Edward Vernon Rickenbacker

Capt. Edward Rickenbacker, on his return aboard the Adriatic , 1919

Edward Vernon "Eddie" Rickenbacker (born October 8, 1890 in Columbus , Ohio ; † July 23, 1973 in Zurich , Switzerland ) was an American automobile racing driver , entrepreneur and fighter pilot during the First World War . With 26 victories, he was the most successful fighter pilot of the United States in World War .

Life ahead of time as a fighter pilot

Edward Rickenbacher (without middle name) was the third of eight children, one of Zeglingen in the Basel area coming Swiss born immigrant family. His parents were Wilhelm (1857–1902) and Elisabeth, who came from French- speaking Switzerland. They emigrated to Ohio in 1880. During the First World War and the anti-German mood, he decided to change his last name to "Rickenbacker" and he adopted the middle name "Vernon".

After Eddie's father, William, suffered a fractured skull on a construction site because of an argument and died a month later, the boy left school to support his family. As a result, he looked for several technology-oriented fields of work, most recently as a car mechanic .

From 1910 on, Rickenbacker started as a test driver and later as a racing driver. After several driving records - he reached u. a. a top speed record of 214 km / h - he decided to go to England to take part in the racing season that began in 1917.

After the USA entered the war, he registered for the US Army , where he initially worked as a driver. Rickenbacker is even said to have been the personal chauffeur of American commander-in-chief, General John Pershing .

On June 26, 1917, he arrived in France , where he was able to take flight lessons. Because of his interest in aviation, he was assigned to the 94th American Fighter Squadron on March 4, 1918, under the command of Gervais Raoul Lufbery .

Fighter pilot

Restored SPAD S.XIII "Eddie" Rickenbacker

Eddie Rickenbacker in front of a Nieuport 28

On April 20, he succeeded in his first kill in a SPAD S.XIII . That day, Rickenbacker and his comrade James Hall were out in the sky over Baussant . When they spotted the enemy machine, Hall went on to attack, whereupon the German turned away. Rickenbacker, having seen this, attacked his opponent and shot him down.

A short time later, Rickenbacker shot down another enemy aircraft from Jagdstaffel 64, and by the end of May he had a total of five aerial victories. For this he was awarded the French croix de guerre .

Rickenbacker fell ill with an ear infection in the summer of 1918 and had to be treated for a long time. When he was ready for action again in September, he became one of the most dangerous opponents of the German hunting squadrons. Due to his success and skills as a leader, he was even appointed commander of the 94th Fighter Squadron.

With a total of 26 kills, including four tethered balloons , which he achieved by October 30, Rickenbacker became the best American fighter pilot of the First World War. In 1931 he was subsequently awarded the Medal of Honor . Rickenbacker received the award on the basis of two aerial victories on September 25, 1918, after he had attacked a total of seven enemy machines.

Between and after the war

In 1922, Rickenbacker married Adelaide Frost. The couple adopted two sons, David and William.

After the war, Rickenbacker and three friends founded an automobile company, the Rickenbacker Motor Company , which produced advanced cars with four-wheel brakes, but turned out to be unprofitable. In 1927, he bought the Indianapolis Motor Speedway , which was operated by Rickenbacker until it was closed for four years during World War II . After he was unable to renovate the racetrack, he sold it in 1947.

From 1942 he visited several military air training areas in the south of the USA and in England. He was sent to the Pacific in October . During a flight with a Boeing B-17 , the machine went off course and Rickenbacker and his crew were forced to make an emergency landing. When they ran out of food after three days, they had to feed on birds and caught fish. Only after 24 days could they be rescued on the open sea on November 13th. This experience was later described by the crew member Lt. James Whittaker in his book It Was Like Angels Singing. (Original title: We thought we heard the angels sing. The complete epic story of the ordeal and rescue of those who were with Eddie Rickenbacker on the plane lost in the Pacific). In the spring of 1943, Rickenbacker accompanied US President Roosevelt as an advisor on a trip to the Soviet Union , during which the Soviet military received information about the Boeing B-29 strategic bomber for the first time .

In 1938 Rickenbacker president who was airline Eastern Air Lines become that developed after the Second World War to a very successful company.

When the economic situation of Eastern Airlines deteriorated in the 1950s, Rickenbacker had to resign on October 1, 1959 the post of managing director. After working at the management level for some time, he left the company on December 31, 1963. Ten years later, he died in Zurich , Switzerland . In his honor, the Air Force Base in his hometown was renamed Rickenbacker Air Force Base .

Rickenbacker was a member of the Freemasons Association .

Trivia

Edward Rickenbacker was a cousin of Adolph Rickenbacher , founder of the Rickenbacker musical instrument company .

The spaceship "UNN Rickenbacker" in the computer game System Shock 2 is named after Edward Rickenbacker.

Movie

• The Daredevil Adventures of Captain Eddie , American film by Lloyd Bacon (1945) with Fred MacMurray in the title role

literature

• Arch Whitehouse: Flieger-Ase 1914-1918 . Motorbuch-Verlag, Stuttgart 1970, pp. 130-136.
• James C. Whittaker: It was like the angels were singing. Experience report of the ditching . 32nd edition. Quell, Gütersloh 2000, ISBN 3-579-03451-0 , ( source reading ).
• Edward V. Rickenbacker , in: Internationales Biographisches Archiv 37/1973 of September 3, 1973, in the Munzinger Archive ( beginning of article freely available)
• Hermann Bührer: Eddie Rickenbacher- Ein Heldenleben , summarized and translated from American sources. Baselbieter Heimatbuch, Vol. 5, 1950, pp. 211–239

Web links

Commons : Edward Vernon Rickenbacker  - collection of images, videos and audio files

• Interview from 1956

Individual evidence

1. ↑ http://www.hopublishing.com/real-road-racing.html
2. ^ Wisdom Lodge List of Famous Freemasons . Wisdom Lodge # 202 Pasadena, CA. Archived from the original on January 28, 2013. Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. Retrieved May 20, 2013.