Yesterday’s Air Force: Eddie Rickenbacker
, Air Force TV / Published August 13, 2015
FORT GEORGE G. MEADE, Md. (AFNS) -- Eddie Rickenbacker, a race car driver, World War I ace, aviation pioneer and Medal of Honor recipient was one of the Air Force’s early legends.
According to a National Museum of the U.S. Air Force factsheet, “his most remarkable action came on Sept. 25, 1918, as Rickenbacker patrolled alone near Billy, France. He spotted a group of seven enemy aircraft, and despite the strength of their numbers, boldly attacked and shot down two of them. President Herbert Hoover awarded Rickenbacker the Medal of Honor in 1930 for his aggressiveness in that action.”
Learn more about Rickenbacker and the airplane that carried him to numerous victories in the skies over Europe in World War I.
Yesterday's Air Force is a history and heritage featurette series that airs every other week, profiling significant people and missions from the Air Force's past.