Edward V. Rickenbacker

(1890-1973) lived in Omaha. Aviator, airline executive, known as America's top pilot during World War I, he was president and board chairman of Eastern Airlines from 1938 to 1963; previously a noted race car driver, he owned an automobile business, and from 1927 to 1945 the Indianapolis Speedway; recipient of Congressional Medal of honor in 1918, appeared on cover of Time, April 17, 1950, and recipient of Horatio Alger Award in 1956. Consult Current Biography (1952) 496-499 and Edward V. Rickenbacker, Rickenbacker, An Autobiography (Prentice-Hall, 1967) and New York Times obituary, July 24, 1973, pp. 1, 38 and American National Biography, Vol 18 (1999) 474-476.

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