Captain Emile John Lussier was an American
flying ace
A flying ace, fighter ace or air ace is a military aviator credited with shooting down five or more enemy aircraft during aerial combat. The exact number of aerial victories required to officially qualify as an ace is varied, but is usually co ...
during World War I. He was credited with eleven confirmed aerial victories while flying with the Royal Air Force.
Early life
Emile John Lussier was the son of Joseph Emile and Louise Swalwell Lussier. The younger Lussier was born in Chicago on 10 October 1895, and reared there until age fifteen. In 1910, Joseph Lussier moved to Winnipeg to take up a job constructing railroad stations throughout western Canada, and his teenage son went with him.
[ Consequently, he has often been dubbed a French Canadian.][''Over the Front: A Complete Record of the Fighter Aces and Units of the United States and French Air Services, 1914-1918'', p. 59.]
Military service
When World War I began, Emile John Lussier claimed Medicine Hat
Medicine Hat is a city in Southern Alberta, southeast Alberta, Canada. It is located along the South Saskatchewan River. It is approximately east of Lethbridge and southeast of Calgary. This city and the adjacent Town of Redcliff, Alberta, ...
as his home. He enlisted in the Royal Flying Corps
"Through Adversity to the Stars"
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in late 1917. Once trained, he was stationed with No. 73 Squadron RFC as a Sopwith Camel
The Sopwith Camel is a British First World War single-seat biplane fighter aircraft that was introduced on the Western Front in 1917. It was developed by the Sopwith Aviation Company as a successor to the Sopwith Pup and became one of the b ...
pilot.[
Lussier did not score his first wins until 25 July 1918, when he destroyed a ]Fokker D.VII
The Fokker D.VII was a German World War I fighter aircraft designed by Reinhold Platz of the Fokker-Flugzeugwerke. Germany produced around 3,300 D.VII aircraft in the second half of 1918. In service with the ''Luftstreitkräfte'', the D.VII qu ...
and drove another down out of control. Five days later, he teamed with Norman Cooper and another pilot to destroy an LVG
Luftverkehrsgesellschaft m.b.H. (L.V.G. or LVG) was a German aircraft manufacturer based in Berlin- Johannisthal, which began constructing aircraft in 1912, building Farman-type aircraft. The company constructed many reconnaissance and light bombe ...
reconnaissance plane. On 8 August, he downed another German two-seater, sharing it with Gavin L. Graham and Robert Chandler. Then, beginning with the win that made him an ace on 19 August, he ran off a string of seven victories over Fokker D.VII
The Fokker D.VII was a German World War I fighter aircraft designed by Reinhold Platz of the Fokker-Flugzeugwerke. Germany produced around 3,300 D.VII aircraft in the second half of 1918. In service with the ''Luftstreitkräfte'', the D.VII qu ...
fighters that took him to 11 October 1918. In total, he destroyed three Fokker D.VIIs and driven down six others out of control. There were also the two shared wins over reconnaissance planes.[
]
Post World War I
Lussier moved back to the United States after the war; there he discovered he was considered a natural born American.[ He became a farmer in Westminster, Maryland, raising four daughters, including Betty Ann Lussier, who became an ATA pilot and early member of the OSS. As World War II was beginning, and the U.S. was still neutral, he joined the ]Royal Canadian Air Force
The Royal Canadian Air Force (RCAF; french: Aviation royale canadienne, ARC) is the air and space force of Canada. Its role is to "provide the Canadian Forces with relevant, responsive and effective airpower". The RCAF is one of three environm ...
as a squadron leader
Squadron leader (Sqn Ldr in the RAF ; SQNLDR in the RAAF and RNZAF; formerly sometimes S/L in all services) is a commissioned rank in the Royal Air Force and the air forces of many countries which have historical British influence. It is also ...
involved with radio training. At war's end, he once again returned to his Maryland farm. He died there[ on 11 December 1974.][
Emile John Lussier is buried in plot X-318, Westminster Cemetery, ]Westminster, Maryland
Westminster is a city in northern Maryland, United States. It is the seat of Carroll County. The city's population was 18,590 at the 2010 census. Westminster is an outlying community within the Baltimore-Towson, MD MSA, which is part of a greate ...
.[
]
Honors and awards
Distinguished Flying Cross (DFC)
Lt. Emile John Lussier.
During recent operations this officer has driven down out of control or destroyed seven enemy machines, and, with the aid of two other pilots, has accounted for a further two. Three of these he destroyed in one day. In these combats he has proved himself an officer of very high courage, eager to attack without regard to the enemy's superiority in numbers.''Supplement to the London Gazette''
2 November 1918. Retrieved on 19 June 2010.
See also
* List of World War I flying aces from the United States
The following is a list of flying aces from the United States of America who served in World War I
Overview
Even before the United States entry into World War I in April 1917, many Americans volunteered to serve in the armed forces of Great Bri ...
References
Bibliography
* ''American Aces of World War I.'' (2001) Norman Franks, Harry Dempsey. Osprey Publishing. , .
* ''Intrepid Woman, Betty Lussier's Secret War, 1942-1945.'' (2010) Lussier, Betty. U.S. Naval Institute Press
* ''Over the Front: A Complete Record of the Fighter Aces and Units of the United States and French Air Services, 1914-1918'' (1992). Norman L. R. Franks, Frank W. Bailey. Grub Street. , .
{{DEFAULTSORT:Lussier, Emile
1895 births
1974 deaths
American World War I flying aces
Aviators from Illinois
Recipients of the Distinguished Flying Cross (United Kingdom)