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Two items signed by Eddie Rickenbacker: a vintage glossy 10 x 8 photo of Rickenbacker posing with his SPAD XIII C.1 fighter aircraft, which features a ‘Hat in the Ring’ insignia on the fuselage, signed and inscribed in black ink, “My best wishes, Susie Rogers, Capt. Eddie Rickenbacker, 1918/1969”; and a lengthy TLS from Rickenbacker to “Miss Susie Rogers” of Ferndale, Michigan, three pages, 7.5 x 10.5, personal letterhead, May 27, 1969, in full: “Thanks for your kind letter of recent date, and I am delighted to hear that you and your father are so interested in flying. There is no question but that it is a wonderful sensation to take off into the heavens above, and the Astronauts must have found it even greater, as I just listened to the splashdown in the Pacific at 1:53 P.M. In fact, it must have been a sensational flight because everything went almost perfectly and, of course, they proved many scientific developments about which they knew nothing, or very little.
No, my Spad, which was shipped back from France, got lost in its travels, and no matter where I looked it could not be found until about ten years after it had been shipped across the Atlantic, in the hold of a cargo ship.
The boys at Middletown Air Depot phoned me that they had found it, and I asked them not to touch it until I got there and opened up the crate myself--because I was afraid it would find just what I did when the crate was opened--the airplane fell apart. All of the wood parts had rotted as well as some of the steel parts. We decided it was an impossible job to attempt to rebuild it, so it was junked then and there--otherwise it would have been in the Smithsonian Institute.
No, my friends Reed Chambers and Doug Campbell gave up flying many years ago.
I have probably a couple dozen copies of my autobiography here in the office, and since I have to pay the publisher I make exceptions with youngsters such as you, and send them directly from here after I personally autograph them.
Therefore, if you will have your father send me a check for the price of the book – $7.95 with 24 cents for postage and 20 cents for insurance plus 32 cents sales tax (if you get it the same as Detroit), or a total of $8.71 – on receipt of your father's check or money order I will be happy to follow through and autograph it, which makes it more valuable as time goes on, and then mail it to you properly packaged. However, I wish to warn you that if you do get the book do not loan it or leave it in anybody's hands, because I find they disappear too easily and are never returned.
The question of what caused World War I is simple. The Germans decided they were going to dominate the world and came very near doing it if it had not been for America entering the war at a late date, primarily for our own protection.
You ask a very difficult question, namely; ‘Do you know what young people of today could do to avoid wars?’ That is a job not for young people but for the leaders of the nation and government, and as long as there is selfishness in the world, and somebody has got something that you haven't and you want it, it causes an argument and a fight normally – and that is how wars get started.
The leadership of the country is the responsibility of the governing body, and of course, if war is declared, it is the young people, the same as it was with me, who have to fight it or perish with it – because there have been several millions of Americans fighting and dying for the country since the inception of America.
If someone had not fought and saved the country, youngsters like you would never be around to enjoy the blessings that our forefathers left us as a heritage.
Yes, I did own the Indianapolis Speedway for fifteen to sixteen years, to keep it from being sub-divided and lost forever, as the old owners had tired of perpetuating it.
As for your question about which I like best, racing automobiles or flying airplanes--they are both as different as day is from night, and I like both, and fortunately, have had great success with both. I wish you and yours the best of luck and continued good health for many years to come.” In overall fine condition, with some light marks to the photograph. Accompanied by the original mailing envelope.
