On this date in 1918, Lieutenant Edward "Eddie" Vernon Rickenbacker, 94th Aero Squadron, Air Service, American Expeditionary Force, while flying a Nieuport 28 C.1, with the famous "Hat in the Ring" squadron, scored his first aerial victory. shooting down a Deutsche Luftstreitkräfte Pfalz D.III fighter near Saint-Baussant, France. He was awarded the first of eight Distinguished Service Crosses. By the end of World War I, he had destroyed twenty-six enemy aircraft making him the United States' most successful fighter ace in the war.
The Columbus, Ohio native's passions spanned many levels. He was a race car driver with the Indianapolis Motor Speedway, an automotive designer, a government consultant in military matters, and a pioneer in air transportation, specifically as the long-time head of Eastern Air Lines. Rickenbacher died at the age of 82 in 1973.
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