fearless young American gladiator of the skies when the very ability to get aloft and remain there without the added danger of enemy actions was truly impressive. A well collated and well delivered biography of an otherwise lost character. Recommended.

An Enlightening WW1 biography

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undoubtedly the worst combination of badly written book matched to appalling narration that I have come across on Audible. Dreadful

Dreadful

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Very American. A lot of cliches and over dramatisation to make it “exciting”
Reader sounds like a computer

Rambles

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