|
Edmund Pike Graves
Edmund Pike Graves (March 13, 1891 – November 22, 1919) was an American aviator, Royal Flying Corps and Polish Air Force officer, the latter as a member of the Polish 7th Air Escadrille "Kościuszko Squadron", who served as an instructor and a fighter pilot during World War I and the Polish-Soviet War. Early lifeEdmund Pike Graves was born in Newburyport, Massachusetts, United States, to Edmund Pike and Mary Warner (Caldwell) Graves. He graduated from the Middlesex School in Concord, Massachusetts, Class of 1907 and from Harvard University, Class of 1913. Military careerWorld War IOn July 9, 1917, Graves enlisted as a cadet in the Royal Flying Corps in Canada to avoid a delay in getting into a US Army's flying program. He was commissioned as a 2nd lieutenant on October 29, 1917. Later, he was assigned as an instructor in aerial gunnery at the United States Army Air Service training facility at Camp Taliaferro, Hicks Field, Fort Worth, Texas. While station at Hicks Field, he became one of the first pilots to execute elaborate stunts in a Curtiss airplane. In early spring, 1918 he was transferred to the Officers' School of Special Flying at Armour Heights, Toronto, Ontario, where he was promoted to 1st lieutenant in May, 1918. After spending most of his time during the war serving in Canada and stateside, Graves was finally posted overseas and arrived in France on November 5, 1918, just a few days before the signing of the Armistice agreement, which ended the war. Service in Poland  After being demobilized from the Canadian RFC in July, 1919, he volunteered for the Kościuszko Squadron in the newly established Polish Air Force on October 12, 1919, and flew Albatross aircraft based out of the Lewandówka airfield in Lwów (now Lviv, Ukraine), on patrols and scouting missions, over the front lines during the Polish-Soviet war.[1] He was considered an excellent pilot, but known for his risky flying. Merian C. Cooper, another American member of the Kosciuszko Squadron (and later famous film director) described him in his book as follows:[2]
On November 22, 1919, the Polish inhabitants of Lwów celebrated the first anniversary of their successful defense of the city. On this occasion, four pilots of the Kosciuszko Squadron participated in an air show. One of them was Edmund Graves. Unfortunately, while performing acrobatics over the city in an Albatros D.III fighter, he had an accident: his aircraft lost its right wing during a double roll at 150 feet (46 m). Merian Cooper described it as follows:
The funeral of Lieutenant Edmund Graves was held on November 24, 1919, and given high honors by the Polish government. The procession was attended by thousands of people, included military attachés form the French Military Mission to Poland. He is buried in Lviv in the Cemetery of the Defenders of Lwów (a part of Lyczakowski Cemetery), he was posthumously awarded the Cross of Valour.[3][4] References
External links
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
