Horses Don't Fly ─ A Memoir of the Cowboy Who Became a World War I Ace

Frombreaking wild horses in Colorado to fighting the Red Baron's squadrons in theskies over France, here in his own words is the true story of a forgottenAmerican hero: the cowboy who became our first ace and the first pilot to flythe American colors over enemy lines.

Growingup on a ranch in Sterling, Colorado, Frederick Libby mastered the cowboy artsof roping, punching cattle, and taming horses. As a young man he exercised hisskills in the mountains and on the ranges of Arizona and New Mexico as well asthe Colorado prairie. When World War I broke out, he found himself in Calgary,Alberta, and joined the Canadian army. In France, he transferred to the RoyalFlying Corps as an "observer," the gunner in a two-person biplane.Libby shot down an enemy plane on his first day in battle over the Somme, whichwas also the first day he flew in a plane or fired a machine gun. He went on tobecome a pilot. He fought against the legendary German aces Oswald Boelcke andManfred von Richthofen, and became the first American to down five enemyplanes. He won the Military Cross for conspicuous gallantry in action.

Libby'smemoir of his cowboy days in the last years of the Old West evokes a real-lifeCormac McCarthy novel. His description of World War I combines a rattling goodaccount of the air war over France with captivating and sometimes poignantdepictions of wartime London, the sorrow for friends lost in combat, and thecourage and camaraderie of the Royal Flying Corps. Told in charming,straightforward vernacular, Horses Don'tFly is an unforgettable piece of Americana.