Who Was This Pilot?

[stephen]

This one may be too vague to ever chase down, but let's give it a whirl.

I have a record of a French or American pilot who went down in the first five days of the Meuse-Argonne offensive (Sept 26-Oct 1, 1918) near Granpre, on the edge of the Argonne Forest. The plane was apparently gliding over No Man's Land toward American lines with a dead engine and came up short... the wheels caught in the barbed wire in front of German trenches and the plane overturned, throwing the pilot out. The pilot tried to make a dash for the American lines and was hit by German MG fire. German troops buried him and his grave was found days later by advancing US soldiers.

I know its vague, but its all I have to go on at the moment. The story came from an unidentified US machine gunner to an equally unidentified reporter for an American newspaper. Any clues would be helpful. I have poured through the Grub St series and cannot find any air to air claims by German pilots in the area of Grandpre at this time. That doesn't mean its not there... it just means I haven't found it.

I know I probably will never find an exact match (that never happens!) but I'm looking for candidates. So far I've found none. Granville Woodard's SE going down near Dun on the 29th is the only one even close, and he didn't have the courtesy to die... so that rules him out. Ideas? Thanks.

[stephen]

Bump. Still looking for help on this.