EDWARD V. RICKENBACKER'S 'SHORT SNORTER' CELEBRATING HIS SURVIVAL AT SEA
EDWARD V. RICKENBACKER (1890-1973) ...

EDWARD V. RICKENBACKER'S 'SHORT SNORTER' CELEBRATING HIS SURVIVAL AT SEA
EDWARD V. RICKENBACKER (1890-1973) American aviator and World War I ace credited with 26 kills', later president of Eastern Air Lines. A fine relic, a signed $1.00 bill, or 'short snorter', signed for Rickenbacker on January 30, 1943 - only weeks after his return to the U.S. following his 21-day ordeal on a life raft in the South Pacific. We speculate that this bill was signed at a party or other gathering held in Rickenbacker's honor once his strength had fully returned. Among the 14 people signing is his wife ADELAIDE RICKENBACKER, HANS ADAMSON, Rickenbacker's aide who was with him aboard the life raft; Col. WILLIAM WESTLAKE, Assistant to the Director of Bureau of Public Relations for A.A.F.; JOE DOOLITTE, wife of aviator JIMMY DOOLITTLE; and others we have been unable to identify including 'Pappy Paxton', 'Christy Bell Kennedy', 'Bob 'Buster' Keeton', and others. With original notarized letter of provenance from his son, William F. Rickenbacker, 1990. Very good. In late 1942 Secretary of War Henry Stimson and Army Air Forces chief of staff General Henry H. 'Hap' Arnold asked 52-year-old airline executive Edward 'Eddie' Rickenbacker to travel to the Pacific theater to evaluate and report on the status of U.S. Army Air Forces combat units stationed there. On Oct. 20, 1942, he climbed aboard a B-17 in Hawaii bound for Canton Island, 1,800 miles to the south. Due to a faulty octant, the plane flew off course, ran out of fuel and ditched into the Pacific. There followed 21 days on a cramped lifeboat at sea, and the deaths of some of the crew. Rickenbacker, as senior officer, kept the men's spirits up while using his skills as a leader to improvise methods to ensure their survival.