Frank Luke was born in Phoenix, Arizona, on 19th May, 1897. He joined the United States Air Service and after aerial combat training at Issoudun, France, he was assigned to the 27th Pursuit Squadron under Harold Hartney on 25th July, 1918.

During the next seventeen days he shot down 18 enemy balloons and planes and obtained the nickname, the Arizona Balloon Buster. While flying a Spad S.XIII he was shot down by ground fire while flying over the Western Front on 29th September, 1918.

He was posthumously awarded the Medal of Honor.