Rickenbacker's book

I read a message off of the WWI out of U Kansas that said Rickenbacker's Fighting the Flying Circus was ghost-written.

A fairly common practice, but the message went on to say that the writer and the ace had certain creative differences over the final product.

I've cited this work a couple of times in one of my dissertation chapters. Of course, memoirs have their dangers in terms of being trustworthy sources of information, but the notion of dissent between the writer and the man who lived the experiences creates an extra threat to "authenticity" I'd like to explore.

Anyone out there have more info on this subject?

[Lufbery]

I don't really have more to add, but I do have a question. Who do you think ghost wrote the book?

-Drew

After further posts and investigations via the UKansas list, I'm going to order a 1968 article on the subject from Cross & Cockade Journal.

After a fwd E-mail message from the author of said article, I'm told the entire ghost-writing subject was a problem for Rickenbacker, and I've been told , after investigating the article, to leave it alone.

Fair enough... The last thing I need is to start out my career as a professor with a controversey. I just wanted to make sure that I wasn't going to be "shot down" for missing an element of the book that experts realized was obvious.

As it is, there is something of a mystery around the question of authorship that I'm told I should leave buried.

[Lufbery]

You've got to be joking, right? You're going to take somebody's word that you should just "leave it alone," and let something stay buried? What, is the mob involved? Did they threaten to encase your feet in concrete and throw you into the East River?

OK, so maybe it's not as extreme as that, but doesn't it really get you wondering when a historian wants to suppress the truth about something? Your initial instinct to validate "Fighting the Flying Circus" as a good source was right on. It looks as though the book was, in fact, written by somebody other than Rickenbacker. Cam (who also sometimes posts at The Aerodrome) wrote this at the Delphi flight sim board:

"I was up at Rhinebeck with Dave Vosbourgh, he did an oil of Cambells aircraft about a decade ago and visited Campbell to get him to sign it. Campbell told him that "Fighting the Flying Circus" was ghost written, wrote about two pages of inaccuracies.

One story that Cambell did tell was that most of the USAS were College boys and pretty stiff in the britches. Apprently Rickenbacker used ot swear like a trooper and the others would get red ears.

Another reference down the drain."

So, maybe you can talk to Dave Vosbourgh (check the spelling of the last name) and see what he says. It's important to know how seriously one can take Rickenbacker's book.

Also, could you please point me to the source from whom you are ordering the article you're talking about?

Thanks, and good luck,

-Drew

[Richard_Schrader]

Kevin;
If I can be of any help to you in reference to aviation history feel free to contact me at Free State High School, here in Lawrence.

[Ira_Silverman]

Forumites:

A most interesting story!

FTFC was ghost-written by Laurence La Tourette Driggs, a popular aviation writer of the period. It was based on the diary and original text prepared by Rickenbacker in 1918.

In 1997, Prof. W. David Lewis of Auburn University edited and annotated the original text. In this form, it was published in 1997 as the 95th book in the "Lakeside Classics" series, which are issued annually by R.R. Donnelly & Co. To quote the publishers preface:

"This edition represents a version of "Fighting the Flying Circus" that is as faithful as possible to the diary and original text prepared by Rickenbacker in 1918. But it also preserves the eloquent prose added by Laurence La Tourette Driggs, the ghost writer. The editor compared Rickenbacker's typewritten manuscript with the published 1919 version and eliminated many passages that were not based on the original manuscript."

Copies of the Lakeside Press edition were not made available to the general public, but rather given as Holiday Gifts to Donnelley customers. Occasionally, a copy can be found in a used bookstore, they currently fetch $20 but are increasing. IMHO, worth it if you can find it.

VBR,

Ira

[Billy_Bishop]

This idea of "dropping the subject" of FTFC's having been ghost-written goes back a long way. Before EVR died. It was apparently a source of shame for EVR, and it appears that friends, historians and the USAF would go to any lengths to help him "save face" in the eyes of the public at large.

I guess we have a double standard when it comes to friendly "foreign" aces, and our own.

VBR,

Al Lowe

So...has professor Lewis been found floating face-down in the river?

[Billy_Bishop]

He's probably in hiding.

[Ira_Silverman]

Kevin, et al:

Frankly, I'm more than a little surprised at the apparent reaction to FTFC being ghost-written.

First of all, Kevin, IT'S THE TRUTH, GUY - PRINT IT!!

Secondly, it's never been a particularly well-kept secret. The original 1919 Frederick A. Stokes edition states on the first page: "Fighting the Flying Circus, by Capt. Edward V. Rickenbacker, with maps and a foreword by Laurence La Tourette Driggs." It isn't much of a leap to see Driggs as the ghost writer.

What's more interesting is that the 1965 Doubleday edition drops all reference to Driggs, as well as his foreword, and replaces it with: "edited and with a foreword by (GULP) Arch Whitehouse." No comment there and none needed.

Draw your own conclusions,

VBR,

Ira