Capt. Edward Vernon Rickenbacker, USAS




Victories: 24.33 (26)

Squadrons: 94th Aero Squadron

Born: 8 October 1890 Columbus, Ohio
Died: 27 July 1973 Zurich, Switzerland

Awards
American Medal of Honor, American Distinguished Service Cross and 9 Oak Leaf Clusters, French Croix de Guerre and 3 Palms, French Chevalier de la Légion d'Honneur

Already a famous race car driver before the outbreak of the First World War, "Eddie" Rickenbacker was old as fighter pilots went, when he joined the fledgeling American volunteer flying squadron called the Laffeyette escadrille attached to the French Air Service. His combat debut was in a Nieuport 28 and flying the delicate aircraft proved to be an eye opener. On one occasion, Rickenbacker experienced what many other pilots had encountered with the aircraft. When in a high-speed dive, the canvas covering on the upper wing would peel away, leaving the pilot with very little lift or stability with which to make it back to home base. Rickenbacker handled it like somebody accustomed to such dicey situations and returned to home base.

Later, when America entered the war, the American pilots of the Laffeyette escadrille were transferred to U.S. Air Service Pursuit groups. The 91st "Hat in the Ring" Squadron was equipped with French Spad XIII fighter planes and recieved a compliment of American pilots already trained and combat-ready thanks to the Laffeyette Escadrille. Among this contingent was Rickenbacker.

In a surprisingly short period of time, in 1918, Rickenbacker's victory tally climbed to 26 enemy aircraft destroyed. The combat he was involved in included many scrapes with death and incidents of personal bravery which were to earn him his nation's highest military award - the Medal of Honor.

Eddie Rickenbacker's 26 victory tally was accepted as accurate and unchallenged until 1969, when the United States Air Force commissioned a study of aerial combat victories and found that he had gotten full credit for some shared combat victories. The Air Force officially adjusted his aerial victory score to 24.33 enemy aircraft destroyed. This "adjustment" does not change Rickenbacker's ranking as the top American Ace of World War I.

Nevertheless, American fighter pilots during the Second World War regarded Rickenbacker's 26 victory tally as a goal that took on an almost mythic nature. More than one Second World War fighter pilot mentioned the pressure he felt to meet or beat that 26 victory mark.

Rickenbacker organized Eastern Airlines after the war. He became active in helping the war effort in the Second World War by organizing War Bond drives and traveling to overseas air bases to give "pep talks" to American pilots. Once he was almost lost at sea, when the B-17 bomber in which he was travelling ran out of fuel over the Pacific. The U.S. Navy found him and nine other passengers after a long and grueling ordeal in rubber life boats..

Capt. Edward V. Rickenbacker, USAS, Medal of Honor recipient, and top-scoring American fighter pilot of the First World War, died of natural causes in 1973.

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