"Fighting is right up my alley !" (Allusion to the Rickenbaker brand of electric guitar).
Eddie Richenbacker, just twenty years old, became a test driver and then a race car driver. After the United States entered the war, he joined the army and became chauffeur to the American commander-in-chief, General John Pershing. In June 1917, he arrived in France and was able to take flying lessons. He quickly became interested in aviation, and nine months later joined the 94th American fighter squadron. On April 20, 1918, he scored his first victory at the controls of a Nieuport 28...
Of his 26 victories, five of which were against balloons, the first six were aboard his Nieuport 28 and all the others at the controls of his Spad XIII, easily recognizable by the top hat in American colors and the No. 1 on the fuselage...
