Editing Eddie Rickenbacker (section)

=== Flight training ===

[[File:Edward Vernon Rickenbacker.jpg|thumb|Rickenbacker with airplane]]

In late May 1917, a week before he was to race in Cincinnati, Rickenbacker was invited to sail to England with General [[John J. Pershing]].<ref name=":23">Driggs, Laurence La Tourette. "Introduction". ''Fighting the Flying Circus'' by Eddie Rickenbacker. Frederick A Stokes Company, 1919. p.&nbsp;vi – via Google Books.</ref> By mid-June, he was in France, where he enlisted in the United States infantry.<ref name=":23"/> He was assigned to drive Army officials between Paris and A.E.F. headquarters in [[Chaumont, Haute-Marne|Chaumont]], and on to various points on the Western Front. Rickenbacker earned the rank of [[Sergeant First Class]] but never drove for General Pershing.<ref>{{Cite journal |date=April 5, 1919 |title=A Profile of Captain Eddy Rickenbacker |url=http://www.oldmagazinearticles.com/article-summary/WW1_Ace_Fighter-Pilot_Eddie_Rickenbacker_article#.YxQUy3bMLrc |journal=The Literary Digest |via=Old Magazine Articles}}</ref> Rather, he mostly drove for Major Dodd. A chance encounter with Captain James Miller on the [[Champs-Elysees]] put Rickenbacker on the track to becoming a fighter pilot. Miller asked Rickenbacker to be the chief engineer at the flight school and aerodrome he was establishing at [[Issoudun Aerodrome|Issoudun]]. Rickenbacker bargained for the chance to learn to fly at the French flight school outside [[Toul-Croix De Metz Airfield|Toul]]. He received five weeks of training or 25 hours in the air in September 1917. Then, he went to Issoudun to start constructing the [[United States Army Air Service|United States Air Service]]'s pursuit training facility,<ref name="frey">{{cite journal |last=Frey |first=Royal D. |year=1968 |title=Air Service Relived |journal=Air University Review |volume=22 |issue=Nov–Dec |url=http://www.airpower.au.af.mil/airchronicles/aureview/1968/nov-dec/frey.html#frey |access-date=August 12, 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130221112004/http://www.airpower.au.af.mil/airchronicles/aureview/1968/nov-dec/frey.html#frey |archive-date=February 21, 2013 |url-status=dead }}</ref>

During the next three months, Rickenbacker took time from his work schedule to continue his flight training, standing in at the back of lectures and taking airplanes up on his own to practice new maneuvers. In January 1918, Rickenbacker finagled his way into a release for [[Cazaux Air Base#American presence|gunnery school]], the final step to becoming a pursuit pilot.

In February and March, Lieutenant Rickenbacker and the officers of the nascent [[1st Operations Group|1st Pursuit Group]] completed advanced training at [[Villeneuve-les-Vertus Aerodrome|Villeneuve–les–Vertus Aerodrome]]. There he came under the tutelage and mentorship of the French flying ace, [[Raoul Lufbery|Major Raoul Lufbery.]] With regards to flying, Rickenbacker said, "All I learned, I learned from Lufbery".<ref>Boyne, Walter J. A''ces in Command: Fighter Pilots as Combat Leaders''. Washington, DC: Brassey's, 2001, p. 34.</ref> Lufbery took Rickenbacker and [[Douglas Campbell (aviator)|Douglas Campbell]] on their first patrol before their [[Nieuport 28]]s were outfitted with machine guns. Rickenbacker earned the respect of the other fliers, who called him "Rick".

Both squadrons relocated to Toul, in the [[Battle of Saint-Mihiel#Background: The Saint-Mihiel salient|St. Mihiel sector]], where Rickenbacker had begun his training with the French seven months earlier. Now the American air service had its aerodrome at nearby [[Toul-Croix de Metz Airfield#World War I|Gengoult]]. Before beginning their patrols, the two squadrons chose an insignia to paint on their planes. The [[95th Aero Squadron|95th]] chose a kicking mule. The [[94th Aero Squadron|94th]] chose an Uncle Sam stovepipe hat, tipped inside a surrounding circle. One officer remarked, "Well, I guess our hat is in the ring now!", and the squadron became known as The Hat-in-the-Ring Gang.<ref>Frandsen, Bert. ''Hat in the Ring: The Birth of American Air Power in the Great War''. Washington, DC: Smithsonian Books, 2003, p. 78.</ref>