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Eddie Rickenbacker

1890–1973 · 83 years

American ace of aces, then 40 years behind a desk

Portrait of Eddie Rickenbacker — US Army Air Force, now USAF — 1931 — Public domain via Wikimedia Commons

The Rickenbachers were German-speaking Swiss who settled in Columbus, Ohio, in a house with no running water and no electricity. Edward was the third of eight children. In August 1904, weeks short of his 14th birthday, his father died of a head injury from a brawl, and the boy left the seventh grade, lied about his age and took the first of eight jobs in two years. Cars found him. At 19 he ran a four-state sales territory. He drove in the first Indianapolis 500 in 1911 as a relief driver, and by his mid-twenties he was a national name earning 40,000 dollars a year. In 1917 he changed the spelling of his surname, because Rickenbacher looked German and British police had already detained him as a suspected spy.

He talked his way from staff driver to pursuit pilot, and in April 1918 flew his first patrol with the 94th Aero Squadron, the Hat-in-the-Ring outfit. He took command of it in September and finished the war with 26 victories, the top American total and a record that held until Richard Bong passed it in the next war. He came home with eight Distinguished Service Crosses. One was upgraded to the Medal of Honor for a patrol near Billy, France, on September 25, 1918. Herbert Hoover presented it at Bolling Field on November 6, 1930, when Rickenbacker was 40.

The flying took four years. The business took 40. In 1927 he bought the Indianapolis Motor Speedway from Carl Fisher for 700,000 dollars, ran it for more than a decade, shut it for the war and sold it in 1945. In 1938 he bought Eastern Air Lines from General Motors for 3.5 million dollars and ran it as personal property until the board removed him as chief executive in 1959. Eastern was for a time the most profitable airline in America and never took a state subsidy, a point he made as often as anyone would listen. He called the New Deal little better than socialism and the 1934 Army airmail deaths 'legalized murder'. Accounts of the company describe a man who decided everything himself and conceded organized labor nothing.

The Pacific almost took him first. In October 1942, carrying a message to Douglas MacArthur, his B-17 ran out of fuel and ditched. Eight men drifted 24 days on rafts, out of food after three, drinking what rain they caught. Alexander Kaczmarczyk drank seawater and died. Rickenbacker was 52, and the papers printed his obituary, as they had after the Eastern crash outside Atlanta in 1941. Rescue made him a national story a second time. It did not last. His conservatism grew louder as the country moved on, and he died of pneumonia in Zurich on July 23, 1973, at 82. Jimmy Doolittle gave the eulogy. He was buried in Columbus, where he had left school at 13.

Lifespan

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Eddie Rickenbacker's life against the full span of the corpus.

Notable works

Fighting the Flying Circus book
His war memoir, out the year after the Armistice 1919
Rickenbacker Motor Company other
His own car, an early mover on four-wheel brakes. Bankrupt in 1927 1922
Florida Airways other
Founded with Reed Chambers, backed by Henry Ford. Gone inside a year 1926
Indianapolis Motor Speedway other
Bought from Carl Fisher for 700,000 dollars and held until 1945 1927
Eastern Air Lines other
Bought from General Motors for 3.5 million dollars and run until 1959 1938
Seven Came Through book
The raft account, which he later corrected from 21 days to 24 1943

Life in brief

with age at each point

August 26, 1904 aged 13 His father dies and he leaves school for full-time work He was 13, and lied about his age to get around the child labor laws.
May 30, 1911 aged 20 Drives in the first Indianapolis 500 as relief man for Lee Frayer The car finished 13th.
1917 aged ~27 Changes the spelling of his name from Rickenbacher to Rickenbacker British police had detained him at Liverpool the year before as a suspected German spy.
April 29, 1918 aged 27 Scores his first victory with the 94th Aero Squadron He became an ace on May 28 and took command of the squadron in September.
November 1, 1927 aged 37 Buys the Indianapolis Motor Speedway from Carl Fisher The price was 700,000 dollars, all of it borrowed. His salary was 5,000 a year.
November 6, 1930 aged 40 Receives the Medal of Honor for a patrol flown 12 years earlier Herbert Hoover presented it at Bolling Field. One of his eight Distinguished Service Crosses was upgraded.
February 26, 1941 aged 50 Survives the crash of Eastern Air Lines Flight 21 outside Atlanta The press announced his death. He was four months in hospital.
November 13, 1942 aged 52 Rescued after 24 days adrift in the Pacific A Navy floatplane found the survivors near the Ellice Islands. One of the eight men, Alexander Kaczmarczyk, had died.
July 23, 1973 aged 82 Dies of pneumonia in Zurich at 82 He had travelled to Switzerland to seek treatment for his wife, whose eyesight was failing.