Lukes Suicidal attack?!

I read a long time ago that the day Luke took off
on his last flight that he never intended to return. Is there any proof of this? I know his freind was killed but was he that bull-headed?

Yeah, he was bullheaded, stubborn, stiff-necked cowboy type with a short fuse--but he was not that crazy. He had recently written to his mother that he felt better about being experienced; the new rookies get killed, but he intended to come home. I think he thought he'd "luck out" and make it back, but the wound from ground fire was a fatal one, he knew he was close to passing out, his lungs were filling with blood, so he put down by the stream.
Hell of a man.
John

I thought Frank Luke died resisting capture, holding off ground troops with a pistol until he was shot and killed. He also crashed in a graveyard.
Cheerio;
Lt. Dwight Rudder, RFC

[stephen]

Dwight: Just for the record, Luke did not crash in or near a graveyard, though I've read those same accounts as well. In my two visits to Murveaux, I've found the crash site beyond reasonable doubt, and I've also found the graveyard, which is nowhere near. Look at the "Touring the Western Front" sidebar for the photos of my recent trip. The cemetery, which I've toured, is on the steep slope behind the town's church. You can get an idea of the distance between the cemetery and the crash site by looking at the photo of the D102 as it leads back into the village. It's at least a half mile between the two, an impossible distance for a seriously wounded man who perished within minutes, or even seconds, of his landing. We know from witnesses that he didn't get more than 50 yards from his SPAD. Luke died in the field, apparently just north of the stream, which was nowhere near the cemetery.

The only possible explanation would be if there was a second, small cemetery in the field where he crashed. I have not actually walked through that field, but I've examined it on site and through binoculars and saw no evidence of any such cemetery.

[Chris_Tydlacka]

Thank you for answering my question.