Full name is Rickenbacker, Edward Vernon (Eddie) Eddie Rickenbacker (1890-1973) was America's top-scoring fighter pilot of World War One, with 26 victories
US aviator in World War I & airline businessman; 1st president of Eastern Air Lines Inc. 1938-1953; chairman of Eastern Air Lines Inc. 1953-1967. He died in 1973, the same year he published Fighting the Flying Circus.