Mission History
Edward V. "Eddie" Rickenbacker was sent on a tour of the Pacific theater to review conditions, operations, and to personally deliver a secret message to General MacArthur.

Took off from Hawaii, bound for Canton. Went off course due to a navigation error due to an out-of-true octant. damaged in a pre-takeoff incident. The bomber ditched at sea.

Search
The U. S. Army conducted searches for more than two weeks after the crash, but failed to find anything. Rickenbacker's wife convinced them to extend the search another week. The press reported that Rickenbacker had died.

Survival at Sea
The seven crew used two life rafts. Rickenbacker still suffered from the airline crash, his friend Hans Adamson sustained serious injuries in the water landing, and others in the crew were hurt to varying degrees.

The crew's food supply ran out after three days. They drifted at sea without food or water aside from an occasional fish and rain. On Day 8 a seagull landed on Rickenbacker's head, and he caught it and the men meticulously divided it equally and used some for fishing bait.

On the 13th day, Sgt Alex died and was buried at sea, leaving only six survivors.

Rickenbacker assumed a role of leadership, encouragement, and browbeating to help the others survive, and encouraged them to turn to the Lord for solace (Psalm 46). According to Rickenbacker, each person on the rafts converted to Christianity after the experience.

Three of the survivors: Whittaker, De Angelis and Reynolds decided to separated and departed together. Later, they made landfall on a small island and found an abandoned native hut. Later, they were found by natives and taken to an English missionary on the island, until rescued later by a US Navy tender.

On the 17th day, they saw an aircraft, but it failed to spot them. More planes were spotted on the 18th and 19th days, but they failed to spot them. On the 20th day, Cherry choose to take his raft and separated.

Rescue
US Navy pilots located the surviving crew members off the coast of Island X near Samoa. A Navy patrol plane spotted Lt. Cherry on the evening of the twenty-first day, November 12 and a PT Boat rescued him.

Twenty-two days after the crash, on November 13 an OS2U Kingfisher piloted by Lt. W. F. Eadie and radioman L. H. Boutte spotted the raft with Rickenbacker, Bartek and Adamson and landed. Already dark, the Kingfisher loaded Bartek inside the cockpit. Rickenbacker and Adamson were strapped to the wing. The Kingfisher taxied on the surface for more than 30 minutes to a nearby PT Boat, where Rickenbacker and Adamson were transferred.

All were suffering from exposure, dehydration, and starvation and recuperated. Rickenbacker completed his assignment and delivered MacArthur's secret message. No one ever made the message in public. This accident later resulted in improved navigation tools for aircraft, and improved survival gear.

References
MACRs 900 and 802 incorrectly list the loss date as October 2, 1942.
"Seven Came Through" by Eddie Rickenbacker
LIFE Magazine "Rickenbacker Rescue" Dec 7, 1942
LIFE Magazine "Pacific Mission - part II" by Edward Rickenbacker Feb 1, 1943
LIFE Magazine "Pacific Mission - part III" by Edward Rickenbacker. Vol 14 No. 6 8 Feb 1943

Contribute Information
Do you have photos or additional information to add?

Last Updated
November 8, 2009