Raoul Lufbery

Raoul Lufbery was born March 21, 1885, in Clermont-Ferrand, France, his father American and his mother French. Raised by his maternal grandmother, he set off at an early age for a life of adventure. His first encounters with Lafayette Escadrille did not go smoothly. Lufbery spoke English with a heavy French accent and had little in common with his comrades, most of them were from wealthy families. Once in combat, though, his dogged determination and success earned him the respect and admiration of his peers. One night while the squadron was resting in Paris, his fellow pilots adopted a lion cub from a circus, which Lufbery raised for several years. The cub's name was Whiskey.The first two victories were on July 30, 1916 over Verdun. By October 12, 1916 he had downed five enemy planes making him an ace and the squad's leader. On May 19, 1918, Lufbery took off in his Nieuport 28 in an attempt to intercept a German Rumplerreconnaissance machine near to the 94th's home airfield. Closing in to attack, the German gunner hit the Raoul's plane, setting it on fire. What happened next has been debated. At an altitude variously estimated between 200 and 600 feet, Lufbery either jumped out of the plane (to avoid a fiery death) or was thrown from the cockpit after it flipped over above the village of Maron. Some say Lufbery jumped from the plane in an attempt to land in a nearby river. His falling body struck a metal garden picket fence, and so Raoul died.

(Picture at http://www.neam.org/lafescweb/images/lufberystanding.jpg)
(Source at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Raoul_Lufbery)