Edward V. Rickenbacker

Edward V. Rickenbacker

Top American Ace, WWI

By Sir Ernie Hamilton Boyette

Print size 12 x 18"

Open Edition $18.00

Edward V. Rickenbacker

Childhood

Edward was born on October 8, 1890 in Columbus, Ohio. He was a typical youth not only of his time but of any and all time. He was good yet he did get into trouble however he was able to learn from his mistakes and move on to be smart and alert to all things around him.

After seeing his first horseless carriage at the age of nine he and his friends built their own version minus the motor. They called the contraption a "pushmobile." This consisted of a board with wooden wheels and metal plumbing pipes for axles. The wheels where cut out of wood with a hole in the middle. Eddie put the ends of the pipes in the holes, capes off the ends of the pipe and to reduce friction they greased the pipe and the inside of the wooden hole. They even had racing teams among other friends where they would race each other. Two man teams were required while one drove the other pushed. Later they were able to obtain wheels from a baby carriage that improved the rolling capabilities greatly from greasing the wooden wheels and metal pipe. Later in life as an adult Eddie told this story to a friend at the Chevrolet company and the company executives liked the idea so much that the company helped in sponsoring the Soap Box Derby. At that time the Derby was in its infancy and this sponsorship gave it the boost it needed to become to this day a thrilling sport for both boys and girls.

Eddie started working early at the age of eight delivering papers and then collecting junk metal, bones, and anything else the local junk man would buy. The bones were ground up for fertilizer. His motivation to be an entrepreneur was limitless. He developed a healthy attitude to be the best at everything he did. He father always supported him and taught him pride in his crafts.

At the age of nine or ten he saw his first dirigible when a man came to his county for a demonstration. Eddie knew then that he wanted to fly. Mind you this was several years before the Wright Brothers got of the ground. As a matter of fact, the Wright airplane was only in its infancy on drawing paper. The story I tell next is a story that was told and retold my many of the famous aviators that I have interviewed over the years. Eddie had a bicycle and an umbrella. He was going to fly. He planned to connect the umbrella to the bike and drive it off the roof of the barn. He did think it through somewhat by personally hauling a large amount of sand to the site that he may land on. With all safety concerns satisfied he and a friend ascended to the roof. Nothing was going to stop him. He could see himself flying so off he went. Yes with the momentum from the incline of the roof he did fly for a moment but the umbrella popped up and he went down into the sand trap. Eddie was stunned but the bike was a total loss.

When Eddie was thirteen years old his father was killed while at work. His father was working as a bridge builder when an accident killed him. His mother was left with seven children and in those days there was no financial relief programs that could have helped them. Eddie decided to go to work. He was the third child with an older brother and sister. The law at the time was that no child could work unless they were fourteen years old and had finished the eighth grade. The morning after his fathers funeral Eddie acted like he was going to school but instead applied for a job and lied about his age. His mother was heart broken but he was able to console her into allowing him to continue to do his best to help the family.

His first job was from eleven at night to eleven the next morning with only an hour break for lunch. He didn't even ask how much the job paid. To his delight when he received his first pay check he learned that he was paid $1.00 per day. This was indeed a boost for the family. Eddie always turned over his income to his mother which she used to pay the family bills.

Eddie had always been industrious as a child which pleased his father and he used the same enthusiasm in his work ethics. He went from job to job for a year always moving up in income, but not because of a possible pay increase but Eddie followed jobs that interested him. He always was a good worker and pleased his bosses who would give him more and more responsibilities.

Some of the jobs he took in fact paid less than the last, but Eddie never asked what he would make. He simply went from one job to the next because the job interested him. One of these jobs was at a local monument company that specialized in grave stones. Here Eddie excelled and on his on time he made a beautiful headstone for his fathers grave. His family had been to poor to buy one when his father passed away. He made a small statue for his mother which she was very pleased with his gift. Eddie loved his mother and his family. Then another job was at a glass factory where he learned to blow glass flowers that he presented several to his mother.

The horseless carriage was becoming more common and there was a garage in town that Eddie then went and applied for a job so that he could learn everything he could about them. He was mechanically inclined and the machines fascinated him. He learned everything he could. At the time there where three type of horseless carriages. Steam, electric and internal combustion engines that ran on gasoline.

After working there awhile he discovered a small car manufacturer was also in town and on Sunday mornings he would go and watch the men at the factory. One day the owner of the company who worked seven days a week came up to Eddie and asked him what he wanted because he had noticed that Eddie was there every Sunday. Eddie asked him for a job. The owner replied that there wasn't anything there for him to do. Eddie was chest fallen but he did notice that the shop area was a mess. The floors were cluttered and dirty and the machines were equally filthy. This gave Eddie and idea. The next day before he had to be at work at his job at the garage started he went to the auto factory before the owner arrived. He located a broom, some rages and a dust pan and began to clean the shop from top to bottom. As he was finishing the owner came in and found him hard at work. The man was so impressed especially that Eddie had done this on his own time and expense that he gave him a job on the spot. Eddie ran back to the garage where he had been working and told his boss that he had taken another job and ran back to the auto manufactory.

Eddie gets his first break and a new job.

Eddie was regulated with shop cleaning but he eventually let his boss learn that he was also skilled in many of the skills that were needed in the construction of the automobiles they were making. In a pervious job Eddie had learned metal working in which he mastered working the metal lade alone with metal sculpting and shaping. That was a great talent since the autos at the shop were all made by hand. Each piece was designed and hand made to perfection to fit perfectly on the spot. One thing led to the other and Eddie was promoted from one job to the next until he ended up in the designing of the autos in the engineering department. Here he was working with men who where mechanical engineers who were educated in the field and here was Eddie who had quit school at the age of thirteen and didn't even finish the seventh grade. He was working with the best at the time.

The shop owner was also working on three autos that he was to enter into the new sport of auto racing. This very idea burned Eddie's brain with excitement. Eventually Eddie was allowed to help in the design and construction of the racers. Eddie's boss was the type of man who was very impressed his Eddie's talents but never heaped praise on him. He just gave Eddie advancement as he deserved them. Eddie deserved his advancements. He didn't brown nose or bull shit his way to the top, he earned the promotions and excelled in each level of responsibility as he was given the opportunity.

Finally the racers were ready and the date for the race loomed close. The time had come to load the racers onto a train car and after they were secured he boss looked at Eddie and told him that he wanted to come with him and be his partner in one of the racers. He asked Eddie hold fast could he go home and get his suitcase and join him. Eddie was overwhelmed and raced on foot all the way home which was a mile and a half away, told his mom and she helped him pack Eddie instantly ran all the way back to the train station with his suitcase with his heart full of joy.

Eddie's first racing experience was to ride with his boss during the race. His job was to continually keep an eye on the gas pressure, oil pressure, tire wear and to tell his boss if someone was going to pass them. The driver was solely concentrating on racing, nothing else. Unfortunately they wrecked their racer and was out of the race but Eddie learned a valuable lesson. The loss didn't really upset his boss because his boss just shrugged it off and declared that he would try again. He learned that loosing was acceptable as long as you take the loss as a lesson to learn from your mistakes. And they did try again. They went over the racer and fixed everything that was flawed.

Eddie gets a new job in a larger auto manufacturer.

I will add here in the future.

Eddie becomes a race car driver.

Edward quickly became one of the many famous drivers of his time.

I will add more here as I have time.

Eddie goes to War

When WWI broke out and before America entered the conflict in Europe, Eddie joined the Army Expeditionary Force and was one of the first to be sent to England and then to France in 1917. He was to be a driver for military vehicles and wound also serve as a chauffer for Colonel Billy Mitchell. Eddie found himself among men that would loom larger than life in military history. General John "Black Jack" Pershing, George S. Patton, Billy Mitchell, and Colonel T. F. Dodd. Eddie impressed them all with his positive attitude and limitless ingenuity and many talents.

Fortunately Eddie did not serve for long as a chauffer. Edward volunteered for flight training at the age of 27. His age would have been a complete disadvantage for anyone else but for his national reputation as a race car driver he was accepted into the program. The oldest you could be to become a pilot was twenty six years old. The Army doctor who examined him for his physical knew Eddie and restated his age as a year younger than he actually was.

The U.S. Air Service was in its infancy. Remember, the Wright brothers flew for the first time only twelve years earlier. Eddie graduated from flight training and was commissioned as a Lieutenant and joined the 94th Aero Squadron on March 4, 1918.

His first fighter aircraft was a French Nieuport 28. He scored his first aerial victory in April on the 29th. By the end of his first month in combat Eddie had downed his fifth victory becoming the first American trained ace. Eddie then became ill and was grounded for the rest of the summer.

Eddie was back in September where he shot down five more aircraft and one balloon. In World War I balloons were used by both sides and was considered an aerial victory. Then in October came his thirteenth aircraft victory and another balloon. His unit was finally supplied with the new Spad XIII.

His final tally before the war ended was 22 enemy aircraft and 4 balloons for a total of 26 aerial victories. Rickenbacker earned the Medal of Honor, and the Distinguished Service Cross with 9 Oak Leaf Clusters. The French honored him with the French Legion d’ Honneur and the Croix de Guerre.

Spad XIII

The Spad was designed and built by the French and was considered one of the best fighter aircraft in WWI. The model VIII first flew in April 1917. A 220-hp Hispano-Suiza 8Ba engine increased the engine power to 253hp that sped the fighter through the air after the German aircraft. The armament was two Vickers machine guns. Before the war ended there were 81 squadrons equipped with the Spad. The fighter was used by all allied nations that fought against the Germans.

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