Eddie Rickenbacker

War hero, racer, motor manufacturer and more

- DELWYN MALLETT

EDDIE RICKENBACKER cheated death so many times in so many circumstances that he came to believe he was divinely blessed.

Before WW1 he survived being tossed from his cartwheeling racing car on more than one occasion. In the war, flying more combat missions than any other US pilot, he not only eluded enemy bullets and shells but also survived when the fabric ripped from his plane's wing in a dive during a dogfight. In 1941 he suffered horrendous injuries when one of his airliners crashed into woods in appalling weather, killing nine of the 17 on board.

Perhaps most remarkably, however, in 1942 he survived 24 days adrift in the Pacific when the B17 bomber taking him to a secret rendezvous with General Douglas MacArthur ran out of fuel and ditched in the ocean. Search planes failed to spot the three tiny life rafts carrying Rickenbacker and the crew. After weeks of fruitless searching it was assumed that all aboard had perished but, persuaded by Eddie's wife to try one more time, they were spotted by a Navy seaplane and rescued.

One man had died from drinking seawater and was buried at sea - probably consumed by the sharks that constantly circled and bumped against their small craft. The most extraordinary moment of the ordeal occurred when a seabird landed on Rickenbacker's head and he managed to catch it. He cut the bird into pieces and distributed it among the starving men. When news of the miraculous rescue reached America one headline announced that Rickenbacker was 'One Ace That Can Get out of Any Hole!