Career
André Robert Lévy began his military service in the infantry but transferred to aviation on 8 October 1916. He was initially assigned to fly a Farman for Escadrille 29. However, he used a Sopwith 1.A2 for his first victory on 7 April 1917.
On 16 May, he was then reassigned, to the only French air squadron on the Italian Front, Escadrille 561.
On 16 September, he became a balloon buster, destroying an Austro-Hungarian observation balloon and being shot down in the process. With the engine dead from a fuel line severed by anti-aircraft fire, Lévy purposely landed hard, bending the landing gear, and inverting his Spad XIII. He was then taken away to prison camp in Mulbach.
On his second attempt, on 2 November, Lévy escaped through a mountainous wilderness smothered under 30 inches of snow. He made it back to his unit on 6 November 1918.