Editing Eddie Rickenbacker (section)

=== Commander of the 94th Aero Squadron ===

[[File:Captain Edward Rickenbacker, America's premier Ace officially credited with 22 enemy planes and the proud wearer of th - NARA - 533720.jpg|thumb|Capt. Eddie Rickenbacker, [[United States Army Air Service]], {{c.}} 1919]]

Rickenbacker went to work turning his men "back into a team".<ref>Rickenbacker, Edward V. ''Fighting the Flying Circus.'' New York: Frederick A. Stokes, 1919. p. 260.</ref> He gathered his pilots and exhorted them to stay focused on their mission. Reminding the mechanics that he was one of them, he stressed the crucial importance of their work. Above all, he let them know that he was a "gimper" or "a bird who will stick by you through anything"<ref>Ross, John F. ''Enduring Courage: Ace Pilot Eddie Rickenbacker and the Dawn of the Age of Speed''. New York: St. Martin's Press, 2014, p. 258. {{ISBN|978-1-250-03384-0}}</ref> and "would never ask anybody to do anything that [he] would not do [him] self first or do at the same time."<ref>Ross, John F. ''Enduring Courage: Ace Pilot Eddie Rickenbacker and the Dawn of the Age of Speed''. New York: St. Martin's Press, 2014, p. 197. {{ISBN|978-1-250-03384-0}}</ref> To underscore his point, Rickenbacker took a solo patrol over the line and shot down two enemy planes the next morning. His victories above Billy, France, earned him the [[Medal of Honor]], awarded by President [[Herbert Hoover]] in 1931.

Building on the leadership skills he developed with [[#Automobile Racing, 1910-1916|Maxwell]], Rickenbacker turned the 94th Squadron into a winning team. He was determined to "blind the eyes of the enemy" by taking out their [[observation balloon]]s.<ref name=":0">Woolley, Charles. ''The Hat in the Ring Gang: The Combat History of the 94th Aero Squadron in World War I''. Atglen, PA: Schiffer Military History, 2001, p. 173.</ref> The giant gas bags appeared easy to bring down, but were heavily guarded and dangerous to attack. Rickenbacker led planning sessions for multi-squadron raids of as many as fourteen planes. One reporter likened him to a football coach, "boning up for the season ahead" with "conferences on methods, blackboard talks, and ideas for air battle tactics".<ref>Woolley, Charles. ''The Hat in the Ring Gang: The Combat History of the 94th Aero Squadron in World War I''. Atglen, PA: Schiffer Military History, 2001, p. 261.</ref> Rickenbacker was credited with bringing down five balloons,

[[File:111-SC-30940 - NARA - 55221127 (cropped) (cropped).jpg|thumb|Lieutenant General [[Hunter Liggett]], commander of the U.S. First Army, decorating Captain Eddie Rickenbacker with the DSC at [[Remicourt, Marne]], France, November 10, 1918.]]

Rickenbacker inculcated into the squadron with his new principles of engagement, which germinated while he was confined in the hospital: Never attack unless there is at least a fifty-fifty chance of success, always break off an engagement that seems hopeless, and know the difference between cowardice and common sense.<ref>Lewis, W. David. ''Eddie Rickenbacker: An American Hero in the Twentieth Century,'' Johns Hopkins University Press, Baltimore, 2005. p. 198. {{ISBN|978-0-8018-8244-9}}</ref> He continued to fly aggressively, but with calculated caution. He also flew more patrols and spent more hours in the air than any other pilot in the service—a total of 300 combat hours. He brought down fifteen aircraft in the final six weeks of the war. In September 1918, he received the rank of captain. At the end of the war in France, the 94th had the highest number of air victories of the American squadrons.<ref name=":11">{{Cite web |title=Fighting the Flying Circus |url=http://www.wtj.com/archives/rickenbacker/ |access-date=2022-09-04 |website=War Times Journal}}</ref>

When Rickenbacker learned of the [[Armistice with Germany (Compiègne)|Armistice]], he flew an airplane above the [[No man's land#World War I|No Man's Land]] to observe the ceasefire as it occurred at 11:00&nbsp;a.m. on November 11, 1918. He later wrote, "I was the only audience for the greatest show ever presented. On both sides of no man's land, the trenches erupted. Brown-uniformed men poured out of the American trenches, gray-green uniforms out of the German. From my observer's seat overhead, I watched them throw their helmets in the air, discard their guns, wave their hands."<ref name="Rickenbacker, Edward V. 1967. p. 159">Rickenbacker, Edward V. ''Rickenbacker: an Autobiography.'' Englewood Cliffs: Prentice-Hall, Inc., 1967. p. 159. {{ISBN|978-0-13-781005-5}}</ref>