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warnings against lighting matches in the gas-filled cabin, reassured the survivors and sent those who could walk to help. Despite his shattered pelvis, six broken ribs, a broken leg and an eyelid that was torn away, he managed to remain conscious for 9 hours until the rescuers had removed all of the other passengers.

His bravery came through again 16 months later in WW II, when a B-17, on which he was making an inspection tour, crash-landed in the Pacific. The plane, 12 hours out from Honolulu, sank within minutes, its 8 passengers and crew taking to rubber crafts. They drifter for 24 days and were presumed lost at sea. Rickenbacker, the only civilian in the group, took command. He divided the four oranges that constituted their initial food supply, captured a seagull that had landed on his head and divided whatever fish they were able to catch. He was fierce and indomitable, and he was literally "hated" by the men he bullied to stay alive. Rickenbacker and six of the men survived to the country's astonishment! It was considered close to a miracle to survive under such conditions.

In 1922, Rickenbacker accepted a proposal to lend his name to the manufacture of an automobile, the "Rickenbacker," with his own designed four-wheel brakes. The company folded in 1927 and Rickenbacker, though personally broke, was able to raise $700,000 to buy the Indianapolis Speedway which he helped run until 1945. In 1928, he took a full-time job as sales manager for the Cadillac Division of General Motors only to be later transferred to GM's aviation division.

In 1934, GM sent him as a trouble-shooter to try and save its Eastern Air Transport Division of which Eastern Air Lines and North American Aviation were a part. GM had sunk about $6 million into Eastern and wanted Rickenbacker to salvage it so that it could be sold for $1 million.

In his first year of managing the airline, Eastern made money to become the first profit-making carrier in the industry. Captain Eddie bought the "New York to Florida" airline on March 2 1938 for $3.5 million.

Eastern, under Rickenbacker's domination, was the first airline to operate without Federal subsidy and for many years was the only airline to do so. From 1935 to 1960 under his supervision Eastern turned a profit every year. In 1959, he resigned as President of Eastern and on December 31, 1963, 73 years old, he retired as Director and Chairman of the Board.

Captain Eddie V. Rickenbacker was frank and outspoken with strong and firm convictions. He was an individualist who proclaimed himself a foe of government "interference," of trade unionism and of give-away concepts. He urged withdrawal from the United Nations, severing diplomatic relations with the Soviet Union and advocated repeal of the 16th Amendment that authorized a personal income tax. His goal, after leaving Eastern, was "to expand my crusade to save the American way of life for future generations."

Captain Eddie had a home on Biscayne Bay, Miami and in New York. He died in Switzerland on July 23, 1973. The world lost a rugged individualist who was a racer, salesman, wartime hero, pilot, inventor, author and entrepreneur. He knew what he wanted and had the fortitude to get it. He cheated death probably more often than any other pilot and left a legacy for others to follow.