Gervais Raoul Lufbery

Gervais Raoul Lufbery March 14, 1885 May 19, 1918 was a FrenchAmerican fighter pilot and flying ace in World War I. Because he served in both the French Air Force, and later the United States Army Air Service in World War I, he is sometimes listed alternately as a French ace or as an American ace. Officially, all but one of hiscombat victories came while flying in French units.

Raoul Lufbery was born in Chamalires, PuydeDme, France to American Edward Lufbery and a French mother. Lufberys father was an American chemist working for a Parisian chocolate company and Raoul was his third son by his French wife. When Lufbery was one, his mother died and his father returned to America, leaving him to be raised by his grandmother in France. Lufbery ran away from his grandparents home at 17, and travelled to such places as Egypt, Algeria, Tunisia, the Balkans, and Turkey. Lufbery served in the United States Army from 19071909 and saw service in the Philippines. After his time with the US Army, he saw India, Japan, and China. In 1912, Lufbery traveled to French Indochina, where he took a job as a mechanic for French aviation pioneer Marc Pourpe. When war broke out in France, Pourpe joined the French Air Force as a pilot. Meanwhile, Lufbery joined the Foreign Legion and later transferred into the Aronautique Militaire as a mechanic. Pourpes death in a crash ignited Lufb

Source: Wikipedia