SOUTH CAROLINA, USA — Tourists were treated to an impromptu air show off the Carolina coast on Saturday when the U.S. military shot down an alleged Chinese spy balloon.
The military operation happened after the balloon was seen floating over the skies of military sites across the country for nearly a week.
It's unknown whether the pilots of the fighter jets had any connection to Arizona, but we know for sure their callsigns did.
The military assigns what are called "mission callsigns" to planes flying "sorties," or an operational military flight of a single aircraft. The mission callsigns for the balloon mission were "FRANK01" and "FRANK02," and were an homage to an early Arizona ace.
Frank Luke, Jr. was an 1897 Phoenix native, born after his family emigrated from Germany to the United States, according to the Air Force Association's Frank Luke Chapter. He would go on to be the namesake for Arizona's Luke Air Force Base due to his heroic wartime deeds.
His squadron had orders to attack German observation balloons during the war, and Luke allegedly volunteered continuously to attack them, despite the balloons being heavily defended by anti-aircraft units.
Luke would go on to be credited with 18 victories in eight days, a feat unsurpassed by any other World War I pilot. The first-ranking American ace of the war, Eddie Rickenbacker, only had 11 of his 26 victories officially recorded as destroyed, compared to second-ranking Luke's 17 out of 18.
"[Luke] was the most daring aviator and greatest fighter pilot of the entire war," Rickenbacker said. "His life is one of the brightest glories of our Air Service."
A night Luke took off without authorization would go on to be his final flight. While attacking three balloons behind German lines, Luke would get severely wounded by a single machine gun bullet. He landed in a field near Dun-sur-Meuse, France where he would die 200 meters from his airplane. He was 21 years old.
His final resting place was Meuse-Argonne American Cemetery and Memorial, near the village of Romagne-sous-Montfaucon, France.
Originally named Litchfield Park Air Base, the Valley's Luke Air Force Base would get its permanent name when Luke Field in Pearl Harbor, Hawai'i released its name when the base was transferred to the Navy in 1941, according to the 944th Fighter Wing.
Ever since then, the Arizona-born pilot has been honored in his home state.
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