GREEN LAWN CEMETERY

EDWARD VERNON RICKENBACKER's Profile Picture

Rickenbacker was fighter pilot in #WWI and a Medal of Honor recipient. With 26 aerial victories, he was the most successful and most decorated United States flying ace of the war. He was also a racing driver, an automotive designer, and a long-time head of Eastern Air Lines. Born in Columbus, Ohio, he was the third of eight children born to German-speaking Swiss immigrants.

Prior to joining the @USAirForce, Rickenbacker had an extensive career as racecar driver, participating in several professional races and, as a national driver, earned the title “Fast Eddie.” Rickenbacker eventually sailed to England to develop a new race car. Before he could disembark at Liverpool he was detained by two agents from Scotland Yard. A 1914 Los Angeles Times article had fabricated a story claiming that the young driver was Baron Rickenbacher, "the disowned son of a Prussian noble.” With Britain deep into WWI, Scotland Yard considered him a potential spy. In 1917, after his experience as a suspected spy, he officially changed the spelling of his name from Rickenbacher to Rickenbacker. 

Rickenbacker also co-owned the Rickenbacker Motor Company which eventually went bankrupt and then purchased the Indianapolis Motor Speedway in 1927 which he held for 10 years.  He also drive the pace car for several years. After the final 500-mile race in 1941, he closed the Speedway to conserve gasoline, rubber, and other resources during WWII and then sold the track in 1945. 

Rickenbacker was deeply vested in the aviation industry as a manager, investor and owner of several endeavors, leading up him becoming general manager of Eastern Air Lines in 1935, and then owning the company in 1938. Under his leadership, Eastern Air Lines grew from a company flying a few thousand miles per week into a major airline. He also collaborated with pioneers of aviation design, including Donald W. Douglas, the founder of the Douglas Aircraft Company and the designer and builder of the DC-8 -its first jet airliner.

In 1972, Rickenbacker had a stroke that left him in a coma for a short time. He recovered and traveled to Zürich, Switzerland in July 1973, seeking medical treatments for his wife's failing vision. While in Zürich, he contracted pneumonia and died at the age of 82. He is interred Green Lawn Cemetery in Columbus, Ohio.  When he died, Rickenbacker was the last living Medal of Honor recipient from the United States Army Air Service.


EDWARD VERNON RICKENBACKER

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