Yury Gilsher Cavalry Second Lieutenant Yury Vladimirovich Gilsher ( ) ( 27 November 1894 – 20 July 1917 ) was a Russian fighter ace of World War I . Initially a cavalryman , but then an airman , Gilsher overcame two serious injuries to become an ace . After suffering a fracture of both bones in his right forearm , he later lost a foot to amputation because of a crash . He returned to duty with a prosthetic foot . Gilsher rose to his unit ' s command and scored five victories between April and July 1917 before being killed in action on 20 July 1917 . Early life and cavalry service . Gilsher was born in Moscow , the Russian Empire , on 27 November 1894 , to a noble family . He was educated at Moscow ' s Alexeyevskoye Commercial School . Bucking the traditions of his social class , he enrolled in university and studied civil engineering instead of joining the military . He graduated in early 1914 . however upon the outbreak of war he volunteered for the Imperial Russian Army , He trained as a cavalry man at the Nikoliavsky Cavalry school , in which he enrolled on 13 December 1914 . He graduated from the Saint Petersburg school as a " Praporshchik " on 14 June 1915 . His class ' s equestrian maneuvers had several times been disrupted by overflying aircraft spooking horses and cadets alike . Aviation career . While he was still in cavalry training , Gilsher applied for a transfer to aviation . On 16 June 1915 , he was forwarded to aviation training at the Gatchina Flying School . He graduated on 21 October 1915 , and was posted to the 4th Army Air Detachment . Nine days later , he was designated as a military pilot . On 9 November , the new unit moved forward into combat . However , Gilsher ' s career suffered a setback on 20 November when a propeller fractured both bones in his right forearm while he was starting an aircraft engine . He was removed from the unit and assigned to Moscow ' s Dux aircraft factory as a quality control inspector until he healed . After recovery , he underwent advanced flight training on fighters in Odessa during February 1916 and returned to active service on 21 March 1916 , posted to the 7th Fighter Aviation Detachment . The unit transferred to combat duty at Tarnopol . On 12 April 1916 , Gilsher was promoted to Kornet . On 10 May 1916 , Gilsher and his aerial observer flew a sortie in Sikorsky S - 16 serial no . 201 . They attacked a German Aviatik B . III and downed it . Upon their return to base , the fighter plane went into a spin at 1 , 200 meters because the left elevator jammed . Both Gilsher and his observer survived the crash with serious injuries ; Gilsher ' s left foot was amputated . Gilsher was awarded the Order of Saint Vladimir Fourth Class with Swords and Bow for this mission . Gilsher ' s flying career seemed ended , but he lobbied vigorously to return to action . On 13 November 1916 , the Military Air Fleet Department redesignated him as a military pilot and returned him to duty with his old unit . He was given temporary command of the 7th Fighter Aviation Detachment , as its commander was sent to France to study French air tactics . Gilsher promptly fabricated an improvised pioneering flight simulator out of an old cockpit . After using the simulator for a thorough ground re - familiarization with Nieuport fighters , he taught himself to fly in the vicinity of his airfield , using his artificial foot . On 22 November 1916 , he returned to combat , flying both a photographic reconnaissance mission and a fighter sortie . The photographs were an intelligence coup , disclosing several formerly unknown German artillery batteries . He scored two victories in April 1917 , both on the 13th . Then , on 15 May , he engaged an Austro - Hungarian two seater ; after its observer fired all his ammunition , including signal flares , he tried to surrender . Gilsher shot him down anyhow . Gilsher was appointed temporary commander of the 7th Fighter Detachment from time to time . He was being considered for command of the 4th Fighter Detachment when the 7th ' s commander , Ivan Orlov , was killed in action on 4 July 1917 . Gilsher succeeded to command of the 7th . He inherited a unit undermined by political dissension on the home front , and running down from delayed maintenance and short supplies . His final two victories came in July 1917 - firstly on 17 July near Posuhov . The next day , in a letter , Gilsher lamented the condition of his equipment : " . . . my old Nieuport is not as reliable as before . My worn out Le Rhone engine is very dangerous and my Lewis gun is breaking all the time . " His final victory was on 20 July 1917 when he and Vasili Yanchenko shared a victory near Tarnopol , in modern - day Ukraine . Gilsher , Vasili Yanchenko , and Donat Makijonek took off in the evening , intent on intercepting seven German intruders . Makijonek was side - tracked into a dogfight , leaving the other two to the interception mission . As the Russian duo met the invaders over Tarnopol , they found themselves trapped by a second formation of eight enemy aircraft squeezing the Russians into a trap . Nevertheless , Gilsher and Yanchenko attacked and brought down one enemy . However , as they lined up for a second assault , enemy fire hit Gilsher ' s plane . Yanchenko saw the motor drop from Gilsher ' s Nieuport , followed almost instantaneously by its wings crumpling . Yanchenko managed to elude the foe , to land near the wreckage . He removed Gilsher ' s body from the wreckage and returned it to Tarnopol . Yury < Gilsher was buried near Buchach , in the Galicia region on 21 July 1917 . List of aerial victories . See also Aerial victory standards of World War I , List of World War I flying aces from the Russian Empire Confirmed victories are numbered and listed chronologically .