Medal of Honor Recipient US Air Force General James "Jimmy" Doolittle

Welcome back everyone.  On today’s episode of Duty & Valor, you’ll hear the story of a man who pioneered the advancement of aircraft instrumentation, pushing the boundary on what could be accomplished in flight.  A man whose daring flying saw him breaking multiple flight speed records.  A man who planned and executed a daring raid over Tokyo during WWII.  This is the story of Medal of Honor recipient US Air Force General James Doolittle. 

James, who is known as Jimmy to most, was born on December 14, 1896 in Alameda, CA to parents Frank and Rose Doolittle. The family moved to Nome, AL when Jimmy was young and he spent much of his youth there, where his father was a gold prospector and carpenter.  By the time Jimmy was of high school age, he and his mother had returned to CA.  It was there that his school attended the first major air show, the Los Angeles International Air Meet at Dominguez Field.  It was reported that this was the  time Jimmy saw his first plane, and the hook was set.   

After high school he attended college, eventually studying at the College of Mines at UC Berkeley.  After the US entered WWI in 1917, the intrigue of flying hadn’t left Jimmy, so he enlisted in the US Army Signal Corps reserve as a cadet.  After completing flight training, he was commissioned as a 2LT and was assigned as a flight instructor, the position he held for the remainder of the war.  In 1917, he also married Josephine Daniels.  The two would go on to have two sons, James Jr. and John, and both became military pilots as well.

After the war he continued his flying career while returning to Berkely to finish his degree.  In September 1922, Jimmy was a 1LT with the US Army Air Service when he was the first person to complete a coast to coast flight in under 24 hours.  He took off from Pablo Beach, FL in a DH-4 biplane.  En route to San Diego, CA, he made just one stop along the way to refuel at Kelly Field in San Antonio, TX.  21 Hours and 19 minutes after taking off from Fl, he set his plane down in San Diego, setting a new record for coast to coast flight.  

His work as a pioneering aviator continued and by 1923 he received the nation's first doctorate in aeronautical engineering from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.  He spent the rest of the 1920’s as a test pilot and competed in air races, even setting a speed record for seaplanes at an average of 232 miles per hour.   

Throughout his flying career to this point, he was regarded as one of the leading voices for instrument flying.  He believed that flying to this point was limited by the vision range of pilots, meaning flying at night time and during weather events that limited visibility, were not feasible.  In addition, he realized that as flight speed and maneuverability increased, a pilot’s sense of motion sometimes tricked pilot’s into believing the plane was doing something it was not.  He helped design and implement flying instruments, such as the artificial horizon that, when adequately trained on, allowed pilots to fly during conditions that were previously impossible.  As he believed in instrument flying, LT. Doolittle put himself in the pilot seat to test them.  In 1929, he was the first to complete a whole flight using instruments only, without being able to see outside of the cockpit.

Early in 1930, he resigned his commission and took a job at Shell Oil Company as the Aviation Department Manager where he continued his flight testing and pushed the development of high octane fuel that helped increase aircraft performance.  During the 1930’s, in between periods where he returned to work with the Army, he returned to aircraft racing.  In 1932, he set another speed record.  With a speed of 196 miles per hour, he set the high speed mark for land based planes. 

In June 1941, he returned to military service as a Major in the US Army Air Forces.  He worked with auto manufacturers on converting their plants to produce aircraft, before being assigned as a member of a special mission to England where they gained insight into European countries' air forces and military build up.

On January 2, 1942 he was promoted to Lt. Col. and was soon given charge of a secret mission.  Following the surprise attack on Pearl Harbor by Japanese forces, the US wanted to attack Japan on its own soil.  If Japan felt that their homeland was a feasible target, this would lead them to divert some of the military resources for home defense.

Given the scope of Japanese defenses across their Empire, a traditional aircraft carrier based attack would not be possible.  US Navy Captain Francis Low presented the idea of launching American bombers from the deck of an aircraft carrier to Admiral Ernest King.  This would allow the attack to be launched much further off the Japanese coast than currently possible.  Admiral King presented the plan to US Army General Henry “Hap” Arnold.   After some thought, General Arnold approved this plan and work commenced on training the aircrew for this mission.  General Arnold personally tasked Colonel Doolittle with devising the means to do so.

In what would be known as Special Aviation Project No. 1, the joint Army and Navy operation began.  Col. Doolittle and Captain Low came to the conclusion that the only American plane that could possibly complete this mission was the B-25 medium bomber.  To prove this, they successfully flew two B-25’s off the deck of the USS Hornet near Norfolk, VA.  At first the plan was for the bombers to return to an aircraft carrier after completing their mission, but they realized that this wouldn’t work.  Instead the plan was made to continue flying west and landing at airstrips in China that weren't under the control of Japanese occupiers, or to Soviet airfields.  Talks with the Soviets were unsuccessful and American forces were denied clearance to land any military aircraft on their soil.  This led to the only option of landing in China.

Men and 16 B-25’s from the 17th Bombardment Group commenced training at Eglin Field in FL.  There the aircraft were stripped of anything that wasn’t mission critical in an attempt to make them lighter and give them further combat range.  Radios were removed and their belly gun turrets were replaced with an extra fuel tank, which doubled its range.  As the bombers were to fly unescorted, fake tail guns were devised by painting broomsticks, in an attempt to trick attacking aircraft into thinking it had the means to protect itself from an attack at the rear.  

The intensive three week training at Eglin Field trained the pilots to take off in the length they would have aboard an aircraft carrier.  White lines with the dimension of the flight deck were painted on the ground and they practiced take offs until all pilots could get their bombers safely airborne within these limits.  In addition, the aircrews received training in low-level bombing and navigation without radio help.   

On April 1, 1942, the 16 bombers were loaded onto the flight deck of the USS Hornet at the Naval Air Station Alameda in CA.  Under heavy fog, the Hornet departed the following day.  Escorting the Hornet was Task Force 18, a flotilla composed of four destroyers, two cruisers, and an oiler.      

They soon met up with Task Force 16 led by Admiral “Bull” Halsey, who took overall command of the combined attack force.  During their movement to the planned launch area 400 miles off the coast of Japan, planning continued.  The 16 bombers were to be split into five flights tasked with attacking targets 50 miles apart.  This was to make it seem that the attacking force was much larger than it actually was.  Military targets were identified at the Yokohama and Yokosuka navy yards, as well as sites in Kobe, Osaka, and Nagoya, with Col. Doolittle’s lead B-25 dropping bombs on targets in Tokyo.      

The commencement of the attack was planned for dusk, which would mean they would be attacking targets during the cover of night and landing in China in the morning.  The bombers were to also fly low, at treetop level, before climbing to a low bombing altitude of just 1,200 feet, before returning to treetop level to continue their flight to China.

On the morning of April 18th at 3:10am, the plan changed.  It was then that radar aboard the USS Enterprise spotted a Japanese boat much further from the coast than they had planned.  Also, at 7:38am they spotted a Japanese patrol boat just 18 km from the American forces.  Though it was quickly sunk, they were able to send out a communication alerting Japanese forces of the presence of the Americans.

At a distance of 820 miles from the Japanese coast, more than twice as far as the plan called for, Admiral Halsey didn’t want to risk two valuable aircraft carriers so he gave the order to launch the attack.  He had an order sent to the Hornet stating “Launch Planes.  Doolittle and Gallant Command.  Good Luck and God Bless You.”

At 8:20 AM, Col. Doolittle was the first to take off from the deck of the Hornet, soon followed by the remainder of the B-25’s.  Within an hour all 16 bombers were safely in the air heading toward their targets.  Their approach toward the targets were described as uneventful.  They spotted a light cruiser and later a multi-engine plane, but were able to avoid contact for much of their flight.  

Col. Doolittle’s flight approached their targets in Tokyo from the North, while the other flights continued on to their targets.  As Doolittle approached his intended target, they spotted several biplanes flying above them.  These were believed to be unarmed training aircraft as they made no attempt to intercept the bombers.  Further on, another flight of planes, this time 9 Japanese fighters also made no attempt to intercept them.

Facing intense, but reportedly, inaccurate anti-aircraft fire, Col. Doolittle and the other planes climbed to 1,200 feet and released their bombs, before returning to their low flight altitude.  All bombers successfully hit their targets in and around Tokyo.  The B-25’s hit military targets with an estimated 14 tons of incendiary and high explosive bombs.  

All of the bombers continued Southwest towards China except for one plane that had expended much more fuel than the others, forcing it to fly to Russia.  As the remaining 15 bombers were flying West over the East China Sea, they encountered bad weather forcing them to climb above the storm.  With near zero visibility, the pilots had to rely on instruments to guide their bombers.  As the only bomber with a radio, Col. Doolittle approached the airstrip where he was supposed to land at, his attempts to radio ground personnel were unsuccessful.  At 9:20pm, thirteen hours after taking off from the Hornet, with fuel dangerously low, he set the bomber's autopilot and ordered the crew to bail out.  He and his entire crew landed safely.  

They evaded Japanese forces and were guided to safety with the assistance of the Chinese and American Emissary John Birch.  Two days later they arrived in Chungking and Col. Doolittle was able to send a message to General Arnold stating “Tokyo successfully bombed.  Due to bad weather on China coast, believe all airplanes wrecked.  Five crews found safe in China so far.”  

Of the 15 bombers that made it to China, three men were killed during their respective bail out or crashes.  Two of the crews were captured by Japanese forces where three of the men were later executed and one man died of illness during captivity.  The crew of five that flew to Russia were held prisoner for a year before it was reported that they had escaped, but they were actually voluntarily released by Russia. The escape narrative was to ensure the Japanese didn’t target Russia for aiding in the raid.  

The bombing raid killed 50 and injured 400 others, but didn’t really do much damage on the grand scale of WWII.  What it did do was improve morale back in the US and showed Japan that they weren’t safe from allied bombers back home.  The Japanese had to maintain four fighter groups in Japan in defense for the remainder of the war.  

 After the raid, Col. Doolittle feared that he would receive a court-martial for starting the raid prematurely.   But the response from the Army was much different.  Just days after the raid, he was promoted to Brigadier General, skipping the rank of Colonel completely.  In addition to the double promotion, General Doolittle was awarded the Medal of Honor, with President Franklin Roosevelt presenting the medal to him at the White House.

 Just eight months later, he was promoted again to Major General.  During the remainder of the war, he held various command positions in the European theater of the war.  While commanding the Eighth Air Force, he changed fighter escort tactics, allowing them to fly away from bombers and engage enemy fighters before they could engage in aerial combat close to the bombers.  

 General Doolittle was promoted to Lt. General in March 1944 and retired from the Army Reserve in May 1946.  In 1947, his commision as a reserve officer was transferred to the Air Force and his final retirement from the Air Force reserve was on February 28, 1959.      

General James “Jimmy” Doolittle died on September 27, 1993 at the age of 96, and he is buried at Arlington National Cemetery.

General Jimmy Doolittle epitomizes the essence of courage, innovation, and leadership. His daring raid on Tokyo during World War II showcased his strategic brilliance.  Doolittle's life is a testament to resilience and the pursuit of excellence. His relentless pursuit of knowledge and his commitment to pushing the boundaries of possibility serve as an enduring inspiration to generations.

Thank you for listening to this episode of Duty & Valor.  To read more about this week’s hero, check out the sources used in today's episode in our show notes and at dutyandvalor.com.  

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