Capt Eddie And His Wrecking Crew

[Jack Cook]

I'm running out of inspiration for titles

Capt EV Rickenbacker CO of the 94th Aero Squadron with fellow pilots by his SPAD

[DonL]

Love the World War One photos got any more?

[tom d. friedman]

rickenbacker, while an aviation icon & ohio boy, turned into a real s.o.b. in his later years. when the b-17 he was flying in on a fact finding tour crashed early in ww 2 he & his fellow passengers floated in the pacific for 3 weeks on rafts, a real survival story in itself. infact, the u.s. military changed some of it's ditching procedures/ ocean survival manual detail due to captain eddie's feedback from the experience. but....... he treated his fellow survivors & especially the plane captain horribly during the 3 week ordeal. all info via narratives from capt. eddie's raft mates. he barked out orders, berrated the plane crew repeatedly etc. well.... nobody's perfect, he's still an icon, thus i picked up a signed cancelled personal check of his some years back, 1960's dated. it hangs in the wall of fame in my office.

[ZeamerB17]

"rickenbacker, while an aviation icon & ohio boy, turned into a real s.o.b. in his later years. when the b-17 he was flying in on a fact finding tour crashed early in ww 2 he & his fellow passengers floated in the pacific for 3 weeks on rafts, a real survival story in itself. infact, the u.s. military changed some of it's ditching procedures/ ocean survival manual detail due to captain eddie's feedback from the experience. but....... he treated his fellow survivors & especially the plane captain horribly during the 3 week ordeal. all info via narratives from capt. eddie's raft mates. he barked out orders, berrated the plane crew repeatedly etc. well.... "


Since I never had the honor of meeting the man, I can't say for sure; but my understanding is that he berated his raftmates to keep them motivated and wanting to survive so they could kick his a$$ when they were rescued. So, I don't think he was an SOB, but I do believe he was a hard man who didn't suffer fools and wussieboys gladly.
I treasure my signed first edition of his autobio; a great book in my humble opinion.

Just my 2 cents.

Dave

[K5DH]

Was that photo taken before they instituted the "No Smoking Around The Aircraft" rule?

(some of the guys have cigarettes in their hands)

Was that photo taken before they instituted the "No Smoking Around The Aircraft" rule?

(some of the guys have cigarettes in their hands)

I was just wondering that myself. I wonder if any of them realized that the dope on that Spad was, for all intents and purposes, liquid gunpowder.

[Mudge]

Jack,
Inventive names aren't necessary for your photos. I think a simple "Here's more" will suffice.

Mudge the succinct

[Nathan]

Running out of titles huh? How about "Jack attack"?