Eddie Rickenbacker (1890–1973) had a knack for danger and an affinity for new technology. He had, according to him, 135 scrapes with death. His passion for speed, whether in cars or in airplanes, was a prime reason for these close encounters.
He was born into poverty to Swiss immigrant parents who were both religious and disciplinarians. As a child, he was a bit of a troublemaker, but when his father died in a construction accident (though there’s some suspicion about foul play) when he was 13, he left school and started working to help the family.
He held numerous jobs, including selling newspapers, eggs, and goat’s milk, and eventually, after lying about his age in order to skirt the child labor laws, landed a job at the Federal Glass Factory. He then worked at the Buckeye Steel Castings Co., then at a beer factory, a bowling alley, and a cemetery monument yard, and later became an apprentice at the Pennsylvania Railroad.
His love of adventure, close scrapes, engines, and technology culminated in the automobile, which he first saw in 1905. His life forever changed in 1906 when he started working for Lee Frayer, a professional race car driver and founder of Frayer-Miller cars built by the Oscar Lear Automobile Co. Rickenbacker soon became Frayer’s mechanic during races.
Over the ensuing years, his career revolved around cars, ranging from salesman to chauffeur of politician William Jennings Bryan as part of Bryan’s 1909 speaking tour in Texas. In 1911, he raced in the inaugural Indianapolis 500. By the end of 1916, Rickenbacker was the manager of the Prest-O-Lite Racing Team.
Prest-O-Lite was an automotive headlight company formed by the founders of the Indianapolis Motor Speedway. Although Rickenbacker never won the Indy 500, he did make the record books by breaking the world speed record in 1914 at Daytona, reaching 134 miles per hour.
In his final year of racing in 1916, he boarded an aircraft flown by Glenn Martin, an aviation pioneer whose company eventually became Lockheed Martin. Despite his fear of heights, Rickenbacker fell in love with aviation, and with America’s entrance into World War I early the following year, he would get his chance at the most daring of flights.
Rickenbacker quickly volunteered, was made a sergeant first class (in large part due to his popularity), and was sent to Europe as a chauffeur. His assignment of driving around Col. William “Billy” Mitchell, considered to be the father of the U.S. Air Force, opened the door for him to become a pilot. Of course, Rickenbacker had to massage the truth a bit. He was 27 at the time, two years older than the maximum age to enlist in the pilot training program. So he claimed to be 25.
He graduated as a first lieutenant and joined the 94th Aero Squadron near Toul, France. It would become the first all-American air unit to experience combat. He flew Nieuport 28s and Spad XIIIs and had his first confirmed victory on April 29, 1918. By May 28, he was an ace, having shot down a total of five German planes. His sixth victory came two days later.
His successes continued and the U.S. Army took notice, promoting him to captain and making him commander of the 94th. By the end of the war, he had flown 300 combat hours (the most of any American pilot), had 27 confirmed victories (also the most), had shot down five observation balloons, and was dubbed by the press as America’s “Ace of Aces.”
He was awarded eight Distinguished Service Crosses and was also awarded by France with the Legion of Honor (chevalier) and two Croix de Guerres, with Palm. He was honorably discharged from the Army in 1919 with the rank of major, though he preferred to be referred to as “Captain Eddie.” Twelve years after the war ended, he was awarded the Medal of Honor for his actions near Billy, France.
Through the 1920s, he maintained his work in automobiles and aircraft. For the Flanders-Smith Co., he created a tandem flywheel that reduced vibrations on the vehicle. The car was named The Rickenbacker Six and was sold from 1922 to 1926. In 1927, he raised $700,000 over the course of one month to purchase the Indianapolis Motor Speedway, which he operated for 14 years.
Over the years, he flew throughout the country to give speeches about aviation and how it would positively impact society. During these years, he survived several crashes literally unscathed. In 1938, he became owner of Eastern Air Lines, but his luck nearly ran out in February 1941 when one of his planes, a DC-3, crashed into trees while making its approach in Atlanta. Both pilots and 11 passengers were killed. Rickenbacker’s injuries were so severe that the press reported him dead. Somehow, he survived after several months of recuperating in the hospital. Even during his recuperation, he nearly suffocated when his oxygen tent malfunctioned. His wife, Adelaide, sensing something was wrong, ran up the hospital stairs to find the attendant asleep outside the room and Rickenbacker struggling to breathe. It would be the first of two times that Adelaide would save his life.
The second time was during World War II, when he was sent by Secretary of War Henry Stimson to inspect the equipment and personnel in the Pacific. When the pilot of the B-17 got lost and the plane ran out of fuel, the eight passengers had to bail out. After several weeks, the U.S. Army planned to end the search for survivors, but Adelaide implored and demanded that it continue. Found days later, seven of the eight passengers survived. Upon hearing of Rickenbacker’s survival, The Boston Globe heralded him as “The Great Indestructible.”
Rickenbacker quickly recuperated and returned to completing “civilian” missions in China, India, and the Soviet Union, from which he shared his information with the U.S. War Department and Britain’s Winston Churchill.
After the war, he would continue his work in and promotion of aviation.
At Rickenbacker’s funeral, Gen. James “Jimmy” Doolittle, of the famed “Doolittle Raid,” gave the eulogy.
