Above and Beyond

Book excerpt: Above and Beyond is the incredible true story of Frank Luke Jr. Born in Phoenix, Arizona in 1897, Luke was an adventurous young man who was an avid hunter and outdoorsman. When America entered the First World War in 1917, Luke became a fighter pilot in the newly-formed U.S. Army Air Service and was soon serving with a combat squadron in France. Seen as a "high-strung, excitable boy," scorned by his squadron mates and frequently at odds with his commanders, "Above and Beyond" tells the story of how Luke soon became one of the most revered fighter aces on the Western Front. Exhibiting great audacity and skill in combat, he quickly racked up an impressive number of air-to-air victories, many of them against heavily-defended observation balloons which few pilots dared to attack. "Above and Beyond" chronicles Luke's most daring mission of all on September 29, 1918, which cost him his life, and for which he was awarded the Congressional Medal of Honor.