Captain Eddie Rickenbacker, An Airman's Story
Captain Eddie Rickenbacker, An Airman's Story
Captain Edward Vernon Rickenbacker was born on October 8, 1890, in Columbus, Ohio, the son of Swiss immigrants. After his father’s death in a construction accident when Eddie was just 12 years old, he left school to help support his family. Formal education ended early, but learning did not.
Rickenbacker was largely self-taught. He enrolled in correspondence courses, studied engineering principles independently, and developed an early fascination with engines and machinery. That mechanical aptitude would shape the trajectory of his life.
He began working in the automotive industry at the Columbus Buggy Company and soon became deeply involved in automobile racing. By the 1910s, Eddie Rickenbacker was one of America’s most daring race car drivers. He competed in the Indianapolis 500 four times before World War I and set a world land-speed record at Daytona in 1914. He was fearless, technical, and relentlessly competitive.
When the United States entered World War I in 1917, Rickenbacker enlisted in the U.S. Army Air Service. His age and lack of formal education initially prevented him from entering flight school. Instead, he served as a chauffeur and mechanic for senior officers, including General John J. Pershing.
But Rickenbacker did not intend to stay on the ground.
Determined to fly, he trained persistently and was eventually accepted into pilot training. Once airborne, he excelled. Assigned to the 94th Aero Squadron, the famed “Hat in the Ring” squadron, Captain Eddie Rickenbacker became America’s top World War I flying ace.
By war’s end, he had logged more than 300 combat flight hours and achieved 26 confirmed aerial victories. For his extraordinary gallantry, including repeated engagements against superior enemy forces, he was awarded the Medal of Honor, seven Distinguished Service Crosses, the French Croix de Guerre, and numerous other decorations. He returned home a national hero.
After the war, Rickenbacker’s entrepreneurial spirit surged back to life. He founded the Rickenbacker Motor Company, though the venture ultimately struggled during the Great Depression. He later acquired the Indianapolis Motor Speedway and became deeply involved in commercial aviation.
Most notably, he led Eastern Air Lines and helped shape it into one of the nation’s premier commercial carriers. Under his leadership, Eastern Airlines became a major force in American aviation, and Rickenbacker became one of the most influential figures in civil air transport. His life was marked not only by success but by astonishing survival.
In 1941, he survived a near-fatal airline crash in Atlanta that required nearly a year of recovery. Then, during World War II, while serving as a civilian advisor and morale envoy touring Pacific bases, his B-17 crashed in the Pacific Ocean. Rickenbacker and the crew survived 24 days adrift at sea before rescue, an ordeal of starvation, dehydration, and exposure that became legendary. For his leadership and endurance during that crisis, he received the Medal of Merit.
Throughout his life, Rickenbacker was a vocal advocate for personal responsibility, discipline, and patriotism. He wrote and lectured widely and remained a public symbol of grit and perseverance.
He resigned as Chairman of the Board of Eastern Air Lines on December 31, 1963. In his later years, he traveled extensively with his wife and continued public speaking engagements.
Captain Eddie Rickenbacker died in Zurich, Switzerland, on July 23, 1973. His legacy spans three eras of American history: early automotive innovation, World War I aerial combat, and the rise of commercial aviation.
Few men moved so seamlessly from race tracks to dogfights to airline boardrooms. And even fewer survived so much along the way.
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About the Author
a.d. elliott is a wanderer, photographer, and storyteller traveling through life
She shares her journeys at Take the Back Roads, explores new reads at Rite of Fancy, and highlights U.S. military biographies at Everyday Patriot.
You can also browse her online photography gallery at shop.takethebackroads.com.
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