Eddie Rickenbacker and the twenty-four days on a life raft that should have killed America's Ace of Aces

Eddie Rickenbacker, America’s top ace of World War I with 26 confirmed aerial victories, survived one of the most harrowing ordeals in aviation history when he spent 24 days adrift on a life raft in the Pacific Ocean in October 1942. Already a Medal of Honor recipient and president of Eastern Air Lines, the 52-year-old Rickenbacker was on a secret wartime mission when his B-17 ran out of fuel and ditched in open water, hundreds of miles from land.

Who Was Eddie Rickenbacker Before He Flew?

Rickenbacker grew up poor in Columbus, Ohio, the son of a Swiss immigrant construction worker. He dropped out of school at thirteen after his father died, cycling through jobs in a glass factory, steel mill, and machine shop. By his early twenties, he was one of the most famous race car drivers in America, competing in the Indianapolis 500 and reaching speeds over 100 mph on dirt tracks with nothing but a leather helmet for protection.

When America entered World War I, Rickenbacker was 26 years old. He went to France as a staff driver for generals, but he wanted to fly. The Army considered him too old, too uneducated, and too rough for officer material. But Rickenbacker had an intuitive understanding of engines — he could hear a motor running and identify which cylinder was misfiring. He talked his way into flight training and was assigned to the 94th Aero Pursuit Squadron, the famous Hat in the Ring squadron.

How Did Rickenbacker Become America’s Ace of Aces?

Rickenbacker didn’t score his first kill until March 1918, a late start compared to other aces. But once he found his rhythm, he was relentless. He flew a SPAD XIII, a French-built fighter powered by a 220-horsepower Hispano-Suiza engine — not the fastest or most maneuverable aircraft, but solid and reliable.

His approach to air combat reflected his racing background: calculating, patient, and fearless. His philosophy was simple — never attack without the advantage. Climb above your opponent, get the sun behind you, dive, fire one burst, and break away. He wasn’t a wild dogfighter. He was a hunter.

In roughly seven months, he shot down 26 enemy aircraft, including four observation balloons, which were among the most dangerous targets on the Western Front because the Germans ringed them with anti-aircraft guns. By November 1918, Captain Eddie Rickenbacker was America’s Ace of Aces. He was awarded the Medal of Honor, though it wasn’t actually presented until 1930 because the original paperwork was lost in War Department bureaucracy.

What Was Rickenbacker’s Secret Mission in 1942?

After the war, Rickenbacker bought the Indianapolis Motor Speedway and became president of Eastern Air Lines, building it into one of the country’s most successful carriers. When World War II began, the 51-year-old went back to work for the military — not as a combat pilot, but as a special envoy and inspector. Secretary of War Henry Stimson sent him around the world to visit air bases, boost morale, and report on conditions.

On October 21, 1942, Rickenbacker boarded a B-17D piloted by Captain William Cherry, bound for a secret meeting with General Douglas MacArthur in the southwest Pacific. They were supposed to refuel at Canton Island, a tiny coral atoll roughly halfway between Hawaii and Australia. But the navigator made an error, headwinds were worse than forecast, and they overshot the island entirely. They flew search patterns until the fuel ran out.

Captain Cherry ditched the B-17 in open ocean. The landing was rough and the aircraft broke apart on impact, but all eight men survived. They scrambled into three small life rafts, lashed them together, and watched their only aircraft sink beneath the waves.

How Did Eight Men Survive 24 Days on the Pacific?

Their supplies were almost nonexistent: a few oranges, a small amount of chocolate, a couple of fishing lines with no bait, no fresh water, no working radio, and no flares. They were somewhere in the vast central Pacific, hundreds of miles from the nearest land, with no one sure where to search.

The first few days, they rationed the oranges — one small piece per man per day. The chocolate was gone almost immediately. By day three or four, all food was exhausted. The equatorial sun was brutal and unrelenting. At night, temperatures dropped and the men shivered in wet clothes. Salt water caused sores that became infected. By the end of the first week, several men were delirious, with skin peeling off in sheets and tongues swollen from dehydration.

On the eighth day, Rickenbacker was sitting motionless in the raft, his hat over his face, when a sea swallow landed on his head. Without moving, barely breathing, he waited — then reached up and grabbed it. They divided the small bird among eight men. It was barely a mouthful each, but they used the intestines as fishing bait and caught two small fish that afternoon. It was enough to keep them alive another day.

Rain came intermittently. They caught what they could in shirts and the folds of the rafts, squeezing fabric into their mouths for drops of fresh water. Some days brought nothing. Other days, a brief squall would pass and they opened their mouths to the sky.

What Happened to the Men Who Didn’t Survive?

On the thirteenth day, Sergeant Alex Kaczmarczyk died. He had been ill before the flight, and the exposure destroyed him. They said a prayer and slipped his body into the ocean. Rickenbacker later said it was the hardest moment — not because death was a surprise, but because every man in those rafts knew he could be next.

How Did Rickenbacker Keep the Others Alive?

Rickenbacker, the oldest man in the group by 20 years, held the survivors together through sheer force of personality — and not gently. By his own admission and by every survivor’s account, he was absolutely insufferable. He cursed at them, goaded them, called them quitters, and picked fights. The other men hated him for it.

Years later, every single survivor said he saved their lives. The anger kept them awake. It kept them fighting. A man who is furious at Eddie Rickenbacker is not a man who has given up.

On day 14, they caught a small shark. Day 16 brought another rain squall. On day 17, they agreed to separate the rafts to cover more area. Captain Cherry and one man drifted northwest. Another group headed south. Rickenbacker and two others stayed put.

How Were They Finally Rescued?

On day 20, a Navy patrol plane spotted Captain Cherry’s raft. He was pulled from the water barely alive and told rescuers there were more men out there. Search planes fanned out across the Pacific.

On day 21, they found the second raft. On day 24 — November 13, 1942 — a Navy OS2U Kingfisher floatplane spotted Rickenbacker’s raft. The pilot landed on the open ocean, taxied to the raft, and pulled Rickenbacker and his two companions from the water.

Rickenbacker had lost nearly 70 pounds. He was covered in salt sores and sunburn, his eyes nearly swollen shut. Doctors at Funafuti said he was in the worst physical condition of any man they had ever seen who was still breathing.

Two weeks later, he was back on his feet. He completed his mission, delivered the message to MacArthur, and spent the following months touring Pacific air bases, telling combat crews the same thing he had told the men in the rafts: you do not quit.

How Many Times Did Rickenbacker Cheat Death?

The Pacific ordeal wasn’t even his closest brush with death. In February 1941, Rickenbacker was a passenger on an Eastern Air Lines DC-3 that crashed on approach to Atlanta, striking trees short of the runway. He was pinned in the wreckage with a crushed pelvis, broken ribs, a shattered elbow, and a punctured lung, with a dead man lying on top of him. Rescuers assumed he was dead until someone noticed he was still breathing. He spent months in the hospital and walked with a limp for the rest of his life.

The full accounting is staggering: a car racing career in an era when drivers died regularly, survival on the Western Front, a catastrophic airline crash, and 24 days on a raft in the Pacific. After all of it, he still had enough fight left to run an airline and live to 82 years old.

Eddie Rickenbacker died peacefully in Zurich, Switzerland, on July 23, 1973 — in a hospital bed, which may be the most surprising thing he ever did.

Key Takeaways

• Eddie Rickenbacker scored 26 aerial victories in WWI, making him America’s Ace of Aces, and received the Medal of Honor (though the paperwork was lost until 1930)
• In October 1942, a navigation error stranded Rickenbacker and seven others on life rafts in the Pacific with almost no food, water, or survival equipment
• Rickenbacker’s aggressive, combative leadership style kept the survivors fighting through 24 days of starvation, dehydration, and exposure — every survivor later credited him with saving their lives
• He survived at least four near-death experiences across his lifetime, including a 1941 airline crash that left him with a crushed pelvis and punctured lung
• Primary sources include Rickenbacker’s 1967 memoir and W. L. White’s account written shortly after the 1942 rescue