![]() The triumph earned him the Distinguished Flying Cross. Doolittle took off from Pablo Beach, Florida, and used his crude navigational instruments to make it to San Diego in 21 hours and 19 minutes with only one refueling stop. ![]() His first major feat: In September 1922, he completed the first cross-country flight in a DH-4 Liberty, the only U.S.-built aircraft used in World War I. But he eventually settled down and quickly became an accomplished pilot thanks to the tireless practice he put into honing his skills. In his early days of flying, he pulled some reckless stunts - including walking on the wings of aircrafts while in flight - that got him grounded a few times. In July 1920, Doolittle received his regular commission while he continued to take mechanical and aeronautical engineering courses to be a test pilot. On March 11, 1918, Doolittle was commissioned as a second lieutenant into the Signal Corps’ Aviation Section however, the war ended before he had a chance to fly in action. Two months later, he married his high school sweetheart, Josephine Daniels. He left college in October 1917 during his senior year to enlist as a flying cadet in the Army Reserve. City College) before transferring to the University of California, Berkley, where he spent three years studying to be a mining engineer.īy now, World War I was raging in Europe, and Doolittle wanted to be part of the action. He was penniless within a year, so he made the return trip to L.A. ![]() ![]() The agility he learned from those fights made him a good gymnast, too.ĭoolittle and his mother moved to Los Angeles in 1908, where he continued to show off his fighting skills as a young professional - even becoming an amateur boxing champion in 1912 at the age of 16.Īfter graduating high school in 1914, Doolittle moved back to Alaska to be with his father, but the change was short-lived. He was a small boy, so he grew up scrappy and got into fights often to defend himself from bullies. A Competitor from the Startĭoolittle likely honed his sense of competitiveness and adventure in the wilderness. Two years later, he and his mother, Rosa, moved to the frontier to join him. When he was still an infant, his father, Frank, moved to Nome, Alaska, to try to capitalize on the gold rush there. ![]() James Harold Doolittle was born near San Francisco on Dec. ![]()
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