This column first appeared in August 2011.
The American Ace of Aces. Eddie Rickenbacker. A Medal of Honor recipient, 7-time Distinguished Service Medal honoree, successful race car driver, car maker, owner of the Indianapolis Motor Speedway, fighter pilot, airline executive, wartime advisor, elder statesman, and member of countless Hall of Fames. Rickenbacker was perhaps the most diversified, celebrated, venerated, humble Hoosier hero you’ve probably never heard of. He’s one of my very first heroes with Indiana ties and, I’ll warn you before you read any further, it will take 2 columns to cover his illustrious life. I’m willing to wager that after reading about him, Eddie Rickenbacker will become one of your heroes too.
Few men achieved so much in so many different roles as Captain Eddie. His twenty-six aerial victories came in only two months of combat flying, an almost unbelievable achievement. Born Edward Vernon Reichenbacher in Columbus, Ohio on October 8, 1890, Eddie “Americanized” his German surname to Rickenbacker when the U.S. entered World War I. His father died when he was twelve, and Eddie quit school to help support his widowed mother. He quickly found jobs in the burgeoning automobile industry in the early 1900s and in his spare time enrolled in a correspondence course in engineering.
Rickenbacker’s life was a constant struggle between life and death. He cheated death many times as a youth, including near-fatal encounters with a runaway horse-drawn carriage, a botched tonsillectomy, and a couple of experimental airplane crashes. His most fantastic near-death experience occurred while he was clowning with a group of young friends who called themselves the “Horsehead Gang.” Eddie lived near a mine, and they decided to ride an unattended mine cart down the slope. The mine car tipped over and almost crushed the boys. Make no mistake about it, Eddie Rickenbacker was a daredevil from the jump!
Young Eddie became a salesman for the Columbus Buggy Company and on the weekends he raced cars for extra pocket cash (but mostly for the thrill of it). Rickenbacker became well known as a race car driver, competing in the Indianapolis 500 four times before World War I. He earned the nickname “Fast Eddie” participating in the 1912, 1914, 1915, and 1916 Indianapolis 500s. His best (and only) finish was finishing 10th in 1914, with his car breaking down in the other years. Among his achievements was setting a race speed record of 134 mph while driving a Blitzen Benz. In addition to fame, racing proved extremely lucrative for Rickenbacker as he earned over $40,000 a year as a driver. During his time as a driver his interest in aviation increased as a result of various encounters with pilots.
Intensely patriotic, Rickenbacker wanted to join the Allied troops in World War I, but the U.S. had not yet entered the war. When the United States declared war on Germany in 1917, Rickenbacker enlisted in the United States Army. Because of his mechanical abilities, Rickenbacker was assigned as an engineering officer in a flight-training facility in France, where he practiced flying during his free time. He joined the 94th Aero Squadron (known as the “Hat-in-the-Ring” Squadron for its Uncle Sam top hat insignia) and flew his first mission on April 6, 1918. Three weeks later, on April 29, 1918, Eddie shot down his first plane and in less than a month, claimed his fifth to become an ace on May 28. An ear infection grounded him for several weeks. He shot down Germany’s hottest new fighter, the Fokker D.VII, on September 14 and another the next day. On September 24, 1918, now a captain, he was named commander of the squadron, and on the following day, shot down two more German planes. This feat would eventually earn him the Medal of Honor, albeit belatedly, in 1931 by President Herbert Hoover. After claiming yet another Fokker D.VII on September 27, he became a balloon buster by downing observation balloons on September 28, October 1, October 27, and October 30, 1918. Thirteen more wins followed in October, bringing his total to thirteen Fokker D.VIIs, four other German fighters, five highly defended observation balloons, and four two-seated reconnaissance planes.
Rickenbacker’s 26 victories remained the American record until World War II. Rickenbacker flew a total of 300 combat hours, more than any other U.S. pilot in the war. When the Armistice was declared, Eddie flew his airplane above the western front to watch the displays of joy and comradeship as the formerly warring troops crossed the front lines and joined in celebration. Captain Eddie was there from beginning to end.
After World War I ended, Rickenbacker was offered many movie roles, but Eddie did not want all the attention, even though he was the most celebrated aviator in America (soon to be supplanted by Charles Lindbergh after his solo flight across the Atlantic). He chose to go on a government fundraising Liberty Bond tour instead. He started the Rickenbacker Motor Company in 1920, selling technologically advanced cars which helped revolutionize auto racing. The Rickenbacker Car came equipped with the first four-wheel brake system. Eventually, all vehicles manufactured in the U.S. incorporated four-wheel braking.
In 1922, Rickenbacker married Adelaide Frost Durant in a union that would last for the rest of his life. Although they spent considerable time in Indiana, Florida, Texas and Ohio, the Rickenbacker’s lived chiefly in New York City. 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.
On November 1, 1927, Rickenbacker bought the Indianapolis Motor Speedway, which he operated for nearly 15 years, overseeing many improvements to the facility. After the 1941 Indy 500, Rickenbacker closed the Speedway due to World War II. Ever the patriotic American, Rickenbacker felt that holding the race would have been a waste of valuable gasoline and other resources in scarce supply for the war effort. Sadly, it was a blow from which Captain Eddie and the Speedway never recovered and in 1945, Rickenbacker sold the racetrack to the businessman Anton Hulman, Jr.
Rickenbacker’s longest lasting business endeavor was his leadership of Eastern Air Lines. Since the 1920s, Eddie worked for and with General Motors in many capacities. In 1935, he persuaded GM to purchase North American Aviation, a conglomerate whose assets included Eastern Air Transport. GM asked him to manage Eastern, and with the help of some friends, Rickenbacker merged Eastern Air Transport and Florida Airways to form Eastern Air Lines, an airline that eventually grew into a major airline. In April 1938, after learning that GM was considering selling Eastern, Rickenbacker met with GM’s Chairman of the Board, Alfred P. Sloan, and bought the company for $3.5 million. During this time, Rickenbacker, along with aviation artist and author Clayton Knight, created a popular comic strip called Ace Drummond. The Sunday funnies cartoon ran from 1935 to 1940 detailing the adventures of aviator Drummond and was later adapted into a film serial and radio program.
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, which resulted in newer, larger, faster planes for Eastern Airlines. 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 often traveled for business on Eastern Airlines flights. On February 26, 1941, he was a passenger on a Douglas DC-3 airliner that crashed just outside of Atlanta, Georgia. Rickenbacker suffered terrible injuries. In spite of the fact that he was soaked in aircraft fuel, immobile, and trapped in the airliner’s wreckage, 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 and in fact, while still conscious but in terrible pain, Eddie was left behind in the wreckage while ambulance attendants carried away bodies of the dead. This was the first, but certainly not the last time the press declared Captain Eddie prematurely dead.
When Rickenbacker arrived at the hospital, his injuries appeared so grotesque that the emergency surgeons and doctors left him for dead on the gurney for some time while instructing their assistants to “take care of the live ones.” Rickenbacker’s injuries included a fractured skull, other head injuries, a shattered left elbow, 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 many more at home, for Rickenbacker to heal from his injuries and regain his full eyesight.
Years later, in his autobiography, 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. Eddie claimed that he spent ten days at death’s door, which he described as “an overwhelming sensation of calm and pleasure.” At age 51, Eddie Rickenbacker had already accomplished more in a lifetime than he ever could have dreamed of as a poor kid growing up on the wrong side of the tracks in Columbus, Ohio. But Captain Eddie wasn’t done yet.
Next Week: Part 2
Al Hunter is the author of the “Haunted Indianapolis” and co-author of the “Haunted Irvington” and “Indiana National Road” book series. His newest books are “Bumps in the Night. Stories from the Weekly View,” “Irvington Haunts. The Tour Guide,” and “The Mystery of the H.H. Holmes Collection.” Contact Al directly at Huntvault@aol.com or become a friend on Facebook.
