Eddie Rickenbacker

Edward Vernon Rickenbacker (1890-1973) was an American aviator and businessman who became the most decorated United States flying ace of the First World War, credited with twenty six aerial victories and awarded the Medal of Honor. Before the war he raced automobiles at the Indianapolis 500 under the nickname Fast Eddie. After the war he founded the short lived Rickenbacker Motor Company, then built a career in commercial aviation, taking over Eastern Air Lines as general manager in 1935 and growing it from a small regional carrier into a major national airline equipped with modern Lockheed and Douglas airliners. During the Second World War he survived twenty four days adrift in the Pacific after his B-17 ditched.