Norwich bulletin., 1918-05-21
JUMPED FROM MACHINE 300 YARDS IN THE AIR
He Had Seventeen Victories to His Credit and Was Con- sdered Crack Avator-Lufbery Had Just Returned Buried Today, and Both American and French Troops Will Participate In the Ceremonies.
-fsi.s,ss'

With the American Army in France, Sunday, May 19.-(By A. P)-Majcr Raoul Lufbery, who had been regard ed as the best aviator in the American service, was shot down in flames ard killed this morning by a big German | triplane which he was attacking. Luf- bery jumped from his flaming ma chine when 800 yards above the ground He had seventeen victories to his credit. He will be buried to- morrow with full military honors, in which both American and French troops will participate. His home was in Wailingford, Conn.
 The German machine which brought Lufbery down, which was armed with two machin< guns with an operator for each piece, apparently escaped.
 Lufberys only wound, aside from those received when he fell to earth. was bullet hole through the thumb. Apparently the same bullet punctur- ed one of the gacoline tanks of his machine n
 The German machine was under heavy anti-aircraft fire several times both before and after the air fight, and one explosion of a shell upset tire enemy plane, but it managed to straighten out again.
 It was about ten o'clock this morn ing when German triplane sudden ! ly descended from the clouds, appar
 ently because of engine trouble, until it was only some 1,500 metres over the city ot Foul. The American fly CTS were on the alert, and some of
 them headed for the fighting line to await the enemy on his return. !, Started After German.
 Lufbery and the pilot of another ' machine made after the German, who
 quickly ran away from the direction . of the inc, the two American ma- , chimes following him. Eight miles '' away from the enemy's line Lufbery
 was seen to attack from under the machine gun had damned. Two min
 utes later he attacked again from the 2 same position, and almost immediately
 hls machine burst into flames. = A Trench aviator this afternoon shot } down an enemy plane back of tn: = Luneville sector. Two men from the
 plane were captured by the Americans ! The German came from somewhere n . the rear. It is reported, although moi . confirmed that this is the machine D which brought down Major Lufbery.
 There has been extraordinary aeria if activity all day in this sector. l. Was Eager For Action. y It was only yesterday that Lufber3
 remarked jokingly:
 You fellows can't get all the easy l. picl1ings. I heard how you were n knocking them down and decided t Il hurry hack and get some myself. Le
 em all come, the more the merrier.
 The air service has lost more tilar l. {; crack aviator in Lufbery. It has los -- first class instructor of young air j. men just ca:n}ng to the front w'lt
 looked 10 him for pointers on the lit
 tie tricks of +he trade which in tn l. pinch may mean life or death to al L. aviator.
 I'd Major Lufbery was known through
 out the American army and in th ! French air service as Turf and wa m one of the most popular flyers on tn n front He Tas a daring aviator bu n for his coClness as we'll as his dash,
 Euebcry had just returned from wis
 iting his godmother at Brest. His sis y ter lives there also.
 ,r Had Just Returned From Brest. e. Lufbery came back from Brest re
 fore his leave had expired because il 1e thought his help was needed and ha (. made three flights since his return, I B. his Newport pursuit machine befor " his fatal flight. He had been erl
 
 since he became a naviator for som or little time previous to his death. as Lufbery never missed an oqportunI n- ty to knock down an enemy machint or frequently taking desperate chance
 to add to his victories.
 Major Lufbery was born in Cler e. mont France, S4 years ago, his fathe 1g being an American and his mother on French woman. Gufbery spent hi St. early years in New Haven and Wal
 lingford, Conn.,, and when 6 years ol
 his mother died and he was placed i it his grandmothers care at Bourgei in France. At 15 he ran away and wan a. deerd over the world, turning his han " to many trades.
 In Fulda, Germany, he worked for
 brewer for two years, learning to spea I,a and read the language. Becoming 1 ,ie from rheumatism, he was taken to ts hospital, and when released he taugf a gymnastics Then he went to Ham burg. where he worked on the dock
 until he earned the necessary none
 to come to the United States in 190 m. He remained only short time an or then travelled about the world. Fe as IS months he served with the Amer d. can army in the Philippine Islands. a. Several years ago he met the aviatc
 Marc Pourpe in Asia, who trained hi1
 as his assistant. Lufbery discovere ny for the first time that he was a t. American when he attempted to enli' lss with Pourpe at the outbreak of tt he war, and was rejected on account on his nationality. He was finally pel
 mitted to go to the front as Pourpe
 mechanic. Pourpe was killed soon a.
 terward and Lufbery importuned u
 French authorities for permission ID be trained as a pilot, and his reque
 was finally granted He joined u ia Lafayette Escadrille when it was SCI
 t othe Verdun sector early in Ma
 1916.
 ed In March, 1917. Lufbery was dect led rated with the cross of the French L. mt zion of Honor for his remarkable bolt CT, ness as an aviator. He was then ratt CT, as a sergeant major. This decoratie ms is only conferred on men in the ranl le- for exceptionally distinguished servic sg- In addition Lufbery received the Gro nin re Guerre, the British Military Gro es, and the French Metallic Militaire. La err fall he was given the commission ain major in the American aviation serviS ont Last December he wrote to friel
 that he had sixteen official Germ