Eddie Rickenbacker was an American archetype: our greatest World War I hero, and the quintessential flying ace. As a boy from the wrong side of the tracks in Columbus, Ohio, Eddie was smitten at the sight of his first automobile. He became a superb mechanic and a leading racecar driver; in wartime, he applied his mechanical skills to airplanes, and broke the class barrier to become a pilot. Eventually, he would become America's best.