"I glanced at my watch. One minute to 11:00, thirty seconds, fifteen. And then it was 11:00 A.M., the eleventh hour of the eleventh day of the eleventh month. I was the only audience for the greatest show ever presented."
Libby as described in Flying'squote from the New York Tribune ("a timid young officer," "cheeks burning with embarrassment," "Libby still tried to hide behind it with the shame that every real hero seems to have for his own valor") is unrecognizable as the same wild Colorado cowboy
There are many dangers in being high in the air in a craft made of wood, canvas, and dope, carrying a load of fuel, powered by what is supposed to be a smooth series of explosions in the engine, and creating other explosions by firing a gun.
One effect of all those explosions is that the engine and the gun can get rather hot.
Although the effect of the flu was supposed to be a state secret for the same reason that nations talk about troop readiness only in positive terms, seeing so many sick and dying would erode anyone's feistiness. It is notable that the Armistice came so soon after the peak of flu deaths.
So now we have a victory by an American after his government has actually declared war and who is part of an American squadron. The first all-American victory by the first all-American pilot! Well...no.
