Horses don't fly
By: Frederick Libby ; introduction and notes by Winston Groom ; afterword by Sally Ann Marsh.
Edition: 1st ed.
Publisher: Arcade; Distributed by Time Warner Trade
Published: 2000
Place of publication: New York
Language: eng
Number of pages: 274
Subjects: Libby, Frederick, 1892-1970; Great Britain. Royal Flying Corps -- History; World War, 1914-1918 -- Personal narratives, American; Fighter pilots -- United States -- Biography; World War, 1914-1918 -- Aerial operations, British; World War, 1914-1918 -- Aerial operations, American; World War, 1914-1918 -- Campaigns -- France
Genres: Biography.
Other titles: Horses do not fly
Description: "From breaking wild horses in Colorado to fighting the Red Baron's squadrons in the skies over France, here in his own words is the true story of a forgotten American hero: the cowboy who became our first ace and the first pilot to fly the American colors over enemy lines.".

"Growing up on a ranch in Sterling, Colorado, Frederick Libby mastered the cowboy arts of roping, punching cattle, and taming horses. Once he even roped an antelope. As a young man he exercised his skills in the mountains and on the ranges of Arizona and New Mexico as well as the 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 Royal Flying 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, which was also the first day he flew in a plane or fired a machine gun. He went on to become a pilot. He fought against the legendary German aces Oswald Boelcke and Manfred von Richthofen. He became the first American to down five enemy planes and won the Military Cross for conspicuous gallantry in action. When the United States entered the war, he became the first person to fly the American colors over German lines.

Libby achieved the rank of captain before he transferred back to the United States at the behest of another aviation legend, then colonel Billy Mitchell."--BOOK JACKET.