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Edmund Pike Graves (March 13, 1891 – November 22, 1919) was an American aviator, and 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.
Edmund Pike Graves a adăugat o fotografie
ieri
Edmund Pike Graves (March 13, 1891 – November 22, 1919) was an American aviator, and 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.
Edmund Pike Graves a adăugat o fotografie
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Early life Edmund 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.
Edmund Pike Graves a adăugat o fotografie
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World War I On 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 second 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 first 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.
Edmund Pike Graves a adăugat o fotografie
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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. 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: Lieutenant Graves took off into the sky. I remember it like it was yesterday. He accelerated the aircraft to an insane speed on the ground and then began to make a circle. Circling in this way he was making smaller and smaller circles until the lower wing of his plane was almost touching the ground. After finishing the circle, he took off and made the most difficult and the best air show I have ever seen. Other members of the squadron pointed out his bravado and unnecessary risk associated with his airplane acrobatics, among them their commander, Cedric Fauntleroy. Merian Cooper himself wrote in his book, "He was undeniably…