Terror of the Autumn Skies

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

By: Blaine Pardoe

Narrated by: John McLain

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.

Remarkable

A Fascinating and balanced account. Well worth the read. Truth is often stranger than fiction!

Really good insight

Really great history of Luke... enjoyed it alot.i highly recommend this book to any one.

Just another Tragic story of Ww1

Over all i enjoyed the book, learned about a brave young man who died heroically, but it was one small tragedy in a time full of tragedy. A life never got to be completely fulfilled. Now main complaints are the way the narrator said some fo the names annoyed me. Then when every lime about a pilot dying was something about them flying off into the sunset

Very good but not totally outstanding

Well researched and well presented. I liked the book and it was worth the cost, but I cannot say it was over the top like some of the books I have listened to.

Loved it

Great story filled with history. Felt like I was there in the action A great job of narrating