For Lee: Had Frank Luke Survived...

[Ira_Silverman]

Hi Lee:

I’m afraid I never visualized Frank Luke as being a political type, albeit there is the occasional Jesse Ventura who fills that role. Coming out of the war with a court-martial charge against him, had he survived, I think a political career would have been out of the question.

I liken Frank Luke to another individualist with more than a passing effect on Arizona history. IMHO, Luke went into combat with an innate sense that he wasn’t going to return home alive, and was committed to take as many Huns with him as possible in the time he had. Doc Holliday was terrified of wasting away from the Tuberculosis that was slowly killing him, and challenged death at every opportunity. How ironic that after so many gunfights, he died alone and in bed of the disease he feared the most.

Unfortunately, there is no way to get into Luke’s psyche to find out what his thought process really was. I imagine that on the ground there was much personal confusion, too many rules and a “pecking order” he was ill equipped to deal with. In the air, I believe, Luke’s mind cleared and he was able to function with singular purpose. Luke perceived things as black and white – there was no middle ground.

I had hoped that Billy H’s book would help sort out the kind of individual Luke was. I found it unfortunate that he resorted to tools such as a “fictional interview” to stretch the book. Because of this connection to the “Psychic Friends Network” I find myself using the book as a source of and reference for primary sources on Luke’s brief career, and skipping over the basic text.

The fact is, 119 years after the “Gunfight at the OK Corral”, and 82 years after the “Gunfight at the Murvaux Canal,” we don’t know the whole story of and absolute truth about either incident, nor are we ever likely to. Equally as clouded are the personalities of those involved – confused by decades of hearsay, publicity, pulp fiction, television, movies, etc.

So in both cases we have a Legend, reinforced by years of discussion ranging from academic to hyperbole. I’m with Barrett on this one – given the choice between truth (esp. an unknown truth) and Legend, print the Legend. Future generations will thank us.

Finally – Luke as BB Commish – don’t think Judge Landis would have allowed that. But had he survived, I could visualize him starting and growing a regional airline service.

VBR,

Ira

[Barrett]

Hi gang:

We'll wait and see if FL's grand nephew Mike Mills replies to this thread--haven't been in touch with him since early this year.
Absent a CMH, Luke could have easily become a barnstormer, motorcycle racer, or boxing promoter. Maybe all the above! At any rate, I doubt that he'd have been interested in a desk job, including city councilman or mayor of Phoenix!

My best thought on Luke would be that he would have bought into that famous fictional Studebaker agency in Cleveland with Werner Voss. Of course, he might also have traveled the country for Colt demonstrating his expertise with a .45.

Let me pose the question of how Rickenbacker would have fared had he been a fatality with the 94th. Would anyone have conceived of his status in the businessworld and his emergence as one, in war and in peace, of the most revered men of our nation? I think not. The "daredevil Rickenbacker" known only as a "leadfooted fool" would by now be only a footnote to automotive racing history. A forgotten celebrity much was the legendary, for his time, athlete Hobe Baker who I gather is a folkloric hero of yours as well as of mine. FL was from the same middle class German-American roots as EVR. They were not dissimilar I think in their earnestness nor in their potential. I see nothing in his behaviour to suggest that FL wouldn't have come back in love with life, as did EVR, and disinclined, again, as was EVR, to risk it for the pale glory of a checkered flag or any other rewards of risk-taking endeavors. David Ingalls, a most un-military type but a good man in a Camel (and the only U.S. Naval "Ace") was a bureaucratic type upon his return to civil life. Again, consider what FL's immediate relatives, the members of the Luke family, have been in Phoenix: they will leave an absolutely highminded, straightforward and most conventional legacy. I further doubt if the charges the frustrated Grant wished to bring would have materialized had Luke returned. See Billy H's more complete thoughts- with which I could,'t agree more- as re formal charges. I offered a parallel to Joe Foss perhaps with something in my subconscious: He seriously violated orders as well, he has written. He falsified a/c status reports in order to keep a few ships handy in case of a JAF strike at his own airstrip. Lucky he did: they came and he had planes and pilots at readiness. I doubt if the top Marine Ace would have known a legal proceeding in 1945 nor would FL in '18 or '19. On the Commissioner thing I-man, I was positing FL as moving from public service to a sports exec. role (much as did Governor Foss in the AFC) and as succeeding Judge Landis. This implies "Happy" Chandler, ex-Kentucky Governor as never having served. (just some nonsense, of course!). As always, VBR. Lee

[Ira_Silverman]

Hi Lee:

Your points are well taken, as ever. The possibility does exists that he would have moved into a bureaucratic arena (that’s the whole point of conjecture); I just have the sense that in the cosmic scheme of things, there was only room for one Rickenbacker. If their two fates were reversed – who knows.

I do wish to make it clear that I don’t believe FL had a “death wish.” What I do believe is, that seeing the carnage around him, he felt it unlikely that he would be returning home, and tried to accomplish as much as he could in (what he felt was) his limited time. Many soldiers and particularly non-career men, I suspect, have such feelings; few accomplish as much as Luke did in so short a time. What he wrote in his letters home was quite normal, as I would have expected. I would not expect him to share a sense fatalism with his mother.

Hobey Baker is a hero of mine. Sadly, except for Baker Rink at Princeton he is largely forgotten, even there.

Insofar as Foss’s role as commissioner, I always suspected a David – Goliath aspect there. After all, the lowly AFL could never compete with the mighty NFL, could it? Foss had a bit of the rebel in him, as did Luke – maybe as commish of an upstart 3rd major league?

Finally, regarding BillyH’s fictional interview: I am of the opinion that the “Battle for History,” as John Keegan puts it, is a battle for the truth. When a purely fictional episode is inserted in a non-fiction book, it colors the entire book, which can no longer sit as non-fiction. Is a fictionalized biography a biography? The answer is no, which is why Irving Stone’s masterful works, as well researched and written as they are, can be found in the fiction aisle. There is no middle ground between fiction and non-fiction – one cannot be semi-pregnant!

My real fear is this – Sooner than any of us think, some soul, perhaps even a published writer, will quote from that interview as if it were real (…and in an interview given the evening before his last flight, Luke commented…). Before long, it will be taken as gospel, and…

History is a battle, and truth must be fought for and defended.

VBR,

Ira

Hi Ira: I was only agreeing with the specific assessment that any charges against FL would probably never have been pressed. I endorse and share all your troubled feelings re. the FL book itself. Are you familiar with the "Mendoza Line"? Mario M. the Pirate shortstop of the 70's was a .220 hitter. The humorous allegation was that if you drop below that it's "back to AAA". That work in question is definitely below the "Mendoza Line". As re Hobe: I had that bio of him that was out a few years ago. I was most particularly interested in how the social scene for the flyers in Paris developed- his aborted engagement to the American femme from the "party set" there- etc. (What irony in his death, huh? Relieved of duty- his travel orders to the U.S. in his pocket- he made one last flight: He was going to prove that there was nothing wrong with a XIII that another pilot was afraid to fly. Seeking to embarrass the other pilot, he climbed steeply on take-off, stalled out, and killed himself- becoming another victim of the infamous Michelin carburetor!). I am, then, alway eager to seek out tales of how the flyers passed the time "on leave"- the Paris "sprees", the Hotel Crillion, various train experiences, the bistros, etc.- anything on these lines is satisfying to my particular interests- they were strapped into the cockpits for only a minutely small portion of their total hours "over there". BTW: If you don't already have it- obtain the recently out "First To The Front"-(memoirs of "Heinie" Heinrichs). It, with Buckley's "Squadron 95" are perhaps the best I've read on the boys of the "First Pursuit" I most certainly enjoy your comments! Lee

[Barrett]

While it's true that Dave Ingalls worked from a desk than anything else after the war, he was no mere bureaucrat. As Asst. Secretary of the Navy in the late 20s and early 30s, he regularly flew fleet aircraft. Later he owned and flew his own Staggerwing Beech (a handful of airplane, let me tell you) and taught his son to fly it. The younger Ingalls became a naval aviator, flying F-8 Crusaders and was acknowledged as perhaps the best instrument pilot in his squadron. He said, "Dad had me flying the Staggerwing before I could see over the instrument panel!"
During WW II, Ingalls the elder served 3 years in the pacific, ending the war as a captain and a senior honcho in the naval air transport command.
Ref. Joe Foss: he easily mixed politics with flying. He likes to tell the story that upon becoming governor of SD, his first two official acts were (1) firing the governor's pilot and (2) selling the governor's twin-engine airplane. "If there's any flying to be done, the governor's gonna do it in an Air Guard fighter!" Joe eventually led a SIXTEEN plane (F-102) aerobatic team until FAA regs reduced the number to the current four.
Gone are the days...