Doolittle may refer to:

• Doolittle (album), a 1989 album by Pixies
• Doolittle, Missouri, a town in Missouri, United States

People with the surname[link]

• Amos Doolittle (1754-1832), American engraver and silversmith
• Bev Doolittle, American painter
• Charles Doolittle (1832-1903), American Civil War general
• Dudley Doolittle (1881-1957), American Congressman from Kansas, United States
• Eliza Doolittle (singer) (born 1988), British singer
• Ford Doolittle, American biochemist
• Hilda Doolittle (1886-1961), American poet
• Jimmy Doolittle, American aviation pioneer, recipient of the Medal of Honor
• James Rood Doolittle (1815-1897), American politician
• John Doolittle, American Congressman from California, United States
• Justus Doolittle (1824-1880), American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions missionary to Fuhchau, China
• Melinda Doolittle, American singer
• Russell Doolittle, American biochemist
• Sean Doolittle, American baseball player
• Sean Doolittle (author), American novelist
• William H. Doolittle (1848-1914), American Congressman from Washington, United States
• Eliza Doolittle, a fictional flower vendor, and main character of the play Pygmalion and its musical adaptation, My Fair Lady

See also[link]

• Doolittle Raid, a bombing raid on Tokyo in World War II
• Doctor Dolittle (disambiguation), similar name

This disambiguation page lists articles associated with the same title. If an internal link led you here, you may wish to change the link to point directly to the intended article.

Melinda Doolittle
Melinda Doolittle in The American Idol Experience motorcade at Walt Disney World.
Background information
Birth name	Melinda Marie Doolittle
Born	(1977-10-06) October 6, 1977 (age 34)
Origin	Brentwood, Tennessee, United States
Genres	Gospel, soul, R&B, jazz
Occupations	Singer, backup singer
Years active	1999—present
Labels	MPCA (2007-present) Hi Fi Recordings (2008-Present)
Associated acts	Michael W. Smith
Website	www.melindadoolittle.com

Melinda Marie Doolittle (born October 6, 1977) is an American singer who finished as the third place finalist on the sixth season of American Idol. ^[1] Prior to her appearance on American Idol, Doolittle worked as a professional back-up singer for, among others, Michael McDonald, Kirk Franklin, Aaron Neville, BeBe and CeCe Winans, Alabama, Jonny Lang, Vanessa Bell Armstrong, Carman, and Anointed.

Personal life[link]

Doolittle was born in St. Louis, Missouri to Steve and Marguerite Duke Doolittle but considers Brentwood, Tennessee to be home; her Homecoming was held there after she made the Top 3 on American Idol season 6. She graduated from Union High School in Tulsa, Oklahoma, in 1995.^[2]

When Doolittle told her mom that she wanted to sing at a young group talent show, her mom searched for the right words that were honest yet not going to crush her daughter’s dreams. “The first thing my mom said was, ‘Baby, you’re going to have to pray — HARD,'” says Doolittle, “and that is what I did.” For a month, she prayed harder than she had ever prayed before and she practiced and practiced. “The night of the talent show, I got to the youth group,” says Doolittle, “My youth pastor had heard me sing before and he knew the potential for disaster but he still believed in me. When I walked onto the stage I heard the music start, I closed my eyes and opened my mouth and a different voice came out.” Miraculously she sang with perfect pitch that night and brought down the house. She then realized that her life could be much bigger than she realized. From that point on not only could Doolittle sing but she could hear harmonies.^[3]

Although she has been singing since the seventh grade, her professional career did not begin until 1999. She was a music major at Belmont University.^[4] Since college, her vocal instruction has been provided by Janet Kenyon.^[5]

American Idol[link]

Audition[link]

Doolittle first auditioned for American Idol in Memphis, Tennessee. She went down to Memphis with some friends who were auditioning and decided to audition for fun. She sang the song "For Once in My Life", which was popularized by one of her favorite artists, Stevie Wonder. Her audition received positive feedback from all three judges, although they expressed concern about the nerves she had exhibited and told her to believe in herself.

Semi-finals[link]

Doolittle managed to secure herself a spot in the Top 24, who all performed on national television. During her first broadcast performance, Doolittle was highly praised for her rendition of "Sweet Sweet Baby (Since You’ve Been Gone)", by Aretha Franklin. The following week, Doolittle pulled off another winning performance with the song "My Funny Valentine". According to the judges, it was "without question the best vocal of the night.", and it ranked number three in AOL Top 20 Idol Performances. Simon called the performance "incredible" and Paula called it "just astounding...You phrased that song so beautifully, so differently...I applaud you." For her last semifinal performance, Doolittle performed the song "I'm a Woman", causing Simon Cowell to call her "a little tiger," continuing: "I thought we had a pussycat." On March 8, 2007, Doolittle made it into the show's Top 12.

Finals[link]

Doolittle received very consistent praise from the judges for her performances and was never in a bottom two or three prior to her elimination. She was eliminated on May 16, 2007 and finished in third place.

[edit] American Idol performances

[edit] Post-Idol

Two days after the American Idol Season Finale, Doolittle appeared alongside the other nine top ten contestants on Larry King Live. In an exclusive interview with Good Morning America, Simon Cowell stated that the season six title of American Idol should have rightfully gone to Doolittle.^[6]

Doolittle was part of the 2007 American Idols tour, along with her fellow top 10 contestants. Her performances included "Proud Mary", which she sang as a duet with Sanjaya Malakar (joked by many critics to compare 'the best and the worst' of Season 6), a Supremes tribute with LaKisha Jones, and a solo rendition of "(You Make Me Feel Like) A Natural Woman".

Writer Stephen Holden of The New York Times described Doolittle as a "phenomenally gifted, stylistically adroit [...] Gladys Knight-Tina Turner hybrid [who] brings a compelling honesty to every phrase she sings," and predicted a successful post-Idol career for her.^[7]

Doolittle performing for President George W. Bush, Laura Bush and guests in the East Room of the White House, during a social dinner in honor of America's Promise—The Alliance for Youth, November 2007

Doolittle sang "The Star-Spangled Banner" at Game 5 of the 2007 NBA Eastern Conference Finals between the Cleveland Cavaliers and Detroit Pistons.^[8]

She was part of the Michael W. Smith and friends Caribbean Cruise in July 2008 as a guest performer, and joined him on his Christmas tour the same year.^[9] She is featured with Smith on the song "Amazing Love" on the soundtrack to Billy: The Early Years.^[10]

She has participated in several episodes of a BlogTalkRadio web show called "Moments With Melinda" where fans can call and talk to her. Doolittle also contributed to the book Chicken Soup for the American Idol Soul.

Her first single, "My Funny Valentine", was released by Sony BMG in February 2008 through iTunes and Amazon MP3 Downloads. Doolittle stated that she planned to work on a CD of "soul music";^[11] it was announced in July 2008 that she had signed with the independent label Hi Fi Recordings, which released her debut CD, Coming Back to You, on February 3, 2009. In its first month, the CD sold over 30,000 copies.^[12][13] Since its release, the album has sold over 53,000 copies.^[14]

Author[link]

Beyond Me: Finding Your Way to Life's Next Level is a book written by Doolittle about her life before during and after her American Idol experience. It was released April 20, 2010.^[15]

Philanthropy[link]

Melinda Doolittle and Laura Bush are greeted by a chorus of singers at the Mututa Memorial Center on June 28, 2007.

In June 2007, Doolittle visited Zambia with Laura Bush and the Malaria No More organization to distribute life-saving bed nets and raise awareness. As part of the trip, she performed with a praise band at the Miracle Life Family Church in Lusaka.

On November 3, 2007, Nicole Lapin interviewed Doolittle for CNN's Young People Who Rock series.^[16] In the interview she refers to her support for the Malaria No More campaign^[17] and how donating bed nets can help to eradicate malaria from the African continent. She specifically mentions her supportive fans who have donated bed nets on her behalf at each of the 59 venues of the American Idol tour and who also made a large donation on her birthday.

Discography[link]

Studio albums[link]

Extended plays[link]

Singles[link]

References[link]

External links[link]

• Official site
• Melinda Doolittle at American Idol
• Melinda Doolittle at the Internet Movie Database
• Doolittle's credits on Allmusic
• Doolittle's MySpace site

James Harold Doolittle
Lt Gen. James Doolittle
Nickname	"Jimmy"
Born	(1896-12-14)December 14, 1896 Alameda, California
Died	September 27, 1993(1993-09-27) (aged 96) Pebble Beach, California
Place of burial	Arlington National Cemetery
Allegiance	United States of America
Service/branch	United States Air Force United States Army Air Forces United States Army Air Corps United States Army Air Service Aviation Section, U.S. Signal Corps
Years of service	1917–1959
Rank	General
Commands held	Twelfth Air Force Fifteenth Air Force Eighth Air Force
Battles/wars	Mexican Border Service World War I (Stateside Duty) World War II *Pacific Campaign *Mediterranean Campaign * European Campaign Cold War * Korean War (Stateside Duty)
Awards	Medal of Honor Distinguished Service Medal (2) Silver Star Distinguished Flying Cross (3) Air Medal (4)
Other work	Shell Oil, VP, Director Space Technology Laboratories, Chairman

General James Harold "Jimmy" Doolittle, USAF (December 14, 1896 – September 27, 1993) was an American aviation pioneer. Doolittle served as an officer in the United States Army Air Forces during the Second World War. He earned the Medal of Honor for his valor and leadership as commander of the Doolittle Raid while a lieutenant colonel.

Early life and education[link]

Doolittle was born in Alameda, California, and spent his youth in Nome, Alaska, where he earned a reputation as a boxer. His parents were Frank Henry Doolittle and Rosa (Rose) Cerenah Shephard. By 1910, Jimmy Doolittle was attending school in Los Angeles. When his school attended the 1910 Los Angeles International Air Meet at Dominguez Field Doolittle saw his first airplane.^[1] He attended Los Angeles City College after graduating from Manual Arts High School in Los Angeles, and later won admission to the University of California, Berkeley where he studied in The School of Mines. He was a member of Theta Kappa Nu fraternity. Doolittle took a leave of absence in October 1917 to enlist in the Signal Corps Reserve as a flying cadet; he ground trained at the University of California School of Military Aeronautics, and flight-trained at Rockwell Field, California. Doolittle received his Reserve Military Aviator rating and was commissioned a first lieutenant in the Signal Officers Reserve Corps on March 11, 1918.

Military career[link]

During World War I, Doolittle stayed in the United States as a flight instructor and performed his war service at Camp John Dick Aviation Concentration Center ("Camp Dick"), Texas; Wright Field, Ohio; Gerstner Field, Louisiana; Rockwell Field, California; Kelly Field, Texas and Eagle Pass, Texas.

Doolittle on his Curtiss R3C-2 Racer, the plane in which he won the 1925 Schneider Trophy Race

Doolittle's service at Rockwell Field consisted of duty as a flight leader and gunnery instructor. At Kelly Field, he served with the 104th Aero Squadron and with the 90th Aero Squadron of the 1st Surveillance Group. His detachment of the 90th Aero Squadron was based at Eagle Pass, patrolling the Mexican border. Qualifying for retention in the Air Service during demobilization at the end of the war, Doolittle received a Regular Army commission as a 1st Lieutenant, Air Service, on July 1, 1920. Subsequently, he attended the Air Service Mechanical School at Kelly Field and the Aeronautical Engineering Course at McCook Field, Ohio.

Having at last returned to complete his college degree, he earned the Bachelor of Arts from the University of California, Berkeley in 1922, and joined the Lambda Chi Alpha Fraternity.

Doolittle was one of the most famous pilots during the inter-war period. In September 1922, he made the first of many pioneering flights, flying a de Havilland DH-4 – which was equipped with early navigational instruments – in the first cross-country flight, from Pablo Beach (renamed Jacksonville Beach), Florida, to Rockwell Field, San Diego, California, in 21 hours and 19 minutes, making only one refueling stop at Kelly Field. The U.S. Army awarded him the Distinguished Flying Cross.

Doolittle in a pre-World War II photo

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 S.M. 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.

Following graduation, Doolittle attended special training in high-speed seaplanes at Naval Air Station Anacostia in Washington, D.C.. He also served with the Naval Test Board at Mitchel Field, Long Island, New York, and was a familiar figure in air speed record attempts in the New York area. He won the Schneider Cup race in a Curtiss R3C in 1925 with an average speed of 232 MPH.^[2] For that feat, Doolittle was awarded the Mackay Trophy in 1926.

In April 1926, Doolittle was given a leave of absence to go to South America to perform demonstration flights. In Chile, he broke both ankles, but put his P-1 Hawk through aerial maneuvers with his ankles in casts. He returned to the United States, and was confined to Walter Reed Army Hospital for his injuries until April 1927. Doolittle was then assigned to McCook Field for experimental work, with additional duty as an instructor pilot to the 385th Bomb Squadron of the Air Corps Reserve. During this time, in 1927 he was the first to perform an outside loop previously thought to be a fatal maneuver. Carried out in a Curtiss fighter at Wright Field in Ohio, Doolittle executed the dive from 10,000 feet, reached 280 miles per hour, bottomed out upside down, then climbed and completed the loop.

Instrument flight[link]

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 confused 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 building of Floyd Bennett Field in New York City. Doolittle resigned his regular commission on February 15, 1930, and was commissioned a major in the Specialist 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] He also returned to 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.

In 1931, Doolittle won the Bendix Trophy Race from Burbank, California, to Cleveland, Ohio, in a Laird Super Solution biplane.

In 1932, Doolittle set the world's high speed record for land planes at 296 miles per hour in the Shell Speed Dash. Later, he took the Thompson Trophy Race at Cleveland in the notorious Gee Bee R-1 racer with a speed averaging 252 miles per hour. After having won the three big air racing trophies of the time, the Schneider, Bendix, and Thompson, he officially retired from air racing stating, "I have yet to hear anyone engaged in this work dying of old age."

In April 1934, Doolittle became a member of the Baker Board. Chaired by former Secretary of War Newton D. Baker, the board was convened during the Air Mail scandal to study Air Corps organization. A year later, Doolittle transferred to the Air Corps Reserve. In 1940, he became president of the Institute of Aeronautical Science. He returned to active duty July 1, 1940, as a major and assistant district supervisor of the Central Air Corps Procurement District at Indianapolis, Indiana, and Detroit, Michigan, where he worked with large auto manufacturers on the conversion of their plants for production of planes. The following August, he went to England as a member of a special mission and brought back information about other countries' air forces and military build-ups.

The Doolittle Raid[link]

Lt Col James H. Doolittle, USAAF (front), leader of the raiding force, wires a Japanese medal to a 500-pound bomb, during ceremonies on the flight deck of USS Hornet (CV-8), shortly before his force of sixteen B-25B bombers took off for Japan. The planes were launched on April 18, 1942.

Shortly after the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941, and America's entry into World War II, Doolittle was recalled to active duty. He was promoted to Lieutenant Colonel on January 2, 1942, and assigned to Army Air Forces Headquarters to plan the first retaliatory air raid on the Japanese homeland. He volunteered for and received General H.H. Arnold's approval to lead the top-secret attack of 16 B-25 medium bombers from the aircraft carrier USS Hornet, with targets in Tokyo, Kobe, Yokohama, Osaka, and Nagoya. On April 18, all the bombers successfully took off from the Hornet, reached Japan, and bombed their targets. Fifteen of the planes then headed for their recovery airfield in China, while one crew chose to land in Russia due to their bomber's unusually high fuel consumption. As did most of the other crewmen who participated in the mission, Doolittle's crew bailed out safely over China when their bomber ran out of fuel. By then they had been flying for about 12 hours, it was nighttime, the weather was stormy, and Doolittle was unable to locate their landing field. Doolittle came down in a rice paddy (saving a previously injured ankle from breaking) near Chuchow (Quzhou). He and his crew linked up after the bailout and were helped through Japanese lines by Chinese guerrillas and American missionary John Birch. Other aircrews were not so fortunate. Although most eventually reached safety with the help of friendly Chinese, several crewmembers lost their lives after being captured by the Japanese, who occupied many areas along the China coast. Doolittle went on to fly more combat missions as commander of the 12th Air Force in North Africa, for which he was awarded four Air Medals. The other surviving members of the raid also went on to new assignments.

Doolittle received the Medal of Honor from President Franklin D. Roosevelt at the White House for planning and leading his raid on Japan. His citation reads: "For conspicuous leadership above and beyond the call of duty, involving personal valor and intrepidity at an extreme hazard to life. With the apparent certainty of being forced to land in enemy territory or to perish at sea, Lt. Col. Doolittle personally led a squadron of Army bombers, manned by volunteer crews, in a highly destructive raid on the Japanese mainland."

The Doolittle Raid is viewed by historians as a major morale-building victory for the United States. Although the damage done to Japanese war industry was minor, the raid showed the Japanese that their homeland was vulnerable to air attack, and forced them to withdraw several front-line fighter units from Pacific war zones for homeland defense. More significantly, Japanese commanders considered the raid deeply embarrassing, and their attempt to close the perceived gap in their Pacific defense perimeter led directly to the decisive American victory during the Battle of Midway in June 1942.

When asked from where the Tokyo raid was launched, President Roosevelt coyly said its base was Shangri-La, a fictional paradise from the popular novel Lost Horizon. In the same vein, the US Navy named one of its carriers the USS Shangri-La.

World War II, post-raid[link]

Lt Gen Jimmy Doolittle with Maj Gen Curtis LeMay standing in front of a Lockheed P-38 Lightning in Britain, 1944.

In July 1942, as a Brigadier General – he had been promoted by two grades on the day after the Tokyo attack, by-passing the rank of full colonel – Doolittle was assigned to the nascent Eighth Air Force and in September became commanding general of the Twelfth Air Force in North Africa. He was promoted to Major General in November 1942, and in March 1943 became commanding general of the Northwest African Strategic Air Forces, a unified command of U.S. Army Air Force and Royal Air Force units.

Maj. Gen. Doolittle took command of the Fifteenth Air Force in the Mediterranean Theater of Operations in November 1943. On June 10, he flew as co-pilot with Jack Sims, fellow Tokyo Raider, in a B-26 Marauder of the 320th Bombardment Group, 442nd Bombardment Squadron on a mission to attack gun emplacements at Pantelleria. Doolittle continued to fly, despite the risk of capture, while being privy to the Ultra secret, which was that the German encryption systems had been broken by the British.^[4] From January 1944 to September 1945, he held his largest command, the Eighth Air Force (8 AF) in England as a Lieutenant General, his promotion date being March 13, 1944 and the highest rank ever held by a reserve officer in modern times. 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, P-38s, P-47s, and P-51s on escort missions strafed German airfields and transport while returning to base, contributing significantly to the achievement of air supremacy by Allied Air Forces over Europe.

After the end of the European war, the Eighth Air Force was re-equipped with B-29 Superfortress bombers and started to relocate to Okinawa in the Pacific. Two bomb groups had begun to arrive on August 7. However, the 8th was not scheduled to be at full strength until February 1946 and Doolittle declined to rush 8th Air Force units into combat saying that "If the war is over, I will not risk one airplane nor a single bomber crew member just to be able to say the 8th Air Force had operated against the Japanese in the Pacific".

Personalized photo of General Jimmy Doolittle.

Doolittle is awarded a fourth star, pinned on by President Ronald Reagan (left) and Senator Barry Goldwater (right), April 10, 1985.

Postwar[link]

On May 10, 1946, Doolittle reverted to inactive reserve status at the grade of lieutenant general. He returned to Shell Oil as a vice president, and later as a director. In 1947, Doolittle became the first president of the Air Force Association, an organization which he helped create.

In March 1951, Doolittle was appointed a special assistant to the Chief of Staff of the Air Force, serving as a civilian in scientific matters which led to Air Force ballistic missile and space programs. In 1952, following a string of three air crashes in two months at Elizabeth, New Jersey, Harry S. Truman appointed him to lead a presidential commission examining the safety of urban airports. The report "Airports And Their Neighbours" led to zoning requirements for buildings near approaches, early noise control requirements, and initial work on "super airports" with 10,000 ft runways, suited to 150 ton aircraft.

In 1954, President Dwight D. Eisenhower asked Doolittle to perform a study of the Central Intelligence Agency; The resulting work was known as the Doolittle Report, 1954, and was classified for a number of years.

Doolittle retired from Air Force duty on February 28, 1959. He remained active in other capacities, including chairman of the board of TRW Space Technology Laboratories.

In 1972, Doolittle received the Tony Jannus Award for his distinguished contributions to commercial aviation, in recognition of the development of instrument flight.

On April 4, 1985, the U.S. Congress promoted Doolittle to the rank of full General on the Air Force retired list. In a later ceremony, President Ronald Reagan and U.S. Senator and retired Air Force Reserve Major General Barry Goldwater pinned on Doolittle's four-star insignia.

In addition to his Medal of Honor for the Tokyo raid, Doolittle also received the Presidential Medal of Freedom, two Distinguished Service Medals, the Silver Star, three Distinguished Flying Crosses, the Bronze Star, four Air Medals, and decorations from Great Britain, France, Belgium, Poland, China, and Ecuador. He is the only person to be awarded both the Medal of Honor and the Medal of Freedom, the nation's two highest honors. Doolittle was awarded the Public Welfare Medal from the National Academy of Sciences in 1959.^[5] In 1983, he was awarded the United States Military Academy's Sylvanus Thayer Award. He was inducted in the Motorsports Hall of Fame of America as the only member of the air racing category in the inaugural class of 1989, and into the Aerospace Walk of Honor in the inaugural class of 1990. The headquarters of the United States Air Force Academy Association of Graduates (on the grounds of the United States Air Force Academy), Doolittle Hall, is named in his honor.

On May 9, 2007, The new 12th Air Force Combined Air Operations Center, Building 74, at Davis-Monthan Air Force Base, Tucson, Arizona, was named in his honor as the "General James H. Doolittle Center." Several surviving members of the Doolittle Raid were in attendance during the ribbon cutting ceremony.

Doolittle photographed in 1986.

Personal life[link]

Doolittle married Josephine E. Daniels on December 24, 1917. At a dinner celebration after Jimmy Doolittle’s first all-instrument flight in 1929, "Joe" Doolittle asked her guests to sign her white damask tablecloth. Later, she embroidered the names in black. She continued this tradition, collecting hundreds of signatures from the aviation world. The tablecloth was donated to the Smithsonian. Married for over 70 years, Joe Doolittle died in 1988, five years before her husband.

The Doolittles had two sons, James Jr., and John. Both became military aviators. James Jr was an A-26 Invader pilot during World War II and committed suicide at the age of thirty-eight in 1958.^[6] At the time of his death, James Jr was commander of the 524th Fighter-Bomber Squadron and piloted a F-101 Voodoo.^[7]

His other son, John P. Doolittle, retired from the Air Force as a Colonel, and his grandson, Colonel James H. Doolittle, III, was the vice commander of the Air Force Flight Test Center, Edwards Air Force Base, California.

James H. "Jimmy" Doolittle died at the age of 96 in Pebble Beach, California on September 27, 1993, and is buried at Arlington National Cemetery in Virginia, near Washington, D.C., next to his wife.^[8] In his honor at the funeral, there was also a flyover of Miss Mitchell, a lone B-25 Mitchell, and USAF Eighth Air Force bombers from Barksdale Air Force Base, Louisiana. After a brief graveside service, Doolittle's great-grandson played Taps flawlessly.

Honors and awards[link]

Military honors[link]

Medal of Honor citation[link]

Citation:

For conspicuous leadership above the call of duty, involving personal valor and intrepidity at an extreme hazard to life. With the apparent certainty of being forced to land in enemy territory or to perish at sea, Gen. Doolittle personally led a squadron of Army bombers, manned by volunteer crews, in a highly destructive raid on the Japanese mainland.^[9]

Army Distinguished Service medal citation[link]

Citation:

The President of the United States of America, authorized by Act of Congress July 9, 1918, takes pleasure in presenting the Army Distinguished Service Medal to Major General James Harold Doolittle (ASN: 0-271855), United States Army Air Forces, for exceptionally meritorious and distinguished services to the Government of the United States, in a duty of great responsibility as Commander of the Northwest African Strategic Air Force since its organization. Under his guidance and direction, this Force has developed a high degree of efficiency and accuracy and brought about, in great measure, a critical reduction in the supplies and reinforcements needed by the enemy. General Doolittle's energy, good judgment, exceptional qualities of leadership and wholehearted cooperation were primary factors in the ultimate success of air operations during the Tunisian Campaign.^[10]

Distinguished Flying Cross citations[link]

1st Citation:

The President of the United States of America, authorized by Act of Congress, July 2, 1926, takes pleasure in presenting the Distinguished Flying Cross to First Lieutenant (Air Service) James Harold Doolittle (ASN: 0-271855), U.S. Army Air Corps, for extraordinary achievement while participating in an aerial flight. On 4–5 September 1922, Lieutenant Doolittle accomplished a one-stop flight from Pablo Beach, Florida, to San Diego, California, in 22 hours and 30 minutes elapsed time, an extraordinary achievement with the equipment available at that time. By his skill, endurance, and resourcefulness he demonstrated the possibility of moving Air Corps units to any portion of the United States in less than 24 hours, thus reflecting great credit on himself and to the Army of the United States.^[10]

2nd Citation:

The President of the United States of America, authorized by Act of Congress, July 2, 1926, takes pleasure in presenting a Bronze Oak Leaf Cluster in lieu of a Second Distinguished Flying Cross to First Lieutenant (Air Service) James Harold Doolittle (ASN: 0-271855), U.S. Army Air Corps, for extraordinary achievement while participating in an aerial flight. During March 1924, at McCook Field, Dayton, Ohio, Lieutenant Doolittle, piloting a Fokker PW-7 pursuit airplane, performed a series of acceleration tests requiring skill, initiative, endurance, and courage of the highest type. In these test a recording accelerometer was mounted in the airplane and the accelerations taken for the following maneuvers. Loops at various air speeds; single and multiple barrel rolls; power spirals; tail spins; power on and power off; half loop, half roll, and immelman turn; Inverted flight; pulling out of dive at various air speeds; flying the airplane on a level course with considerable angle of bank; and flying in bumpy air. In these test the airplane was put through the most extreme maneuvers possible in order that the flight loads imposed upon the wings of the airplane under extreme conditions of sir combat might, be ascertained. These test were put through with that fine combination of fearlessness and skill which constitutes the essence of distinguished flying. Through them scientific data of great and permanent importance to the Air Corps were obtained.^[10]

3rd Citation:

The President of the United States of America, authorized by Act of Congress, July 2, 1926, takes pleasure in presenting a Second Bronze Oak Leaf Cluster in lieu of a Third Distinguished Flying Cross to Colonel (Air Corps) James Harold Doolittle (ASN: 0-271855), United States Army Air Forces, for extraordinary achievement as Pilot of a B-25 Bomber and Commanding Officer of the 1st Special Aviation Project (Doolittle Raider Force), while participating in a highly destructive raid on the Japanese mainland on 18 April 1942. Colonel Doolittle with 79 other officers and enlisted men volunteered for this mission knowing full well that the chances of survival were extremely remote, and executed his part in it with great skill and daring. This achievement reflects high credit on himself and the military service.^[10]

Silver Star citation[link]

Citation:

The President of the United States of America, authorized by Act of Congress July 9, 1948, takes pleasure in presenting the Silver Star to Major General (Air Corps) James Harold Doolittle (ASN: 0-271855), United States Army Air Forces, for gallantry in action. Since 19 February 1943, when he took command of the Allied Strategic Air Force (Northwest Africa), General Doolittle, by his untiring energy, initiative and personal example has inspired the units under him to renewed successful efforts against the enemy. On 5 April 1943, the strategic air force was responsible for the destruction of forty eight enemy planes in the air and approximately 100 on the ground. This extraordinary achievement under the leadership of General Doolittle reflects great credit to himself and the armed forces of the United States.^[10]

Other honors[link]

Doolittle was also awarded the Bolivian Order of the Condor of the Andes, now in the collection of the Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum.^[11]

In 1972 James H. Doolittle was awarded the Horatio Alger Award which is given to those who are dedicated community leaders who demonstrate individual initiative and a commitment to excellence; as exemplified by remarkable achievements accomplished through honesty, hard work, self-reliance and perseverance over adversity. The Horatio Alger Association of Distinguished Americans, Inc. bears the name of the renowned author Horatio Alger, Jr., whose tales of overcoming adversity through unyielding perseverance and basic moral principles captivated the public in the late 19th century.^[12]

The Society of Experimental Test Pilots annually presents the James H. Doolittle Award in his memory. The award is for "outstanding accomplishment in technical management or engineering achievement in aerospace technology".

The city of Doolittle, Missouri, located 5 miles west of Rolla was named in his honor after World War II.

In popular culture[link]

• Spencer Tracy played Doolittle in Mervyn LeRoy's 1944 movie Thirty Seconds Over Tokyo. This portrayal has received much praise.
• Alec Baldwin played Doolittle in Michael Bay's 2001 movie Pearl Harbor. This portrayal caused much outrage amongst those who knew the general.
• Bob Clampett's 1946 cartoon Baby Bottleneck briefly portrays a dog named "Jimmy Do-quite-a-little", who invents a failed rocketship.

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See also[link]

• List of Medal of Honor recipients for World War II
• Aviation history

References[link]

Notes

Bibliography

• James H. Doolittle. I Could Never Be So Lucky Again. ISBN 0-88740-737-4, 0553584642. 
• Jonna Hoppes Doolittle. Calculated Risk. ISBN 1-891661-44-2. 
• Berliner, Don (December 2009/January 2010). "The Big Race of 1910". Air & Space 24 (6): 34–39. http://www.airspacemag.com/history-of-flight/The-Big-Race-of-1910.html. 
• "The 1925 Schneider Trophy Race". Flight (London): 703. October 29, 1925. http://www.flightglobal.com/pdfarchive/view/1925/1925%20-%200703.html. 
• SSG Cornelius Seon (Retired) (adapted public domain text). "United States Air Force". http://www.af.mil/history/person.asp?dec=1940&pid=123006483. Retrieved March 21, 2010. ^{[dead link]}

External links[link]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: James Harold Doolittle

• "Arlington National Cemetery Website – James Harold Doolittle". http://www.arlingtoncemetery.com/jdoolitt.htm. Retrieved March 21, 2010. 
• "Travis Air Museum, supporting the Jimmy Doolittle Air & Space Museum". http://www.jimmydoolittlemuseum.org. Retrieved March 21, 2010. 
• "Maritimequest Doolittle Raid Photo Gallery". http://www.maritimequest.com/misc_pages/doolittle_raid_april_1942_page_1.htm. Retrieved March 21, 2010. 
• William R. Wilson. "Article: Jimmy Doolittle Reminiscences About World War II". http://www.historynet.com/wars_conflicts/world_war_2/3038106.html. Retrieved March 21, 2010. 
• "Medal of Honor recipients on film". http://www.voicenet.com/~lpadilla/doolittle.html. Retrieved March 21, 2010. 
• "Interview with granddaughter Joanna Doolittle Hoppes at the Pritzker Military Library". http://www.pritzkermilitarylibrary.org/events/2006-02-16-jonnaDoolittleHoppes.jsp. Retrieved March 21, 2010. 
• "DoolittleRaiders.com". http://www.doolittleraider.com/. Retrieved March 21, 2010. 

Media

• The short film 15 AF HERITAGE – HIGH STRATEGY – BOMBER AND TANKERS TEAM (1980) is available for free download at the Internet Archive [more]
• The short film ACTIVITIES OF THE U.S. ARMY AIR SERVICE (1925) is available for free download at the Internet Archive [more]