1890-1973

Racing driver and businessman. Born in Columbus, Ohio, to Swiss immigrant parents. Brought up in poverty and started work at 14, eventually moving into the new automobile industry and then into racing his employers’ cars. Raced in the first Indy 500 in 1911. Joined the US army in 1917, became a flying ace, shooting down 26 enemy planes. Worked with Rickenbacker Automobile Company 1925-7, but its advanced technology failed to win customers and it went bankrupt. In the 1920s he became interested in airlines, and after working for GM on Eastern Airlines he bought the company in 1938, building it into the most profitable airline in the country after World War II, although by the late 1950s a series of bad decisions had put it on the downward slide and Rickenbacker was forced out of management positions.