In October 1942, 52-year-old Edward “Eddie” Rickenbacker and his aide, Col. Hans C. Adamson, boarded a Boeing B-17 in Hawaii. They were accompanied by a sergeant returning from sickbay to his outfit in Australia and five crew members commanded by Capt. William Cherry. Secretary of War Henry Stimson and Gen. Henry “Hap” Arnold had asked Rickenbacker to make the trip and investigate the combat readiness of Army Air Force units in the Pacific.
In his younger days, Rickenbacker had won fame and applause for his daredevil exploits, first as a race car driver and then as a pilot in World War I, where he shot down 26 German aircraft, becoming America’s top ace and a recipient of the nation’s Medal of Honor. Torn between a career in the automobile industry and aviation, he eventually settled on the latter and became president of Eastern Airlines. His knowledge of aircraft and his connections to the military made him an ideal candidate for evaluating the readiness of the Army Air Force to fight the Japanese.
