Eddie Rickenbacker

Edward Vernon Rickenbacker (October 8, 1890 – July 23, 1973) was an American fighter ace in World War I and Medal of Honor recipient. With 26 aerial victories, he was America's most successful fighter ace in the war. He was also considered to have received the most awards for valor by an American during the war. He was also a race car driver and automotive designer, a government consultant in military matters and a pioneer in air transportation, particularly as the long-time head of Eastern Air Lines.

Early Life, 1890-1904

Edward Rickenbacker was born at 1334 East Livingston Avenue in Columbus, Ohio, the third child to Swiss German-speaking immigrants. His father, Wilhelm Rickenbacher, aspired to own his own house-building business but remained stuck in wage labor for breweries and street-paving crews. His mother, Liesl Basler, took in laundry to supplement the family income. With a loan from Lizzie's parents, the couple was able to purchase a small home on Livingston Avenue, at the edge of the city limits, two miles southeast of downtown. Edd, as he was called, was three years old.

Growing up in the little house, Edd had the "privilege" of "working long hours before and after school." He helped in the garden (potatoes, cabbages, and turnips) and with the animals (chickens, goats, and pigs). He brought in money by delivering papers, setting up pins at the bowling alley, and selling scavenged goods to the junk man. He gave most of his nickels to his mother, but he spent some on himself, including on Bull Durham tobacco, a habit he picked up from his big brother Bill. Edd was "sort of the leader" of the local Horsehead Gang, with whom he smoked, played hooky, and, on at least one occasion, broke streetlamps up and down Miller Avenue. Later in life, Rickenbacker called himself the "black sheep" of the family,

Edd was a hard worker and a streetwise tough, but he had a sensitive and artistic side, too. He enjoyed painting watercolors of "flowers and scenery and animals." Art was a passion he hoped to pursue as a career. His life-long love affair with speed and machines also began in his early years. He and his Horsehead Gang buddies constructed "pushcarts" in a kind of precursor to the Soapbox Derby. About the time of the Wright brothers first heavier-than-air flight, Edd famously tried to "fly" a bicycle outfitted with an umbrella off his friend's barn roof. Another time, he tried to design a perpetual motion machine. His father berated him for wasting his time on an invention that had no purpose.

Rickenbacker was accident-prone. In his autobiography, he recounted numerous scrapes he had in his early years. Even before entering school, he toddled into an oncoming horse-drawn streetcar and fell twelve feet into an open cistern. Early in his school career, he ran back into his burning school building to retrieve his winter coat, and nearly paid with his life. More misadventures followed. He fell out of a walnut tree and was knocked unconscious. Taking a "roller coaster ride" in a quarry cart with the Horsehead Gang, his leg was run over and badly sliced. His brother rescued him from a passing coal car, not once but twice.. Sixty years later when producing his autobiography, which was ghostwritten, he found significance in these close calls. He came to believe that God had repeatedly saved him for a higher purpose.

Going to Work, 1904-1910

Edd's childhood came to a halt in the summer before his fourteenth birthday. On a hot July day, a black man named William Gaines asked for handouts from William Rickenbacher's sidewalk crew during their lunch break. Rickenbacher objected--"If I had any dinner to share with any person I would share it with my children."--and wouldn't let the matter drop. Gaines hit him over the head with a level, he later claimed in self-defense. Rickenbacher was in a coma for almost six weeks before his death on August 26, 1904. Gaines was convicted of manslaughter and sentenced to ten years in prison. Rickenbacker's biographer, David Lewis, believed that the relatively lenient verdict of a white jury toward a black man suggests that William Rickenbacher did in fact threaten Gaines.

Though his older brother Bill and older sister Mary were working, Edd felt a responsibility to replace his father's lost income. He dropped out of school and went to work full time. He worked eight different jobs during the next two years. He was driven by an intense admiration for machines, Rickenbacker taught himself as much as he could, including enrolling in a correspondence course in engineering, which he pursued while working at the Oscar Lear Automobile Company on the corner of Fourth and Gay Streets.

Chief engineer Lee Frayer took Rickenbacker under his wing, giving him more responsibility in the workshop with each passing week. Two months later, when it came time to compete in the 1906 Vanderbilt Cup race, Frayer brought Eddie to New York to be his riding mechanic. Accidents cut short their two practice runs on the 29.7-mile (times ten) road course. An overheated engine ended their qualifying run. The pair failed to get to the starting line.

Back in Columbus, Rickenbacker followed his mentor to Columbus Buggy Company as chief testing engineer, supervising upwards of a dozen men in his department. The sixteen-year-old's's hard work and mechanical acumen impressed his new boss as much as they had Frayer. He chose Rickenbacker for special assignments, troubleshooting in Atlantic City and demonstrating at the 1909 Chicago Automobile Show. Later that year, Firestone sent his young troubleshooter to Texas to figure out why the new Frayer-designed engines were overheating. Eddie solved the problem and stayed on to head-up Columbus Buggy's Dallas agency. At eighteen, Rickenbacker was, he said, “salesman, demonstrator, mechanic, chief engineer, experimenter—in short, the whole ball of wax." Perhaps his greatest coup during this stint was getting to chauffeur the visiting William Jennings Bryan and getting his picture (and his car's) in the paper. He made three sales as a result.

In March, 1910, Firestone sent Rickenbacker to direct the Upper Midwest Agency out of Omaha. At nineteen, Rickenbacker was in charge of six men, covering sales, distribution and maintenance of Firestone-Columbus automobiles in four states. He was earning $125 per week, more than five times the wages of a union machinist, which he once thought to become. To draw attention to his company's car, Rickenbacker entered a 25-mile race in Red Oak, Iowa.

Automobile Racing, 1910-1916

As in his first auto race, Rickenbacker failed to finish, after crashing through the outer fence, but now he was confirmed in his passion for speed. That summer he went on to win most of the dirt track races he entered, including five of six at Omaha's Aksarben Festival in October. When he burst on the scene newspapers misspelled his name as "Reichenbaugh," "Reichenbacher," or "Reichenberger," before settling on "Rickenbacher," and sometimes "Richenbacher" or "Rickenbacker."

The following May, Lee Frayer invited his protégé to join him in another racing venture: the first ever Indianapolis 500. As relief driver, Rickenbacker spelled Frayer in the middle portion of the race, driving the majority of miles and helping his former boss take eleventh place. The next year he drove Frayer's Red Wing Special by himself but was forced out after a hundred miles with mechanical difficulties. Still, he was hooked. He quit his sales job and went on the county fair circuit with a Flying Squadron team. Race organizers flouted the safety regulations once too often, and in October, 1912, the American Automobile Association (AAA) cracked down on offending drivers. Rickenbacker was barred from the track for the next twelve months.

So he joined workshop of Frederick and August Duesenberg in Des Moines, Iowa. For the next year, he worked sixteen-hour days at three dollars a day, developing a Mason race car, so-named for the Duesenbergs' chief investor. In July, 1913, Rickenbacker was given dispensation to compete in his hometown Columbus 200-mile race and somehow managed to keep his reinstatement through the rest of the season. He won three times and finished the season in 27th place on the AAA standings with 115 points.

1914 was a make-or-break year for the Duesenberg team, now separated from their investor, Edward R. Mason. If their finds ran out, they would have to give up the racing game. Such was their desperation before the Fourth of July race at Sioux City that Rickenbacker was willing to try an old Swiss superstition shared by his mother. He paid a farm boy to catch him a live bat. Rickenbacker then extracted the still-beating heart and tied it to his middle finger with a red silk thread, according to Lizzie's instructions. The bat's heart--and hard driving--gave him the win. A third place finish by a second Duesenberg driver brought in $12,500 and assured that the team would complete the season. Rickenbacker finished the year in sixth place in the AAA standings.

Rickenbacker was now a national racing figure, earning the nickname "Fast Eddie" for his hard driving. One sportswriter called him "the most daring and withal the most cautious driver in America today." The top-ranked Peugeot team lured Rickenbacker away from Duesenberg at the start of 1915, but a couple bad outings caused him to abandon the French car and switch to Maxwell team. Looking back decades later, Rickenbacker called it "the major mistake of my racing career." Still, he finished the season ranked fifth among all racers, with three victories to his credit.

In September of 1915, Rickenbacker also received financial backing from Indianapolis Speedway owner Carl Fisher and his partner, Fred Allison, who made him the leader of a new Presto-Lite team. Fisher and Allison gave him free rein over three drivers and four mechanics in the development of four race cars they called Maxwell Specials. The year 1915-1916 was instrumental in the development of Rickenbacker's leadership, which he would further hone as commander of the 94th aero squadron and later as president of Eastern Air Lines. On the track, he won at Sioux City for the third year in a row, and at Tacoma and Sheepshead Bay (New York). Entering September, Rickenbacker was in a three-way race, for the championship with Dario Resta and Johnny Aitken. He needed a win at the Indianapolis Harvest 100 if he was to have any way of catching the other two. He had the lead in the penultimate lap but had driven his car into the ground. Aitken passed Rickenbacker's broken down Maxwell Special--his own car limping along on just three wheels! Rickenbacker called it “one of the grandest free-for-alls I ever was in.”He finished the year in third place in the standings but with a win in Los Angeles. It would be the last race of his career.

World War I, 1917-1918

Pre-U.S. Entry

Signing with the British Sunbeam team for the upcoming season, Rickenbacker sailed to England to work on the development of his new car. Before he could debark at Liverpool, he was detained by two plainclothes agents from Scotland Yard. A 1914 Los Angeles Times article had played loose with the facts, fabricating a story of the young driver as Baron Rickenbacher, "the disowned son of a Prussian noble."With Britain deep into a four-year war, the Yard was taking no chances with a potential spy. The police surveiled Rickenbacker the entire six weeks he was in England and another two weeks back across the Atlantic and into the United States. In England, Rickenbacker worked at the Sunbeam shop in Wolverhampton during the week and spent weekends at the Savoy Hotel in London. Watching Royal Flying Corps aeroplanes fly over the Thames from the Brooklands aerodrome, Rickenbacker began to consider plan if his country should enter the European war.

The month before, while he had been in Los Angeles, Rickenbacker had had two chance encounters with aviators. Glenn Martin, founder of Glenn L. Martin Company and more recently with Wright-Martin Aircraft, gave Rickenbacker his first ride aloft. Major Townsend F. Dodd was stranded with his plane in a field and Eddie diagnosed a magneto problem. Dodd later became General John J. Pershing's aviation officer and an important contact in Rickenbacker's attempt to join air combat.

Newspapers had begun spelling Rickenbacker's name with a second 'k' more frequently beginning in 1915, with Eddie's active encouragement. He decided his given name "looked a little plain" and adopted a middle name. He signed his name 26 times, with a different middle initial each time before settling upon "V." The Hartford Courant referred to him as "Edward Victor Rickenbacher" after his win at Sheepshead Bay in 1916. Only after the war did he settle on "Vernon," after the brother of his boyhood crush, Blanche Calhoun.in 1917, after his experience as a suspected spy and in an effort to "take the Hun out of his name," he officially changed the spelling of his name. "From then on", as he wrote in his autobiography, "most Rickenbachers were practically forced to spell their name in the way I had..."

Back in the United States after the revelation of the Zimmermann Telegram, Rickenbacker shared his idea for an aero squadron composed of race car drivers and mechanics with a New York Time reporter: "War would practically put a stop to racing, and we have a training that our country would need in time of war. We are experts in judging speed and in motor knowledge." After the April 6 declaration of war, Rickenbacker went to Washington to propose his idea. He was ignored. Military officials wanted college-educated men for new aviation section, not men from the working classes.

Flight Training

In late May, 1917, a week before he was to race in Cincinnati, Rickenbacker was invited to be chauffeur for General John J. Pershing. By mid-June, he was "somewhere in France," driving Army officials between Paris and A.E.F. headquarters in Chaumont, between headquarters and various points on the Western Front.

Rickenbacker was given a rank of Sergeant First Class but did not drive for General Pershing. He mostly drove for Major Dodd, whom he had met in late 1916. Once again, Rickenbacker made an important connection by repairing a superior's broken-down car, famously by fashioning a bearing of babbitt metal in a sand mold at a country mechanic's shop for Lieutenant Colonel Billy Mitchell. Mitchell, a rising officer in the aviation section of the Army's Signal Corps, was impressed. He was just the man Rickenbacker needed to ingratiate in order to get flight training, still his main goal.

But it was a chance encounter with Captain James Miller on the Champs-Elysees that put Rickenbcker on the track to become a fighter pilot. Miller asked Rickenbacker to be the chief engineer at the flight school and aerodrome he was establishing at Issoudun. Rickenbacker bargained for the chance to learn to fly at the French flight school outside Toul. He received just five weeks of training, twenty-five hours in the air, in September, 1917. Then he went to Issoudun to start constructing the US Air Service's pursuit training facility,

American aviation cadets--college men--were just beginning to arrive for their flight training. Rickenbacker resented their cocky attitude. They scorned his rough manner and speech. During the next three months, Rickenbacker stole moments from his work to continue his flight training, standing in at the back of lectures and taking aeroplanes up on his own to practice new maneuvers. He would eventually earn the respect of the aviators, but for now he had just one ally among the cadets, Lieutenant Reed Chambers. In January, 1918, Rickenbacker finagled his way into getting released to gunnery school, the final step on his road to becoming a pursuit pilot.

In February and March, Rickenbacker and the officers of the nascent 1st Pursuit Group completed advanced training at Villeneuve-les-Vertus Aerodrome. There the young lieutenant came under the tutelage and mentorship of Major Raoul Lufbery, whom Rickenbacker would credit for his success in the air. "All I learned, I learned from Lufbery," he would say. Lufbery took him and Douglas Campbell on their first patrol "over the line" even before their Nieuport 28s were outfitted with machine guns. By now Rickenbacker had earned the respect of the other fliers, who had begun calling him "Rick."

Both squadrons relocated to Toul, in the St. Mihiel sector, where Rickenbacker had begun his training with the French seven months earlier. Now the American air service had its own aerodrome, Gengoult, nearby. Before beginning their patrols each of the two squadrons chose an insignia to paint on its planes. The 95th chose a kicking mule. The 94th chose an Uncle Sam stovepipe hat, tipped inside a surrounding circle. One officer remarked, “Well, I guess our hat is in the ring now!” And the squadron became known as "The Hat-in-the-Ring Gang."

Early Experiences in Aerial Combat

Rickenbacker made his first sortie with Reed Chambers on April 13, which almost ended in disaster when both became lost and Chambers had to make a forced landing. Flight commander David Peterson called Rick a "bloody fool for flying off in a fog." Two weeks later, on April 29, 1918, Rickenbacker shot down his first enemy plane. On May 28, he claimed his fifth victory to become an ace. Rickenbacker was awarded the French Croix de Guerre that month for his five victories. This success did not mean the end of difficulties, however. Several times he almost fired on friendly planes. He nearly crashed when the fabric on his Nieuport's wing tore off in a dive. He mourned the death of Lufbery. And his guns kept jamming whenever he went in for the kill.

On May 30, he scored his sixth victory, but it would be his last for three and a half months. He suffered a fever in late June and developed an ear infection in July which grounded him for almost all of the Chateau Thierry campaign. During his hospitalization in Paris Rickenbacker had plenty of time to reflect on his shortcomings as a flying ace. He decided that he needed to show more self-discipline, less impetuosity, when and if he ever got back in the air.

Rickenbacker did get in the air in time for the St. Mihiel offensive based out of Rembercourt Aerodrome, beginning Sept. 12. By this time, the 94th and the others squadrons of the 1st Pursuit had converted from their agile but temperamental Nieuports to the more rugged, higher-powered Spad XIII. The new machine fit Rickenbacker's style of attack to a tee. He made his first kill on September 14 against a Fokker D-VII, and another the day after that. As Rickenbacker's performance was rising, the 94th Squadron's was still disappointing after a sluggish summer at Chateau Thierry. Major Harold Hartney, commander of the 1st Pursuit Group since late August, wanted new leadership to spark the Hat-in-the-Ring Gang to its former greatness. He chose Lieutenant Rickenbacker over several other captains to become the new commander of the 94th Squadron.

As Commander of the 94th Aero Squadron

Rickenbacker went to right work turning his men "back into a team." He gathered his pilots and exhorted them to stay focused on their mission: shooting down enemy planes. Reminding the mechanics that he was one of them, he stressed the crucial importance of their work. Above all, he let them know that he was a "gimper": "a bird who will stick by you through anything" and "would never ask anybody to do anything that [he] would not do [him]self first or do at the same time." To underscore his point, the next morning Rickenbacker took a solo patrol over the line and shot down two enemy planes. The victories in the air above Billy, France, later earned him the Medal of Honor, awarded by President Herbert Hoover in 1931.

Building on the leadership skills he had first developed with Maxwell in 1915-1916, Rickenbacker turned the 94th Squadron into a winning team. Rickenbacker was determined to "blind the eyes of the enemy" by taking out his observation balloons. The giant gas bags appeared so temptingly easy to bring down but were in fact heavily guarded and extremely dangerous to attack. He led planning sessions for multi-squadron raids of as many as fourteen planes. One reporter likened him to a big time football coach, "boning up for the season ahead" with “conferences on methods, blackboard talks, and ideas for air battle tactics." All the planning didn't guarantee success.

Rickenbacker himself was credited with bringing down five balloons, far fewer than the air service's most prolific balloon-buster, Frank Luke of the 27th Aero Squadron. In a two-week stretch, from September 12 to September 28, Luke sent 14 German observation balloons up in flames, among a total of 18 confirmed victories. It was the most remarkable performance of an American pursuit pilot in the entire war. (At the time, Rickenbacker had required four months of flying, not including his forced confinement in hospital, to amass 11 victories.) Luke's productivity came at the price of extreme recklessness. One airman in Rickenbacker's squadron wrote, "As the doctor's say to the press, he is not expected to live." Rickenbacker was hoping to get him transferred to the 94th and tame his impetuosity. He never got the chance. Luke was killed five days after Rickenbacker took command of the squadron.

Rickenbacker inculcated the squadron with his new principles of engagement, first germinated while confined in a Parisian hospital. Never attack unless there is at least 50-50 chance of success; always break off an engagement that seems hopeless; know the difference between cowardice and common sense. He continued to fly aggressively, but with a calculated caution. What the sportswriter had written about Rickenbacker the race car driver still applied: "the most daring and withal the most cautious" fighter pilot in the 1st Pursuit Group. He also flew more patrols, more hours in the air, than any other pilot in the service, a total of 300 combat hours. He brought down 15 aircraft in the final six weeks of the war, bringing his total victories to 26 and making him The United States's ace of aces for the war.

The military determined ace status by verifying combat claims by a pilot, but confirmation, too, was needed from ground witnesses, affirmations of other pilots, or observation of the wreckage of the opposing enemy aircraft. If no witnesses could be found, a reported kill was not counted. It was an imperfect system, dependent on the frailties of human observation, as well as vagaries of weather and terrain. Most aces' records are thus 'best estimates', not 'exact counts'. Nevertheless, Rickenbacker's 26 victories remained the American record until Richard Bong's 40 kills in World War II.

When Rickenbacker learned of the Armistice, he flew an airplane above the No Man's Land to observe the ceasefire as it occurred at 11:00 am on November 11. He later wrote, "I was the only audience for the greatest show ever presented. On both sides of no man's land, the trenches erupted. Brown-uniformed men poured out of the American trenches, gray-green uniforms out of the German. From my observer's seat overhead, I watched them throw their helmets in the air, discard their guns, wave their hands."

Achievements

Rickenbacker was awarded the Distinguished Service Cross a record eight times. One of these awards was converted in 1930 to the Medal of Honor. He was also awarded the Legion of Honor and the Croix de Guerre by France. (See Honors and Awards below.) In 1919, Rickenbacker was discharged from the Army Air Service with the rank of captain, which he had obtained sometime in October.

Verified aerial victories

Betweeen the Wars

War Hero

Rickenbacker was received home as a war hero. At the Waldorf-Astoria, six hundred "friends and admirers," including Secretary of War Newton Baker and his mother, shuttled in from Columbus,"cheered him and toasted him and shouted and sang to him." On the streets, he described betting mobbed by souvenir seekers, tearing buttons and ribbons off his uniform. “The onslaught was pretty heavy, more than I liked, but I took it….”Los Angeles gave him a parade in June. He signed a book deal worth $25,000, which turned into his memoir of the war, "Fighting the Flying Circus," ghost written by Laurence La Tourette Driggs. He contracted for a speaking tour worth $10,000, which doubled as promotion for Liberty Bonds.

He turned down several offers to endorse products, including cigarettes, as well as the opportunity to star in a feature film. He said producer Carl Laemmle "shoved a hundred-thousand-dollar certified check under my nose." But Rickenbacker didn't take the bait; he didn't want to cheapen his image. After the Liberty Bond tour, Rickenbacker was released from the army with the rank of Major, which he never used. He felt the rank of captain was the only one that was "earned and deserved." He was often referred to as "Captain Eddie" or just "the Captain" for the rest of his life.

Rickenbacker had a name he could capitalize on in an business he chose. He had already told a reporter, “There is no comparison between the auto and the air. I am through with the automobile and I stand ready to place my skill and talents in flying.” As early as December 1919, Rickenbacker had begun discussing with Reed Chambers the possibility of a joint venture in aircraft manufacturing. But the way forward was not apparent. Airlines did not yet exist. Performance and safety were still a concern. "Aeroplane" was still the preferred spelling. Rickenbacker resorted to his promotional abilities to spur public and governmental enthusiasm, but his efforts did not always pay off. In 1920 and 1921 he made four transcontinental crossings, twice in Junkers-Larsen JL-6s and twice in De Haviland DH-4s. In the course of these four trips, he underwent seven crack-ups, nine near misses, and eight forced landings in cornfields and the like.

The Rickenbacker Automobile

Rickenbacker was already hedging his bets. As early as October, 1919, he approached Barney Everitt of Everitt-Metzger-Flanders about the possibility of backing him in the development of a new car. Rickenbacker was instrumental in designing the car, but the nuts-and-bolts engineering was performed by Ray McNamara. Rickenbacker's most significant innovation was the tandem flywheel construction at the rear of the crankshaft which greatly reduced vibration. (Beverly Rae Kimes has written that Chrysler subsequently devised a better solution which supplanted Rickenbacker's.) The Rickenbacker, as it was called, took two years of development, and 100,000 miles of test driving (performed by the car's namesake) before the car was unveiled at the New York Auto Show of 1922.

Even as he was developing his automobile, Rickenbacker was giving himself a refresher course in car sales, updated for the post-war market. He took a job with a new make, Sheridan, in California. Among his other activities, Rickenbacker spent the first eight months of 1921 traveling the Golden State, promoting the Sheridan and opening new dealerships there. He often traveled between cities by plane, a leased Bellanca.

"A Car Worthy of Its Name." That was the slogan used to sell cars designed and marketed by Americans ace of aces. It was a high-quality mid-priced car.

Probably due to bad publicity from the other car manufacturers, who feared they would be unable to sell their inventory of cars with two-wheel braking, the company had trouble selling its cars and eventually went bankrupt in 1927. Rickenbacker went into massive debt, but was determined to pay back all of the $250,000 he owed, despite personally going bankrupt (and therefore no longer being legally obligated to do so). Eventually, all vehicles manufactured in the U.S. incorporated four-wheel braking.

In 1925, Rickenbacker was a defense witness, along with Hap Arnold, Tooey Spaatz, Ira Eaker, and Fiorello H. La Guardia, in the court-martial of General Billy Mitchell.

Marriage

In 1922, Rickenbacker married Adelaide Frost Durant; their marriage lasted for the rest of his life. Although they spent considerable time in Florida, Texas and Ohio, the Rickenbackers lived chiefly in New York City. They adopted two boys: David Edward in 1925, and William Frost in 1928. Adelaide was an unconventional wife for the times: she was five years older than her husband, had been previously married, and was outspoken and active. As independent as she was, Adelaide fully supported Rickenbacker's endeavors until his death in 1973.

The Indianapolis Motor Speedway

On November 1, 1927, Rickenbacker bought the Indianapolis Motor Speedway, which he operated for nearly a decade and a half, overseeing many improvements to the facility. Once the Speedway operations were under control, Rickenbacker looked for additional opportunities for entrepreneurship, including in sales for the Cadillac division of General Motors, and for various aircraft manufacturers and airlines. After the 500-mile (800 km) race in 1941, Rickenbacker closed the Speedway due to World War II. Among other things, holding the race would have been a waste of valuable gasoline, rubber, and other resources. In 1945, Rickenbacker sold the racetrack to the businessman Anton Hulman, Jr.

Clashes with President Roosevelt

Rickenbacker was adamantly opposed to President Franklin Roosevelt's New Deal policies, seeing them as little better than socialism. For this, he drew criticism and ire from the press and the Roosevelt administration, which ordered NBC Radio not to allow him to broadcast opinions critical of Roosevelt's policies after Rickenbacker had harshly denounced the president's decision to rescind existing mail contracts in 1934 and have U.S. Army Air Corps pilots carry the air mail. At the time, Rickenbacker was vice president of one of the companies affected, Eastern Air Transport. When a number of inexperienced, undertrained Army pilots were killed in crashes soon afterward, Rickenbacker stated, "That's legalized murder!"

Eastern Air Lines

Rickenbacker's most lasting business endeavor was his longtime leadership of Eastern Air Lines. Through the 1920s, he had worked with and for General Motors (GM): first as the California distributor for its new car, the short-lived Sheridan, then later as a marketer for the LaSalle, and finally as vice president of sales for their affiliate, Fokker Aircraft Company. He persuaded GM to purchase North American Aviation, a conglomerate whose assets included Eastern Air Transport. GM asked him to manage Eastern, beginning in 1935. With the help of some friends, Rickenbacker merged Eastern Air Transport and Florida Airways to form Eastern Air Lines, an airline that eventually grew from a company flying a few thousand miles per week into a major airline. In April 1938, after learning that GM was considering selling Eastern to John D. Hertz, Rickenbacker met with GM's Chairman of the Board, Alfred P. Sloan, and bought the company for $3.5 million.

Rickenbacker oversaw many radical changes in the field of commercial aviation. He negotiated with the U.S. government to acquire air mail routes, a great advantage to companies in need of business. He helped develop and support new aircraft designs. Rickenbacker bought the new, large, faster airliners for Eastern Air Lines, including the four-engined Lockheed Constellation and Douglas DC-4. Rickenbacker personally collaborated with many of the pioneers of aviation, including Donald W. Douglas, the founder of the Douglas Aircraft Company, and the designer and builder of the large, four-engined airliners, the DC-4, DC-6, DC-7, and DC-8 (its first jet airliner).

Rickenbacker promoted flying to the American public, but, always aware of the possibility of accidents, he wrote in his autobiography, "I have never liked to use the word 'safe' in connection with either Eastern Air Lines or the entire transportation field; I prefer the word 'reliable'."

Rickenbacker's near-fatal airline crash

Rickenbacker often traveled for business on Eastern Air Lines flights. On February 26, 1941, he was a passenger on a Douglas DC-3 airliner that crashed just outside Atlanta, Georgia. Rickenbacker suffered grave injuries, being soaked in fuel, immobile, and trapped in the wreckage. In spite of his own critical wounds, Rickenbacker encouraged the other passengers, offered what consolation he could to those around him who were injured or dying, and guided the survivors who were still ambulatory to attempt to find help. The survivors were rescued after spending the night at the crash site. Rickenbacker barely survived. This was just the first time that the press announced his death while he was still alive.

In a dramatic retelling of the incident, Rickenbacker's autobiography relates his astonishing experiences. While he was still conscious but in terrible pain, Rickenbacker was left behind while some ambulances carried away bodies of the dead. When Rickenbacker arrived at a hospital, his injuries appeared so grotesque that the emergency surgeons and physicians left him for dead for some time. They instructed their assistants to "take care of the live ones." Rickenbacker's injuries included a fractured skull, other head injuries, a shattered left elbow with a crushed nerve, a paralyzed left hand, several broken ribs, a crushed hip socket, a pelvis broken in two places, a severed nerve in his left hip, and a broken left knee. Rickenbacker's left eyeball was also blown out of its socket.

It took many months in the hospital, followed by a long time at home, for Rickenbacker to heal from this multitude of injuries and to regain his full eyesight. Rickenbacker described his terrible experience with vivid accounts of his mental state as he approached death—emphasizing the supreme act of will that it took to stave off dying. Rickenbacker's autobiography reports that he spent ten days at the door of death, which he illustrated as "having an overwhelming sensation of calm and pleasure".

Ace Drummond

Rickenbacker also scripted a popular comic strip called Ace Drummond from 1935–1940. He worked with aviation artist and author Clayton Knight, who illustrated the series. The strip followed the adventures of aviator Drummond. It was later adapted into a film serial and radio program. Between 1935 and 1940, Knight and Rickenbacker also did another King Features comic strip, The Hall of Fame of the Air, depicting airplanes and air battles in a fact-based series about famous and little-known aviators. This strip was adapted into a Big Little Book, Hall of Fame of the Air (Whitman Publishing, 1936).

World War II

Support for Britain

Rickenbacker supported the war effort as a civilian. While initially supporting the isolationist movement, Rickenbacker officially left the America First organization in 1940, having only been a nominal member of it for a few months. From this point on he took an outspokenly pro-British stance. He was inspired by "England's heroic resistance to relentless air attacks" from the Luftwaffe's campaign against the island of Great Britain in 1940 during the Battle of Britain, and wrote at that time: "Should these gallant British withstand the terrific onslaught of the totalitarian states until the summer of 1941, it is my sincere conviction that by that time this nation will have declared war." Rickenbacker was one of a few celebrities who took part in campaigns to rally his fellow World War I veterans to the British cause before the attack on Pearl Harbor. In 1942 he toured training bases in the southwestern United States and in England. He encouraged the American public to contribute time and resources, and pledged Eastern Air Lines equipment and personnel for use in military activities. Under Rickenbacker's direction Eastern Air Lines, along with other air lines such as Pan American Airlines, provided the means of war to British forces and flew munitions and supplies across the North Atlantic Ocean to the British.

Rickenbacker inspected troops, operations, and equipment, and served in a publicity function to increase support from civilians and soldiers. In 1942, with a sweeping letter of authorization from Henry L. Stimson, U.S. Secretary of War, Rickenbacker visited England on an official war mission and made ground-breaking recommendations for better war operations. He worked with both the Royal Air Force and the U.S.A.F. on bombing strategy, including work with Air Chief Marshal Sir Arthur Harris and General Carl Andrew Spaatz.

Adrift at sea

One of Rickenbacker's most famous near-death experiences occurred in October 1942. Stimson sent him on a tour of air bases in the Pacific Theater of Operations to review both living conditions and operations, but also to deliver personally a secret message of rebuke to General Douglas MacArthur from the President for negative public comments MacArthur had made about the administration and disparaging cables sent to Marshall. After visiting several air and sea bases in Hawaii, Rickenbacker was provided an older B-17D Flying Fortress (AAF Ser. No. 40-3089) as transportation to the South Pacific. The bomber, (with a crew of eight) strayed hundreds of miles off course while on its way to a refueling stop on Canton Island and was forced to ditch in a remote and little-traveled part of the Central Pacific Ocean.

The failure in navigation has been ascribed to an out-of-adjustment celestial navigation instrument, a bubble octant, that gave a systematic bias to all of its readings. That octant reportedly had suffered a severe shock in a pre-takeoff mishap. The pre-takeoff mishap occurred during the first attempt to take off in a different bomber, but the landing gear's brakes seized mid-takeoff. They kept the same damaged bubble octant on a different plane, which caused the navigational failure. This unnecessary ditching spurred on the development of improved navigational instruments and also better survival gear for the air crewmen. The B-17's aircraft commander, former American Airlines pilot Captain William T. Cherry, Jr., was forced to ditch close to Japanese-held islands but the Americans were never spotted by Japanese patrol planes, and were adrift on the ocean for thousands of miles.

For 24 days, Rickenbacker, Army Captain Hans C. Adamson, his friend and business partner, and the rest of the 8 crewmen drifted in life rafts at sea. Rickenbacker was still suffering somewhat from his earlier airplane crash, and Capt. Adamson sustained serious injuries during the ditching. The other crewmen who were in the B-17, named Bartek, Reynolds, Whittaker, Cherry, Kaczmarczyk, and De Angelis, were hurt to varying degrees. The crewmen's food supply ran out after three days. Then, on the eighth day, a seagull landed on Rickenbacker's head. He warily and cautiously captured it, and then the survivors meticulously divided it into equal parts and used part of it for fishing bait. They lived on sporadic rain water that fell and similar food "miracles", like fingerlings that they caught with their bare hands.

Rickenbacker assumed leadership, encouraging and browbeating the others to keep their spirits up. One crewman, Alexander Kaczmarczyk, was suffering from dehydration. He drank sea water, knowing it was a bad idea. He died and was buried at sea. The U.S. Army Air Forces and the U.S. Navy's patrol planes planned to abandon the search for the lost B-17 crewmen after just over two weeks, but Rickenbacker's wife persuaded them to extend it another week. The services agreed to do so. Once again, the newspapers and radio broadcasts reported that Rickenbacker was dead.

The seven split up. Cherry rowed off in the small raft and was rescued on day 23. Reynolds, De Angelis, and Whittwaker found a small island, close to another, inhabited one. The natives of the second one were hosting an allied radio station, so all was good for the men. Reynolds was extremely close to death. A U.S. Navy patrol OS2U-3 Kingfisher float-plane spotted and rescued the 3 survivors on November 13, off the coast of Nukufetau in Tuvalu. All were suffering from hyperthermia, sunburn, dehydration, and near-starvation. Rickenbacker completed his assignment and delivered his message, which has never been made public, to General MacArthur.

Rickenbacker had thought that he had been lost for 21 days and wrote a book about this experience titled Seven Came Through, published by Doubleday, Doran. It was not until later that he recalculated the number of days, and he corrected himself in his autobiography in 1967. The pilot of the plane that rescued the survivors, Lieutenant William F. Eadie, USN, was awarded the Navy's Air Medal for his actions during the rescue. The story was also recounted in Lt. James Whittaker's book We Thought We Heard the Angels Sing, published in 1943. The story of Rickenbacker's ordeal has been used as an example for Alcoholics Anonymous when the first of their Twelve Traditions was formulated: "Our common welfare should come first. Personal recovery depends upon AA unity."

1943 mission to the USSR

Still determined to support the U.S. war effort, Rickenbacker suggested a fact-finding mission in the Soviet Union to provide the Soviets with needed technical assistance for their American aircraft. Rickenbacker approached Soviet diplomats, and avoided requesting help from President Franklin Roosevelt, due to their prior disagreements. He scheduled resumption of his tour of American air operations in the Far East, interrupted by his ordeal in 1942, while he awaited approval of his visit from the Soviets. With Stimson's help and by trading favors with the Soviet ambassador, Rickenbacker secured unlikely permission to travel to the Soviet Union. The War Department provided everything Rickenbacker needed, including a highly unusual letter stating that the bearer was authorized to "visit ... any ... areas he may deem necessary for such purposes as he will explain to you in person", signed by the Secretary of War.

Rickenbacker's trip in the spring and summer of 1943 took him along the South Atlantic air route that Eastern Air Lines had helped pioneer in 1941, traveling to Cairo in an AAF C-54 provided him by Gen. Henry H. Arnold, commanding general of the United States Army Air Forces. He made observations about conditions at every stop and reviewed American operations with a critical eye, forwarding reports to authorities. From Cairo he traveled by C-87 to India to experience the Hump airlift into China, on which he reported unfavorably to Arnold after his return to the United States. Continuing over the Hump to China himself, Rickenbacker was impressed by the determination of the Chinese people but disgusted with the corruption of the Kuomintang government. Reaching Iran, he offered to bring along an American officer to the Soviet Union, although approval of the request delayed Rickenbacker's party several days.

In the Soviet Union, Rickenbacker observed wartime conditions, the extraordinary dedication and patriotism of the populace, and the ruthless denial of food to those deemed unproductive to the war effort. He befriended many Soviet officials and shared his knowledge of the aircraft they had received from the United States. He was lavishly entertained and recalled attempts by NKVD agents and officials to get him intoxicated enough to disclose sensitive information.

Rickenbacker's mission was successful. He discovered that a commander of Moscow's defense had stayed at Rickenbacker's home in 1937, and personal connections like this and the respect the Soviet military personnel had for him greatly aided his information-gathering. He learned about Soviet defense strategies and capabilities. In the distraction resulting from the outbreak of the Battle of Kursk, he saw a map of the front line showing the locations of all major Soviet military units, which he did his best to memorize. He also persuaded his hosts to give him an unprecedented tour of the Shturmovik aircraft factory. However, comments made by Rickenbacker during his trip alerted the Soviets to the existence of the secret B-29 Superfortress program.

Rickenbacker observed some traces of capitalism (for example, people were allowed to grow food and sell their surplus) and predicted that the Soviet Union would eventually become a capitalist nation.

British Prime Minister Winston Churchill interviewed Rickenbacker about his mission. In the U.S., Rickenbacker's information resulted in some diplomatic and military action, but President Roosevelt did not meet with Rickenbacker.

For his service in support of the war effort, Rickenbacker received the Medal for Merit, a decoration for civilians in service to the United States government equivalent to the military Legion of Merit.

Later Life and Death

Rickenbacker's main home was outside New York City. Rickenbacker was also an avid golfer, often playing at the Siwanoy Country Club course near his home in Bronxville. He is one of a very select few Club members who were granted honorary lifetime membership at Siwanoy.

Rickenbacker owned a winter home in Coconut Grove, Florida, near Eastern Air Lines' major maintenance and administrative headquarters at Miami International Airport. For a time, Eastern was the most profitable airline in the postwar era. During the late 1950s, however, Eastern Air Lines' fortunes declined, and Rickenbacker was forced out of his position as CEO on October 1, 1959. Rickenbacker also resigned as the Chairman of the Board on December 31, 1963, at the age of 73. After that, Captain and Mrs. Rickenbacker traveled extensively for a number of years.

In the 1960s, Rickenbacker became a well-known speaker. He shared his vision for the future of technology and commerce, exhorted Americans to respect the adversary, the Soviet Union during the Cold War, but still uphold American values. Rickenbacker endorsed many conservative ideas.

In 1967, when Rickenbacker published his autobiography, a special edition was printed for the employees of Eastern Air Lines, and it contained the following dedication:

To the Men and Women of Eastern Air Lines

It is with pleasure and pride that I inscribe to you this copy of my life story from the time I was three years of age.

You will find therein the source of those principles I used to preach; and if they can help you avoid even a few of the keen disappointments and bitter heartaches that I have lived through, then I will feel well repaid for my efforts.

From these principles and our labors together emerged one of our country's great airlines and further developed our great heritage of pioneering. In the years ahead young, strong hands will carry them into a future which you and I, with all our dreams, can scarcely visualize—that "Parade of Youth" which always was and always will be the true spirit of Eastern Air Lines.

(signed) Capt Eddie Rickenbacker

Captain Rickenbacker suffered from a stroke while he was in Switzerland seeking special medical treatment for Mrs. Rickenbacker, and he then contracted pneumonia. Rickenbacker died on July 23, 1973 in Zürich, Switzerland. A memorial service was held at the Key Biscayne Presbyterian Church with the eulogy given by Lt. General Jimmy Doolittle, and then his body was interred in Columbus, Ohio, at the Green Lawn Cemetery. At the time of his death, he was the last living Medal of Honor recipient of the Air Service, United States Army.

In 1977, at the age of 92, Adelaide Rickenbacker was completely blind, suffering from failing health, and still grieving severely from the loss of her husband. She committed suicide by gunshot at their home on Key Biscayne, Florida.

Honors and awards

Military awards

Medal of Honor citation

Edward V. Rickenbacker, Colonel, specialist reserve, then first lieutenant, 94th Aero Squadron, Air Service, American Expeditionary Forces. For conspicuous gallantry and intrepidity above and beyond the call of duty in action against the enemy near Billy, France, September 25, 1918. While on a voluntary patrol over the lines Lt. Rickenbacker attacked seven enemy planes (five type Fokker protecting two type Halberstadt photographic planes). Disregarding the odds against him he dived on them and shot down one of the Fokkers out of control. He then attacked one of the Halberstadts and sent it down also.

Medal of Honor citation, awarded November 6, 1930

First Distinguished Service Cross citation

The Distinguished Service Cross is presented to Edward Vernon Rickenbacker, Captain (Air Service), US Army, for extraordinary heroism in action near Montsec, France, April 29, 1918. Captain Rickenbacker attacked an enemy Albatross monoplane, and after a vigorous fight in which he followed his foe into German territory, he succeeded in shooting it down near Vigneulles-les-Hatton Chatel. General Orders No. 32, W.D., 1919

Second Distinguished Service Cross citation

The Distinguished Service Cross is presented to Edward Vernon Rickenbacker, Captain (Air Service), U.S . for extraordinary heroism in action over Richecourt, France, on May 17, 1918. Captain Rickenbacker attacked three Albatross enemy planes, shooting one down in the vicinity of Richecourt, France, and forcing the others to retreat over their own lines. General Orders No. 32, W.D., 1919

Third Distinguished Service Cross citation

The Distinguished Service Cross is presented to Edward Vernon Rickenbacker, Captain (Air Service), US Army, for extraordinary heroism in action over St. Mihiel, France, on May 22, 1918. Captain Rickenbacker attacked three Albatross monoplanes 4,000 meters over St. Mihiel, France. He drove them back into German territory, separated one from the group, and shot it down near Flirey. General Orders No. 32, W.D., 1919

Fourth Distinguished Service Cross citation

The Distinguished Service Cross is presented to Edward Vernon Rickenbacker, Captain (Air Service), US Army, for extraordinary heroism in action over Boise Rate, France, on May 28, 1918. Captain Rickenbacker sighted a group of two battle planes and four monoplanes, German planes, which he at once attacked vigorously, shooting down one and dispersing the others. General Orders No. 32, W.D., 1919

Fifth Distinguished Service Cross citation

The Distinguished Service Cross is presented to Edward Vernon Rickenbacker, Captain (Air Service), US Army, for extraordinary heroism in action on May 30, 1918, 4,000 meters over Jaulny, France. Captain Rickenbacker attacked a group of five enemy planes. After a violent battle, he shot down one plane and drove the others away. General Orders No. 32, W.D., 1919

Sixth Distinguished Service Cross citation

The Distinguished Service Cross is presented to Edward Vernon Rickenbacker, Captain (Air Service), US Army, for extraordinary heroism in action in the region of Villecy, France, September 14, 1918. Captain Rickenbacker attacked four Fokker enemy planes at an altitude of 3,000 meters. After a sharp and hot action, he succeeded in shooting one down in flames and dispersing the other three. General Orders No. 32, W.D., 1919

Seventh Distinguished Service Cross citation

The Distinguished Service Cross is presented to Edward Vernon Rickenbacker, Captain (Air Service), US Army, for extraordinary heroism in action in the region of Bois-de-Wavrille, France, September 15, 1918. Captain Rickenbacker encountered six enemy planes, who were in the act of attacking four Spads, which were below them. Undeterred by their superior numbers, he unhesitatingly attacked them and succeeded in shooting one down in flames and completely breaking the formation of the others. General Orders No. 32, W.D., 1919

Note - Rickenbacker was originally awarded the Distinguished Service Cross a total of eight times. One of these awards, however, was upgraded in 1930 to the Medal of Honor. q.v.

Other

Rickenbacker was inducted into various halls of fame including the Indianapolis Motor Speedway Hall of Fame in 1954, the National Aviation Hall of Fame in 1965, the International Motorsports Hall of Fame in 1992, the National Sprint Car Hall of Fame in 1992, the Motorsports Hall of Fame of America in 1994, and the Georgia Aviation Hall of Fame in 1999.

He also received the Tony Jannus Award in 1967 for his contributions to scheduled commercial aviation.

What is now Dobbins Air Reserve Base was originally called Rickenbacker Field in his honor when it opened in 1941.

In 1945 20th Century Fox made a movie called Captain Eddie. It starred Fred MacMurray as Rickenbacker.

In November 1947, a four-mile (6 km) causeway was completed, linking Miami on the mainland of Florida with Crandon Park on the island of Key Biscayne. The road was named Rickenbacker Causeway in his honor.

In 1974, Lockbourne Air Force Base, a Strategic Air Command (SAC) installation in his home town of Columbus, was renamed Rickenbacker Air Force Base. On April 1, 1980 it was turned over to the Ohio Air National Guard and renamed Rickenbacker Air National Guard Base. It now shares the airfield with Rickenbacker International Airport.

The Rickenbacker award is the Civil Air Patrol cadet achievement equivalent to an Air Force Technical Sergeant. Cadets awarded the Rickenbacker achievement are promoted to C/TSgt.

The United States Postal Service issued a postage stamp in honor of Rickenbacker's accomplishments as an aviation pioneer in 1995. The postage stamp was reprinted in 1999 and reissued in 2000.

A coffee shop and deli located at Maxwell Air Force Base's University Inn is called "Rickenbacker's".

Cultural references

The story of Eddie Rickenbacker "and his courageous company" appears on page 131 of the TWELVE STEPS AND TWELVE TRADITIONS of Alcoholics Anonymous. It pertains to when their plane crashed in the Pacific and is used in the closing remarks of Tradition One ("Our common welfare should come first; personal recovery depends upon A.A. unity.").

In 1945 20th Century Fox made a movie called Captain Eddie. It starred Fred MacMurray as Rickenbacker.

In his comic strip Li'l Abner, Al Capp included an airplane pilot modeled on Rickenbacker: Cap'n Eddie Ricketyback.

Rickenbacker is featured as a character in the pilot episode of the science fiction series Voyagers! He was played by Peter Frechette.

Eddie Rickenbacker appears in the computer game Red Baron as one of the Allied aces. In the 1999 game System Shock 2, a military spaceship is named the UNN Rickenbacker. Wings of War: Famous Aces features Rickenbacker's Spad XIII. He also appears in the World War I simulation game Rise of Flight as an instructor.

In the 2007 movie The King of Kong: A Fistful of Quarters, Billy Mitchell compares Eddie Rickenbacker with the Red Baron to illustrate his own dominance of competitive video game playing, stating "There's a level of difference between some people."

In 2009, musician Todd Snider wrote a song called "Money, Compliments, and Publicity," which revolves around a statement Rickenbacker made indicating that the pinnacle of success is when you lose interest in money, compliments, and publicity.

In the 1955 film The Court-Martial of Billy Mitchell, Rickenbacker is played by Tom McKee.

In The Twilight Zone episode "The Parallel", it is mentioned that, in the parallel universe, Rickenbacker was never found after the crash of Eastern Air Lines Flight 21 on February 26, 1941.

In the 2004 novel The Godfather Returns, Nick Geraci is reading Eddie Rickenbacker's autobiography. His father quotes from the sleeve of the book.

In a 1960's Peanuts comic strip, while being watched by Lucy, she tells Snoopy that he received a post card from Charlie Brown on vacation. Snoopy imagines that the message was sent from "Captain Eddie Rickenbacker" claiming that "'Rick' will never amount to much...Those racing drivers don't know anything about flying airplanes." This was clearly a sarcastic (and heartfelt) homage to one of the greatest war pilots to have ever lived.

Rickenbacker Guitars

Eddie was a distant cousin of Adolph Rickenbacker, co-founder of Rickenbacker Guitars. The company name was purposely chosen for the association with Eddie Rickenbacker.