Eddie Rickenbacker
The Life and Legacy of America's Top World War I Fighter Ace
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Narrated by:
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Jim D Johnston
About this listen
"Courage is doing what you are afraid to do. There can be no courage unless you are scared." - Eddie Rickenbacker.
The men and women who won World War II for the Allies have been called "the greatest generation," and rightfully so, for they saved the Western world from destruction and domination by totalitarian dictators. As Winston Churchill so eloquently put it, "Never in the field of human conflict was so much owed by so many to so few." However, even within this glorious group, there was another, perhaps even more superlative generation made up of men and women who fought not only in World War II, but also World War I, which at the time was the deadliest and most destructive war in history.
A few of these fighters were young enough to fight in both wars, and Eddie Rickenbacker was one of them, one of the "best of the best." Though he served only in a civilian capacity during World War II, he remains today a romantic hero of a bygone era, a man who flew airplanes that were little more than hang gliders with engines and guns, and survived to help design jets. His service won him the Medal of Honor, along with more awards for valor than any other person fighting in World War I.
But participating in the wars was not nearly enough time in the air for the ambitious Rickenbacker. When he was not setting new records in the air, he was setting new speed records on the ground, most notably as a first generation race car driver who not only drove cars, but designed them. He also served for decades as the president of one of the world's first major commercial passenger aviation companies, Eastern Airlines, seeing it through the ups and downs of the financial and technological boom and bust in America between the wars.
Eddie Rickenbacker: The Life and Legacy of America's Top World War I Fighter Ace, chronicles the remarkable life of one of America's greatest war heroes. Along with pictures of important people, places, and events, you will learn about Rickenbacker like never before.
©2017 Charles River Editors (P)2017 Charles River EditorsListeners also enjoyed...
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Enduring Courage
- Ace Pilot Eddie Rickenbacker and the Dawn of the Age of Speed
- By: John F. Ross
- Narrated by: Edward Herrmann
- Length: 13 hrs and 36 mins
- Unabridged
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At the turn of the twentieth century two new technologies—the car and airplane—took the nation's imagination by storm as they burst, like comets, into American life. The brave souls that leaped into these dangerous contraptions and pushed them to unexplored extremes became new American heroes: the race car driver and the flying ace. No individual did more to create and intensify these raw new roles than the tall, gangly Eddie Rickenbacker, who defied death over and over with such courage and pluck that a generation of Americans came to know his face better than the president's.
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A true ace, and an example for us all.
- By Gotta Tellya on 08-20-14
By: John F. Ross
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Hit the Target
- Eight Men Who Led the Eighth Air Force to Victory over the Luftwaffe
- By: Bill Yenne
- Narrated by: Corey M. Snow
- Length: 10 hrs and 7 mins
- Unabridged
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Less than a month after the attack on Pearl Harbor, the US Army formed its first air force designated to operate overseas, the Eighth. Within four months they had set up base in England. Three months later they were bombing German targets in occupied Europe. The Eighth was the first bomber command on either side to commit to strategic daylight bombing. It was a major change in tactics - and the men of the Eighth paid the price in both lives and blood.
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Lots of history, kinda boring.
- By Annie on 11-12-23
By: Bill Yenne
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Vanished Hero
- The Life, War and Mysterious Disappearance of America’s WWII Strafing King
- By: Jay A. Stout
- Narrated by: Joe Barrett
- Length: 9 hrs and 56 mins
- Unabridged
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A hell-bent-for-leather fighter pilot, Elwyn G. Righetti remains one of the most unknown, yet compelling, colorful, and controversial commanders of World War II. Arriving late to the war, he led the England-based 55th Fighter Group against the Nazis during the closing months of the fight with a no-holds-barred aggressiveness that transformed the group from a middling organization of no reputation into a headline-grabbing team that had to make excuses to no one. Indeed, Righetti's boldness paid off as he quickly achieved ace status.
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Great Performance for a Great Story!
- By Carter L. on 11-03-17
By: Jay A. Stout
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The Flight of the Century: Charles Lindbergh and the Rise of American Aviation
- Oxford University Press: Pivotal Moments in US History
- By: Thomas Kessner
- Narrated by: Bob McGraw
- Length: 11 hrs and 17 mins
- Unabridged
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In late May 1927 an inexperienced and unassuming 25-year-old Air Mail pilot from rural Minnesota stunned the world by making the first non-stop transatlantic flight. A spectacular feat of individual daring and collective technological accomplishment, Charles Lindbergh's flight from New York to Paris ushered in America's age of commercial aviation.
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Flawed but Worthwhile
- By Ray Daniels on 11-11-22
By: Thomas Kessner
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Spitfire
- Portrait of a Legend
- By: Leo McKinstry
- Narrated by: Peter Noble
- Length: 19 hrs and 48 mins
- Unabridged
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The gripping saga of the plane that carried Britain through the Second World War. In June 1940, the German army had brought the rest of Europe to its knees. 'Hitler knows that he will have to break us in this island or lose the war. If we can stand up to him, all Europe may be free and the life of the world will move forward into broad, sunlit uplands,' said Churchill. The future of Europe depended on Britain.
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Fills in the gaps.
- By Glenn on 10-22-18
By: Leo McKinstry
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The Arsenal of Democracy
- FDR, Detroit, and an Epic Quest to Arm an America at War
- By: A. J. Baime
- Narrated by: Peter Berkrot
- Length: 11 hrs and 19 mins
- Unabridged
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The Arsenal of Democracy tells the incredible story of how Detroit answered the call, centering on Henry Ford and his tortured son Edsel, who, when asked if they could deliver 50,000 airplanes, made an outrageous claim: Ford Motor Company would erect a plant that could yield a “bomber an hour”. Critics scoffed: Ford didn’t make planes; they made simple, affordable cars. But bucking his father’s resistance, Edsel charged ahead.
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Misleading title
- By Kindle Customer on 12-01-14
By: A. J. Baime
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Target Tokyo
- Jimmy Doolittle and the Raid That Avenged Pearl Harbor
- By: James M. Scott
- Narrated by: L. J. Ganser
- Length: 20 hrs and 3 mins
- Unabridged
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The dramatic account of one of America's most celebrated - and controversial - military campaigns: the Doolittle Raid. In December 1941, as American forces tallied the dead at Pearl Harbor, President Franklin Roosevelt gathered with his senior military counselors to plan an ambitious counterstrike against the heart of the Japanese Empire: Tokyo.
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Vengence is Mine, Thus Sayeth Doolittle
- By Jonathan Love on 06-13-16
By: James M. Scott
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The Unsubstantial Air
- American Fliers in the First World War
- By: Samuel Hynes
- Narrated by: Sean Runnette
- Length: 11 hrs and 21 mins
- Unabridged
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The Unsubstantial Air is the gripping story of the Americans who fought and died in the aerial battles of World War I. Much more than a traditional military history, it is an account of the excitement of becoming a pilot and flying in combat over the Western Front, told through the voices of the aviators themselves. A World War II pilot himself, the memoirist and critic Samuel Hynes revives the adventurous young men who inspired his own generation to take to the sky.
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Great info poorly arranged
- By Joseph P. on 05-22-15
By: Samuel Hynes
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Hell Above Earth
- The Incredible True Story of an American WWII Bomber Commander and the Copilot Ordered to Kill Him
- By: Stephen Frater
- Narrated by: Pete Larkin
- Length: 9 hrs and 27 mins
- Unabridged
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Hell Above Earth tells an unforgettable story of two World War II American bomber pilots who forged an unexpected but enduring bond in the flak-filled skies over Nazi Germany. But there's a twist: one of them was related to the head of the Luftwaffe, Reich Marshal Herman Goering, and the other had secret orders from FBI Director J. Edgar Hoover to kill him if anything went wrong during their missions.
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A very unusual story
- By David on 10-15-12
By: Stephen Frater
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Chasing the Demon
- A Secret History of the Quest for the Sound Barrier, and the Band of American Aces Who Conquered It
- By: Dan Hampton
- Narrated by: John Pruden
- Length: 8 hrs and 39 mins
- Unabridged
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In the aftermath of World War II, the United States accelerated the development of technologies that would give it an advantage over the Soviet Union. Airpower, combined with nuclear weapons, offered a formidable check on Soviet aggression. In 1947, the United States Air Force was established. Meanwhile, scientists and engineers were pioneering a revolutionary new type of aircraft which could do what no other machine had ever done: reach mach 1 - a speed faster than the movement of sound - which pilots called "the demon."
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Not at all what it purports to be
- By John A Stevenson on 11-20-18
By: Dan Hampton
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Double Ace
- The Life of Robert Lee Scott Jr., Pilot, Hero, and Teller of Tall Tales
- By: Robert Coram
- Narrated by: Barry Press
- Length: 12 hrs and 23 mins
- Unabridged
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Robert Lee Scott was larger than life. A decorated Eagle Scout who barely graduated from high school, the young man from Macon, Georgia, with an oversize personality used dogged determination to achieve his childhood dream of becoming a famed fighter pilot. First capturing national attention during World War II, Scott, a West Point graduate, flew missions in China alongside the legendary "Flying Tigers", where his reckless courage and victories against the enemy made headlines.
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Tiger Fan
- By Robert M. on 12-23-17
By: Robert Coram
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Marked for Death
- The First War in the Air
- By: James Hamilton-Paterson
- Narrated by: Gildart Jackson
- Length: 12 hrs and 14 mins
- Unabridged
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Little more than 10 years after the first powered flight, aircraft were pressed into service in World War I. Nearly forgotten in the war's massive overall death toll, some 50,000 aircrew would die in the combatant nations' fledgling air forces. The romance of aviation had a remarkable grip on the public imagination, propaganda focusing on gallant air "aces" who become national heroes. The reality was horribly different. Marked for Death debunks popular myth to explore the brutal truths of wartime aviation.
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Excellent
- By Amazon Customer on 08-20-16
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Pan Am at War
- How the Airline Secretly Helped America Fight World War II
- By: Mark Cotta Vaz, John H. Hill
- Narrated by: Mike Chamberlain
- Length: 12 hrs and 33 mins
- Unabridged
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Pan Am at War chronicles the airline's historic role in advancing aviation and serving America's national interest before and during World War II. From its inception, Pan American Airways operated as the "wings of democracy", spanning six continents and placing the country at the leading edge of international aviation. At the same time, it was clandestinely helping to fight America's wars.
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Disappointing Presentation
- By JP on 04-01-20
By: Mark Cotta Vaz, and others
What listeners say about Eddie Rickenbacker
Average customer ratingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
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- J. E. Sharwarko, Jr.
- 02-08-21
As dry as a Methodist sermon!
A positively desiccated review of Rickenbacker’s life, read like a Sunday school story. Save your credits and just read the Wikipedia entry.
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