Overview
On April 18, 1942, Lt. Col. Jimmy Doolittle led a flight of sixteen B-25 bombers off the flight deck of the USS Hornet on one of the most daring raids in U.S. military history, a low-level strike on Tokyo and other Japanese cities. For this heroic act, he received the Medal of Honor.But, as Dik Alan Daso convincingly argues, James H. Doolittle should be remembered as much more than a famous combat pilot. With a doctorate in aeronautics from MIT, he devoted his life to mastering the technical and practical intricacies of the airplane. In 1922, Doolittle became the first person to complete a transcontinental flight across the United States in a single twenty-four-hour period. He also won numerous trophies for his record-breaking high-speed flights, and he developed new instrumentation to assist pilots when flying "blind" in poor weather. After holding several major combat commands during World War II, he was appointed a special assistant to the Air Force chief of staff in 1951.
From the early days of aviation to the space age, Daso not only provides a concise overview of the rapidly developing field of aviation but also chronicles a pioneer's tireless efforts to be a visionary for the new era.