*Eddie Rickenbacker, who had to drop out of school at age 12 in order to support his mother after his father died, became the "American Ace of Aces" with 26 victories in [[World War I]] (despite being relatively old), survived on a life raft for 24 days after his plane went down in [[World War II]] (despite being over 50 years old), and later spoke out for [[conservative]] views; Rickenbacker, a phenomenal race-car driver when WWI broke out, was rejected for flying but then fixed [[Billy Mitchell]]'s car and persuaded him to give Eddie a chance at aviation.<ref>http://www.acepilots.com/wwi/us_rickenbacker.html</ref> | *Eddie Rickenbacker, who had to drop out of school at age 12 in order to support his mother after his father died, became the "American Ace of Aces" with 26 victories in [[World War I]] (despite being relatively old), survived on a life raft for 24 days after his plane went down in [[World War II]] (despite being over 50 years old), and later spoke out for [[conservative]] views; Rickenbacker, a phenomenal race-car driver when WWI broke out, was rejected for flying but then fixed [[Billy Mitchell]]'s car and persuaded him to give Eddie a chance at aviation.<ref>http://www.acepilots.com/wwi/us_rickenbacker.html</ref> |