1
1
0
Officers
Trivia
Responses: 6
1
1
0
1
1
0
This is Jimmy Doolittle. General Doolittle is one of the most important people of the 20th century. Besides being a daredevil flyer in the 20s and 30’s, he worked on high octane fuels at MIT. He also essentially invented instrument flying, telling the Press he would take off, fly around, and land – all without seeing the ground at all. His commanding officer said, “No you absolutely will not.”
So Doolittle had a guy in the front cockpit, but he did in fact take off, fly around and land without seeing the ground.
He led the Doolittle raid from the USS Hornet for which he received the Medal Of Honor.
Later he commanded the 8th Air Force as it wrecked the German Air Force in 1944.
So Doolittle had a guy in the front cockpit, but he did in fact take off, fly around and land without seeing the ground.
He led the Doolittle raid from the USS Hornet for which he received the Medal Of Honor.
Later he commanded the 8th Air Force as it wrecked the German Air Force in 1944.
(1)
(0)
Capt Walter Miller
In July 1923, after serving as a test pilot and aeronautical engineer at McCook Field, Doolittle entered the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. In March 1924, he conducted aircraft acceleration tests at McCook Field, which became the basis of his master's thesis and led to his second Distinguished Flying Cross. He received his M.S. in Aeronautics from MIT in June 1924. Because the Army had given him two years to get his degree and he had done it in just one, he immediately started working on his Sc.D. in Aeronautics, which he received in June 1925. He said that he considered his master's work more significant than his doctorate.
Instrument flight
Bust of General Doolittle at the Imperial War Museum, Duxford
Doolittle's most important contribution to aeronautical technology was the development of instrument flying. He was the first to recognize that true operational freedom in the air could not be achieved unless pilots developed the ability to control and navigate aircraft in flight, from takeoff run to landing rollout, regardless of the range of vision from the cockpit. Doolittle was the first to envision that a pilot could be trained to use instruments to fly through fog, clouds, precipitation of all forms, darkness, or any other impediment to visibility; and in spite of the pilot's own possibly convoluted motion sense inputs. Even at this early stage, the ability to control aircraft was getting beyond the motion sense capability of the pilot. That is, as aircraft became faster and more maneuverable, pilots could become seriously disoriented without visual cues from outside the cockpit, because aircraft could move in ways that pilots' senses could not accurately decipher.
Doolittle was also the first to recognize these psycho-physiological limitations of the human senses (particularly the motion sense inputs, i.e., up, down, left, right). He initiated the study of the subtle interrelationships between the psychological effects of visual cues and motion senses. His research resulted in programs that trained pilots to read and understand navigational instruments. A pilot learned to "trust his instruments," not his senses, as visual cues and his motion sense inputs (what he sensed and "felt") could be incorrect or unreliable.
In 1929, he became the first pilot to take off, fly and land an airplane using instruments alone, without a view outside the cockpit. Having returned to Mitchel Field that September, he assisted in the development of fog flying equipment. He helped develop, and was then the first to test, the now universally used artificial horizon and directional gyroscope. He attracted wide newspaper attention with this feat of "blind" flying and later received the Harmon Trophy for conducting the experiments. These accomplishments made all-weather airline operations practical.
In January 1930, he advised the Army on the construction of Floyd Bennett Field in New York City. Doolittle resigned his regular commission on February 15, 1930, and was commissioned a Major in the Air Reserve Corps a month later, being named manager of the Aviation Department of Shell Oil Company, in which capacity he conducted numerous aviation tests.[3] While in the Reserve, he also returned to temporary active duty with the Army frequently to conduct tests.
Doolittle helped influence Shell Oil Company to produce the first quantities of 100 octane aviation gasoline. High octane fuel was crucial to the high-performance planes that were developed in the late 1930s.
Instrument flight
Bust of General Doolittle at the Imperial War Museum, Duxford
Doolittle's most important contribution to aeronautical technology was the development of instrument flying. He was the first to recognize that true operational freedom in the air could not be achieved unless pilots developed the ability to control and navigate aircraft in flight, from takeoff run to landing rollout, regardless of the range of vision from the cockpit. Doolittle was the first to envision that a pilot could be trained to use instruments to fly through fog, clouds, precipitation of all forms, darkness, or any other impediment to visibility; and in spite of the pilot's own possibly convoluted motion sense inputs. Even at this early stage, the ability to control aircraft was getting beyond the motion sense capability of the pilot. That is, as aircraft became faster and more maneuverable, pilots could become seriously disoriented without visual cues from outside the cockpit, because aircraft could move in ways that pilots' senses could not accurately decipher.
Doolittle was also the first to recognize these psycho-physiological limitations of the human senses (particularly the motion sense inputs, i.e., up, down, left, right). He initiated the study of the subtle interrelationships between the psychological effects of visual cues and motion senses. His research resulted in programs that trained pilots to read and understand navigational instruments. A pilot learned to "trust his instruments," not his senses, as visual cues and his motion sense inputs (what he sensed and "felt") could be incorrect or unreliable.
In 1929, he became the first pilot to take off, fly and land an airplane using instruments alone, without a view outside the cockpit. Having returned to Mitchel Field that September, he assisted in the development of fog flying equipment. He helped develop, and was then the first to test, the now universally used artificial horizon and directional gyroscope. He attracted wide newspaper attention with this feat of "blind" flying and later received the Harmon Trophy for conducting the experiments. These accomplishments made all-weather airline operations practical.
In January 1930, he advised the Army on the construction of Floyd Bennett Field in New York City. Doolittle resigned his regular commission on February 15, 1930, and was commissioned a Major in the Air Reserve Corps a month later, being named manager of the Aviation Department of Shell Oil Company, in which capacity he conducted numerous aviation tests.[3] While in the Reserve, he also returned to temporary active duty with the Army frequently to conduct tests.
Doolittle helped influence Shell Oil Company to produce the first quantities of 100 octane aviation gasoline. High octane fuel was crucial to the high-performance planes that were developed in the late 1930s.
(1)
(0)
Capt Walter Miller
Doolittle's breakthrough in fighter tactics
Doolittle's major influence on the European air war occurred early in the year when he changed the policy requiring escorting fighters to remain with the bombers at all times. With his permission, initially performed with P-38s and P-47s, as both previous types were being steadily replaced with the long-ranged P-51s as the spring of 1944 wore on, American fighter pilots on bomber defense missions would primarily be flying far ahead of the bombers' combat box formations in air supremacy mode, literally "clearing the skies" of any Luftwaffe fighter opposition heading towards the target. This strategy fatally disabled the twin-engined Zerstörergeschwader heavy fighter wings and their replacement, single-engined Sturmgruppen of heavily armed Fw 190As, clearing each force of bomber destroyers in their turn from Germany's skies throughout most of 1944. As part of this game-changing strategy, especially after the bombers had hit their targets, the USAAF's fighters were then free to strafe German airfields and transport while returning to base, contributing significantly to the achievement of air superiority by Allied air forces over Europe.
Doolittle's major influence on the European air war occurred early in the year when he changed the policy requiring escorting fighters to remain with the bombers at all times. With his permission, initially performed with P-38s and P-47s, as both previous types were being steadily replaced with the long-ranged P-51s as the spring of 1944 wore on, American fighter pilots on bomber defense missions would primarily be flying far ahead of the bombers' combat box formations in air supremacy mode, literally "clearing the skies" of any Luftwaffe fighter opposition heading towards the target. This strategy fatally disabled the twin-engined Zerstörergeschwader heavy fighter wings and their replacement, single-engined Sturmgruppen of heavily armed Fw 190As, clearing each force of bomber destroyers in their turn from Germany's skies throughout most of 1944. As part of this game-changing strategy, especially after the bombers had hit their targets, the USAAF's fighters were then free to strafe German airfields and transport while returning to base, contributing significantly to the achievement of air superiority by Allied air forces over Europe.
(1)
(0)
SFC Joe S. Davis Jr., MSM, DSL
Capt Walter Miller well said and elequently conveyed. I couldn't have said it better (sweet)!
(1)
(0)
Capt Walter Miller
Once in Africa, Gen. Eisenhower needed Doolittle at once - not available - out flying the latest mark of Spitfire.
"You need to decide if you want to command an air force, or fly fighters. Make a choice," Ike told him.
After he took over the 8th AF, he recalled the whole force over the channel a couple of times due to bad weather coming in from the west. By the time the force returned -had it continued to German targets-, it would have been greeted by all the bases socked in with bad weather.
Gen. Spaatz bitched him out: "I wonder if you've got the guts to command a really big air force."
Not long after that, Spaatz and Doolittle were traveling in a B-17 together. Couldn't get down, all socked in. The pilot was a peace time trained colonel. He finally got it down in a field, stopping right in front of a rock wall.
No more recriminations about bad weather.
Gen.Doolittle was not overly popular with the rank and file pilots and crew. The tour was lengthened from 25 missions, then 30, then 35. But by then the German fighter force was a shadow of what it had been.
Walt
"You need to decide if you want to command an air force, or fly fighters. Make a choice," Ike told him.
After he took over the 8th AF, he recalled the whole force over the channel a couple of times due to bad weather coming in from the west. By the time the force returned -had it continued to German targets-, it would have been greeted by all the bases socked in with bad weather.
Gen. Spaatz bitched him out: "I wonder if you've got the guts to command a really big air force."
Not long after that, Spaatz and Doolittle were traveling in a B-17 together. Couldn't get down, all socked in. The pilot was a peace time trained colonel. He finally got it down in a field, stopping right in front of a rock wall.
No more recriminations about bad weather.
Gen.Doolittle was not overly popular with the rank and file pilots and crew. The tour was lengthened from 25 missions, then 30, then 35. But by then the German fighter force was a shadow of what it had been.
Walt
(0)
(0)
Read This Next
Continue with Facebook 
Continue with Google