[Frederick Libby oral history interview (Part 1 of 8)]

In this eight-part oral history, fighter ace Frederick Libby is interviewed about his life and his military service with the Royal Flying Corps during World War I. In part one, he describes his childhood in Colorado and the Midwest and discusses his family’s profession as cowboys and horse breakers.

The interview is conducted by fellow fighter ace Eugene A. Valencia.

Frederick Libby was born in the early 1890s in Sterling, Colorado. He worked as an itinerant cowboy during his youth and joined the Canadian Army shortly after the outbreak of World War I. Deployed to France in 1915, Libby initially served with a motor transport unit, then volunteered for the Royal Flying Corps. He served as an observer with No. 23 Squadron and No. 11 Squadron, then as a pilot with No. 43 Squadron and No. 25 Squadron. Scoring a number of aerial victories during his RFC career, he became the first American fighter ace. Libby transferred to the United States Army Air Service in 1917 and was medically discharged soon after for spondylitis. As a civilian, he went on to embark on a number of business ventures, including founding the Eastern Oil Company and Western Air Express. Libby passed away in 1970.