Eddie Rickenbacker

Eddie Rickenbacker

Lifelong daredevil Eddie Rickenbacker entered World War I as one of the United States’ top racecar drivers, having competed in the first Indianapolis 500 and set land speed records at Daytona. After a stint as a chauffeur on General John J. Pershing’s staff, he talked his way into the newly formed U.S. Army Air Service before getting his wings in early 1918. Though alienated from his more genteel squadron-mates by his working class background and advanced age—at 27, he was two years older than the age limit for pilots—Rickenbacker proved a natural in the cockpit. He was known for inching perilously close to his quarry before firing his guns, and often took seemingly suicidal risks in combat. He won the Medal of Honor for one September 1918 incident in which he singlehandedly engaged a flight of seven German aircraft and managed to bag two before making a miraculous getaway. Rickenbacker ended the war as America’s “ace of aces” with a total of 26 victories to his name—18 of which came in the span of only 48 days. He continued to cheat death in his later years by surviving a pair of horrific plane crashes in 1941 and 1942, the second of which left him adrift in the Pacific for 22 days.