Gervais Raoul Lufbery

Gervais Raoul Lufbery March 14, 1885 – May 19, 1918 was a French-American fighter pilot and flying ace in World War I. Because he served in both the French Air Force, and later the United States Army Air Service in World War I, he is sometimes listed alternately as a French ace or as an American ace. Officially, all but one of his 17 combat victories came while flying in French units.

Early life and service

Raoul Lufbery was born in Chamalières, Puy-de-Dôme, France to American Edward Lufbery and a French mother. Lufbery's father was an American chemist working for a Parisian chocolate company and Raoul was his third son by his French wife. When Lufbery was one, his mother died and his father returned to America, leaving him to be raised by his grandmother in France. Lufbery ran away from his grandparent's home at 17, and travelled to such places as Egypt, Algeria, Tunisia, the Balkans, and Turkey. Lufbery served in the United States Army from 1907–1909 and saw service in the Philippines. After his time with the US Army, he saw India, Japan, and China. In 1912, Lufbery traveled to French Indochina, where he took a job as a mechanic for French aviation pioneer Marc Pourpe. When war broke out in France, Pourpe joined the French Air Force (Aéronautique Militaire) as a pilot. Meanwhile, Lufbery joined the Foreign Legion and later transferred into the Aéronautique Militaire as a mechanic. Pourpe's death in a crash ignited Lufbery's desire for revenge and he applied for pilot's training.

Lafayette Escadrille

The Lafayette Escadrille (French: Escadrille de Lafayette) was an escadrille of the French Air Service, the Aéronautique Militaire, during World War I composed largely of American volunteer pilots flying fighters. It was named in honor of the Marquis de Lafayette, hero of the American and French revolutions.

History

Dr. Edmund L. Gros, medical director of the American Field Service (AFC), and Norman Prince, an American expatriate already flying for France, led the efforts to persuade the French government of the value of a volunteer American air unit fighting for France. The aim was to have their efforts recognized by the American public and thus, it was hoped, the resulting publicity would rouse interest in abandoning neutrality and joining the fight. Authorized by the French Air Department on March 21, 1916, the Escadrille Américaine (Escadrille N.124) was deployed on April 20 in Luxeuil-les-Bains, France.

Not all American pilots were in Lafayette Escadrille; other American pilots fought for France as part of the Lafayette Flying Corps.

Rise of Flight: The First Great Air War

Rise of Flight: The First Great Air War (Russian: Война в небе – 1917) is a World War I combat flight simulation video game developed by 777 Studios and released on May 7, 2009.

Development

Rise of Flight premiered at Games Convention 2008 in Leipzig, and at CIS Igromir 2008. Closed beta testing of the game began in April 2008.

On May 7, 2009, Rise of Flight was officially released in Russia with Russian publisher ND Games. In the USA, Rise of Flight: The First Great Air War was premiered at the 2009 E3 and was officially released on June 25, 2009 in the USA by its publisher 777 Studios. Aerosoft gained publishing rights in Europe, with the game also being offered for download from Direct2Drive.

On June 3, 2010, it was announced by 777 Studios that the game would be re-released in the North American market on June 29, 2010 and branded as the Iron Cross Edition. Eight flyable aircraft (plus one bonus flyable aircraft - dependent on the distributor) come with this version: the Spad XIII, Fokker D.VII, Albatros D.Va, Nieuport 28, S.E.5a, Pfalz D.III, Sopwith Camel, and the Fokker Dr.I.

Nieuport 17

The Nieuport 17 C.1 was a World War I French sesquiplanefighter designed by the Nieuport company. Its outstanding maneuverability and excellent rate of climb gave it a significant advantage when it entered service over all other fighters on both sides and as a result was widely used and enjoyed substantial production runs in France, Italy (Nieuport-Macchi) and Russia (Dux), eventually being used by every Allied power, and even being copied in Germany.

Design and development

The Nieuport 17 was a slightly larger development of the earlier Nieuport 16, with the same engine but larger wings and improved aerodynamic form. It was at first fitted with a 110 hp (82 kW) Le Rhône 9J engine, though later versions were upgraded to 120 or 130 hp (97 kW) engines.

Production of the new Alkan-Hamy synchronization gear permitted the wing mounted Lewis gun of the "11" to be supplemented with a synchronised Vickers gun mounted on the fuselage to fire through the propeller. The standard Royal Flying Corps synchroniser, the Vickers-Challenger gear, was unreliable, and in British service the Vickers was usually omitted, being armed instead with a Lewis on a Foster mounting, a curved metal rail which allowed the pilot to slide the gun back to change drums or clear jams. Some aircraft, particularly French, were fitted with both guns but a single machine gun was most common.

World War I

World War I (WWI or WW1), also known as the First World War, or the Great War, was a global war centred in Europe that began on 28 July 1914 and lasted until 11 November 1918. More than 70 million military personnel, including 60 million Europeans, were mobilised in one of the largest wars in history. Over 9 million combatants and 7 million civilians died as a result of the war (including the victims of a number of genocides), a casualty rate exacerbated by the belligerents' technological and industrial sophistication, and the tactical stalemate caused by trench warfare, a grueling form of warfare in which the defender held the advantage. It was one of the deadliest conflicts in history, and paved the way for major political changes, including revolutions in many of the nations involved.

The war drew in all the world's economic great powers, assembled in two opposing alliances: the Allies (based on the Triple Entente of the United Kingdom/British Empire, France and the Russian Empire) versus the Central Powers of Germany and Austria-Hungary. Although Italy was a member of the Triple Alliance alongside Germany and Austria-Hungary, it did not join the Central Powers, as Austria-Hungary had taken the offensive, against the terms of the alliance. These alliances were reorganised and expanded as more nations entered the war: Italy, Japan and the United States joined the Allies, while the Ottoman Empire and Bulgaria joined the Central Powers.