Horses Don't Fly: A Memoir of World War I [Hardcover]

Frederick Libby (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: August 17, 2000

" 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.

Written in 1961 and never before published, Horses Don't Fly is a rare piece of Americana. Libby's memoir of his cowboy days in the last years of the Old West will remind readers of Cormac McCarthy's Border Trilogy-but it's the real thing. His description of World War I combines a rattling good account of the air war over France with captivating and sometimes poignant depictions of wartime London, the sorrow for friends lost in combat, and the courage and camaraderie of the Royal Flying Corps. Told in a modest, self-deprecating, and often humorous voice in a pure American vernacular, Horses Don't Fly is, as Winston Groom notes in his introduction, "not only an important piece of previously unpublished history [but] a gripping and uplifting story to read."

Editorial Reviews

From Library Journal

It is surprising that this remarkable World War I memoir, written shortly after 1918, has remained unpublished for 82 years. Author Libby survived the war and died in 1970, but he left a powerful account of his three years of aerial combat over the trenches in France, first as an observer/gunner and later as a pilot in the Royal Flying Corps. Libby was an American cowboy from Colorado. By 1914, at age 22, he was in Canada and joined the Canadian Army for the travel and adventure offered by a world war. The first half of the book is Libby's tale of cowpunching and horsebreaking in the last decades of the Old West. Even better, however, is the second half, where he vividly relates his at once hilarious and terrifying experiences as an American flying in a British aircraft against swarms of German fighter planes. Credited with 24 aerial victories, Libby was the first American to be awarded England's Military Cross for valor, presented by King George V himself. By volunteering before America entered the war, Libby lost his citizenship, but he clearly has no regrets. This colorful, stirring memoir leaves no doubt that he made the right decision, and it serves as a grim reminder of the archaic chivalry and cold-blooded nature of early aerial warfare. Strongly recommended for all public libraries.DCol. William D. Bushnell, USMC (ret.), Harpswell, ME
Copyright 2000 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Review

"...fascinating...captures the panorama of the war years...an important piece of previously unpublished history...a gripping and uplifting story to read..." -- Winston Groom, author of Forrest Gump

"...long overdue...a great event...More than a cowboy or a flying ace, Captain Libby was a genuine American hero..." -- W.E.B. Griffin, author of Brotherhood of War, The Corps, Men at War, and Honor Bound series

"Frederick Libby has a marvelous capacity for recalling specific details of his life as horseman, aviator, soldier, and consummate citizen of the 20th century..." -- Clayton Reynolds, author of Franklin's Crossing and Players

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Hardcover: 288 pages
• Publisher: Arcade Publishing; 1st edition (August 17, 2000)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1559705264
• ISBN-13: 978-1559705264
• Product Dimensions: 9.6 x 6.4 x 1.1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.3 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (21 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #944,451 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

25 of 26 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The Original Marlboro Man!, August 18, 2000

By 

"goldcoastreviews" - See all my reviews

This review is from: Horses Don't Fly: A Memoir of World War I (Hardcover)

Since my brother noticed my review on the last book he sent me, a true story of submarine espionage during The Cold War, "Blind Mans Bluff", I guess he figured to warm up my library with another real life adventure--"Horses Don't Fly". As I opened his package, I admit, I sighed. However, this book is enthralling and compelling as any fictional novel I have ever read.

Frederick Libby wrote his impactful memoir in 1961. He passed away in 1970. There are so many questions I want to ask him. His marvelous capacity for recalling specific details on his life as first a cow puncher out West to his becoming the first American to down five enemy planes during WWI is fascinating indeed. I truly think of him as being the first Marlboro Man. Not in a negative tobacco way, as a rugged, adventurous, spirited man who can capture your attention as fast as he learned to be a pilot and use a machine gun. Which was one day!

Some of my favorite parts of Libby's experiences are during his stand with the Canadian army. Through sensitivity, detail, and even humor, he recreated scenes of comraderie with fellow pilots I shall not soon forget. Friends lost in combat, poignant depictions of wartime London, even playful pranks.

Libby was a true hero. With medals to prove it. Yet, his writing reveals he was just a cowboy who learned how to fly. He tangled with the Red Barron and won, but does not flaunt his ego. In this day of techno wars and seeking singular positive influences--this man amazes me.

A superb true to life memoir of a flying Ace in WWI.

--CDS--

16 of 17 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars from cowpuncher to officer & gentleman, October 1, 2000

By 

Daniel Ford (at danford dot net) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Horses Don't Fly: A Memoir of World War I (Hardcover)

A splendid book about growing up in the American west in the early years of the 20th century. Fred Libby is a wonderful companion and a tough young man. When luck falls his way, he's wide-eyed with happiness; and when luck turns sour, he shrugs his shoulders and moves on. So it was when he loses his small fortune in an oil-field scam in Canada. What the hey?--he joins the Canadian army as a truck driver, despite the fact that he doesn't know how to drive. The army, he figures, will keep him warm and dry and well fed.

But nobody is dry on the Western front in the winter of 1916, so Fred volunteers as an observer for the Royal Flying Corps. On his first outing, he shoots down a German plane, and he is accordingly commissioned as an officer & gentleman. He's as good at shooting down airplanes as he was at breaking wild horses, and he soon has a Military Cross from the hand of King George. The RFC then teaches him to fly, which doesn't take long: he soloes the first day, and he is soon back in action as a pilot.

The dustjacket credits him with 10 kills as an observer and 14 as a pilot, which would have made Fred one of the leading American aces of WWI before the U.S. even entered the war, but this is apparently an error. His total score was 14. His military career goes into a tailspin in 1917, when he loyally returns to the U.S. to become a pilot in his home service--never to see combat service, alas, and with a sour taste at the ineptitude of the U.S. Army Air Service.

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Real American, November 9, 2000

By 

David M. Eiband (Ridgecrest, CA USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Horses Don't Fly: A Memoir of World War I (Hardcover)

Horses Don't Fly is a classic American story, a Colorado cowboy who becomes America's first ace flying for the Royal Flying Corps and later a wildcatter and airline executive. Libby's story is well told, again in the classic American mold, modestly and succinctly. When the average life span of a combat pilot was 10 hours, Libby flew over 350 combat hours, and yet somehow his story was lost until now. That not withstanding, there is no doubt that Libby is a real American hero. An excellent book and an even more important story.