Indianapolis Times, Volume 42, Number 155, Indianapolis, Marion County, 7 November 1930 — Page 4

PAGE 4

RICKENBACKER RISES FROM CHAUFFEUR TO AIR ACE

Famed Aviator Served as Pershing’s Auto Pilot on Arrival in France. FEIGNED ILLNESS AIDS flayed Off Sick’ to Win His Chance as Plane Pilot, *and Tut It Over.’ tkli U the ttwal of three itoriet on the thrilling career of Eddie BJckenboeker, Amerieo’t imtdt World W*r *, who brought down twenty-six roeray sirersft. Thorsdey’o story told of Rlekenbseker’s single-handed attack na a squadron of seven German planes, ■ booting down two of them, for which feat he just has been decorated by President Hoover with a belated award of the Congressional Medal of Honor. BY ROBERT TALLEY NEA Service Writer WASHINGTON, Nov. 7.—Capt. Eddie Rickenbacker, who won fame as America’s “Ace of Aces” by shooting down twenty-six enemy aircraft in the World war, began as a tombstone maker and once was under surveillance by Scotland Yard as a suspected German spy. In a cemetery at Columbus, 0., the city where he was bom, there stands a tombstone over his father’s grave that was carved by his own hands. One of the most cherished possessions that his mother kept beside her during the days when her son was fighting in France was a small piece of marble chiseled in the shape of a book and bearing the inscription “Holy Bible,” another piece of his youthful handiwork. Young Rickenbacker quit his $6a- week job at the tomstone works when he was 15. Auto racing held a strange fascination for him and Barney Oldfield, the speed demon of a generation ago, was his idol. He turned from marble to motors, went to work in a garage and eventually became a race driver—and a great one, too. So it came about that when the United States declared war he was in England, trying to promote a series of auto races. When the declaration came he returned to the United States immediately. Scotland Yard agents, ready to suspect any man as a German spy in those nervous days—especially a man named Rlckenbacher (he later changed the spelling to Rickenbacker to remove the Teutonic suggestion)—shadowed him back to this country. Os course, their suspicions proved groundless a a a Rickenbacker arrived in New York when the war fever was at its height, burning with a great ambition. He wanted to be an air fighter. He wanted to enlist the star automobile racers in this country into an all-star uit of fighting pilots, believing them eminently qualified by their racing experience. But official enthusiasm for his plan could not be aroused in Washington and the movement died. Then, a little later, General Pershing needed a chauffeur to drive his car in France. The army wanted the best auto driver in America, and naturally the job was offered to Rickenbacker. He jumped at the chance, enlisted in the infantry and sailed 7 the following day with the first American contingent on the ship with General Pershing and his party. They landed In France on June 8, 1917. Rickenbacker drove Pershing’s auto at the front, but nursed his desire to become an avatar. Finally, his chance came. On a shell-torn French road near Toul one day the auto of General William Mitchell, chief of the army air service, stopped suddenly, blocking a line of staff cars. Mitchell’s chauffeur got out, lifted the hood and tried to stars the motor, but failed. Then Rickenbacker, who chanced to be driving Major Townsend F. Dodd, aeronautical officer, came up. He dived into the old twin-six Packard engine, found the trouble and got the car started in a Jiffy. a a a FROM that time on,” says General Mitchell, “this man interested me greatly. He never was late and always well turned out, neat in his personal appearance, punctilious and gentlemanly. We gave him many missions to execute which required judgment and discretion, and always he kept doing better and better.” Some days later Rickenbacker, having first obtained permission, applied to General Mitchell for place in the air service. He said he felt sure his familiarity with automobiles and motors and his experience a ’•aHng driver would help him as pilot. Rickenbacker was transferred to the air service, but to a ground outfit in charge of motors. Frequent' pleas for permission to learn to fly were met with the reply that he wa* too valuable a man on engines. Determined, Rickenbacker hit on a bold plan. With the connivance of a young medical officer he got himself reported sick and sent to a hospital for two weeks, though there was nothing wrong with him. When he returned, he insisted that his absence had proved that he was not indispensable, that the man who replaced him could tend to the motors just as well as he. Rickenbacker won. his point—and became a flier. a a a “TTE learned to fly,” says General AJ.Mitchell. “in three weeks. He worked at it constantly and disEXCURSION Sunday, November 9 C incinnati $2.75 Greensburg ........ 1.25 Shelbyville 75 Lean Indianapolis 7:45 a. m.; returning leave Cincinnati 6:30 p. m. or 10:G5 p. m. (Eastern Time) same date. Tickets good in coaches only. Children half fare. Tickets at City Ticket Office. 11* Monument Circle, and Union Station. -BIG FOUR ROUTE

■ rrJTft'* v>V • it 1

Rickenbacker In France in 1818—At the right he is shown as he appeared when he was General Pershing’s chauffeur; below, with his fighting plane in America’s famous “Hat-in-the-Ring” squadron; above, A closeup, taken just after he had been decorated with the French Croix de Guerre.

tinguished himself particularly in the upkeep of his engine, airplane and armament.” The ancient crates of those wartime days were far less safe than the modem all-metal military airplanes of today. They were frail frames of spruce covered with a thin fabric which, likely as not, would

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crumple or rip into sheards the first time one went into a fast dive. Moreover, the cloth was coated with an oil preparation to make it waterproof; it was proof against water, all right—but far from proof against an incendiary bullet, as many a “flaming coffin” falling from the skies attested.

THE ftrDIANAPOLIS TIMES

Rickenbacker, like his fellow students, learned all the stunts then known. They had to know them for the dangerous business for which they were preparing. A “barrel roll” (rolling the airplane over and over in the air, like a barrel) might be the means of get-

ting a German Fokker “off your tail” and saving your life. A'chandeile” (a quick, upward, corkscrew climb) might get you out of a tight hole when you most needed it; a “renversement” (sudden reversal of direction of flight) might enable you to turn the tables on your enemy by getting him “off your tail” and quickly putting you on his. nan AND so with “the vrille” a (tailspin in which the plane falls with a rotating motion like a match in a whirlpool), “the pique” (a vertical dive with the engine either open or closed), “the sideslip” (which may fan out the flames of your burning plane and save your life), and all the rest. They were the tricks of the trade—a grim, dangerous trade. It was no longer like it had been. Back in 1914, when the British and

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the Germans first sent out airplane observers to make maps and take photographs, the pilots often waved at each other in friendly greeting. Then somebody got the Idea that since men were fighting on the ground those in the air should fight, too. The first weapon is said to have been a shotgun, with which one rival pilot blazed away at the other. Then machine guns were mounted, firing over the sifit of the cockpit. Improvements increased and finally the machine guns were mounted so the pilot could shoot straight ahead, aiming his plane instead of his gun. These weapons were synchronized with the motor so the bullets would pass between the whirring propeller blades and thus not cut them off. Finally came guns that could spout a stream of flaming tracer bullets at the rate of 260 a minute, which the

pilot could direct like a man directs the stream from a garden hose. a a a THESE tracer bullets left a streaky, visible line of Are in their wake so the gunner could see where his stream of fire was going and direct it accordingly. Veritable armadas of the sky had come. So it was when Lieutenant Rickenbacker. after days of hard

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schooling and nights of eager anticipation, arrived at the front for action in the air. He had not long to wait. Two days after he had joined America's famous “Hat-in-the-Ring” squadron on March 6, 1918, he was in the air over the German lines. NEXT: How Rickenbacker shot down twenty-aix enemy aircraft and rose from lieutenant to commander of his squadron.