Plane Tales

Out of the gloom of thick cloud, through their windscreens, the pilots suddenly saw the tops of pine trees but it was too late to pull up. They ploughed through them as the branches smashed into the left wing shattering the navigation light. One of the passengers onboard was the President of the airline, Captain Eddie Rickenbacker... this is his story. An Eastern Airlines DC3   Atlanta had poor weather and it was close to midnight when the aircraft crashed   Eddie Rickenbacker   The findings of the inquiry   Racing in San Francisco   Rickenbacker becomes CO of the 94th, the Hat in the Ring gang   After receiving many decorations, Rickenbacker returns to the US a hero   The Rickenbacker motor company   Rickenbacker survives a second crash, this time in a Boeing B-17   Capt. E.V. "Eddie" Rickenbacker wearing the Congressional Medal of Honor   Images published under Creative Commons Licence with thanks to Jack Delano, the Library of Congress, CAB, SF Public Library, NARA, Rickenbacker Motors