Doolittle was the first pilot to fly an outside loop, which aviators were otherwise warned against as being potentially deadly

James Doolittle was a brave and adventurous pilot who later became a top-ranking US military commander. He was second only to Charles Lindbergh in fame—at least in America. Doolittle inspired an entire generation of young people to take to the air. And his daring 1942 raid over Japan probably marked a decisive turning point in World War II.

James (Jimmy) Harold Doolittle was born in Alameda, California on December 14, 1896. In October 1917, he joined the US Signal Corps Reserve as a flying cadet. He soon became a flying instructor. In 1922 he set a new record for a flight across America. Using a De Havilland DH-4 equipped with primitive navigational instruments, he took 21 hours and 19 minutes to fly from Pablo Beach, Florida to San Diego, California, with just one refuelling stop. In 1923, he joined the Massachusetts Institute of Technology where he eventually obtained a PhD in aeronautical engineering. His scientific acumen, combined with flying skill, helped him appreciate the importance of new aviation technology.

Perhaps his most significant contribution to aviation was the development of instrument flying. At the beginning of powered flight, pilots flew by motion sense, judging height, speed and direction visually. But Doolittle realised that flying would remain a fairweather activity unless pilots were able to control and navigate the aircraft regardless of what they could see. In 1929, he became the first pilot to take off, fly and land an aircraft using instruments alone, without a view outside the cockpit. He helped develop and test the later universally used artificial horizon and directional gyroscope. He attracted wide public attention with this feat of ‘blind’ flying and later received the Harmon Trophy for conducting the experiments. His achievements made safe airline operations possible irrespective of the weather.

In 1927 Doolittle became the first pilot to fly an outside loop, which aviators were otherwise warned against as being potentially deadly. In this manoeuvre, the pilot flies on the outside of the loop, sending the blood rushing to the head due to extreme negative ‘g’. In a Curtiss fighter, he commenced a dive from 10,000 feet, pushing the nose ever forward. He reached 280 miles per hour at the bottom of the dive (upside down) then climbed and completed the loop. He was also the first person to win all three major aviation racing trophies—the Schneider Trophy in 1925, the Bendix Trophy in 1931, and the Thompson Trophy in 1932.

Doolittle became a civilian for a decade, but the December 1941 Japanese attack on Pearl Harbour brought him back into action. He was tasked to plan the first retaliatory air raid on the Japanese homeland. He volunteered to lead the top secret carrier-borne attack of sixteen B-25 medium bombers. Because carrier landings were impossible for the 10 tonne aircraft, this would be a one-way mission. Instead of returning to their launch ship after the raid, the planes would continue west to the Asian mainland and try their fortune at rudimentary landing strips in China.