James Doolittle

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2004-5-25

(THEME)

ANNOUNCER:

EXPLORATIONS, a program in Special English on the Voice of
America.

Today Shirley Griffith and Frank Oliver tell about a famous World
War Two pilot, Jimmy Doolittle.

(MUSIC)

VOICE ONE:

He was a scientist, an airplane engineer and a general in the
United States Army.

At one time, he held the record
for flying faster than any other person. He was the first pilot to
cross the United States in less than twenty-four hours. He was the
first pilot to fly "blind," that is, using only instruments to guide
his airplane. And, when his country entered World War Two, he led
one of the first successful attacks against the enemy.

VOICE TWO:

His name was James Harold Doolittle. But to the many thousands of
Americans, he was Jimmy...Jimmy Doolittle.

Jimmy Doolittle was born on December fourteenth,
Eighteen-Ninety-Six, in the western state of California. His family
soon moved to Nome, Alaska. Jimmy was a small boy. He never grew to
be very big. Yet larger boys made a mistake if they thought being
small also meant being weak. Jimmy would fight if someone tried to
hurt him. And he almost never lost.

VOICE ONE:

As a young man he became a boxing champion. He held the American
West Coast championship for his weight. He continued to box when he
entered the University of California to study mineral engineering.
He held both the lightweight and middleweight college boxing
championships.

VOICE TWO:

When the United States entered World War One, young Jimmy
Doolittle joined the Army. He also asked to be trained as a pilot.
On March Eighteenth, Nineteen-Eighteen, Jimmy passed the tests and
graduated from flight school. He had hoped to go to France and fight
in the war. The army, however, had him train other pilots. When the
war ended, Jimmy chose to stay in the army. He thought this would
give him a chance to combine his flying skills and his interest in
engineering.

VOICE ONE:

For most of the years between
World War One and World War Two, Jimmy Doolittle was involved in the
growth of the airplane industry. He helped test new airplanes. He
flew longer and longer distances. He also entered the world-famous
air races of the time. During the Nineteen-Twenties and Thirties,
airplane races were used to test new aircraft designs.

Jimmy Doolittle won three of the most important races, the
Schneider Marine Cup, the Bendix Trophy race and the Thompson Trophy
race. By now, most Americans knew the name Jimmy Doolittle.

VOICE TWO:

Perhaps Jimmy's most important work during this period involved
instrument flying. In the early years of aviation it was almost
impossible to fly in bad weather. Many pilots crashed in poor
conditions because they became lost. In a heavy fog, they could not
tell if they were going right, left, up or down. Many pilots and
aviation experts said the problem could not be solved. They said it
was impossible to fly in bad weather.

Jimmy Doolittle began working with experts who made flight
instruments. These instruments helped tell if the aircraft was going
up, going down or turning. The instruments helped a pilot fly
straight. Other instruments linked radios to a direction device to
help find the landing area.

VOICE ONE:

After ten months of tests, Jimmy Doolittle became the first pilot
to fly successfully in poor weather conditions. It was September
twenty-fourth, Nineteen-Twenty-Nine. It was impossible to see
because it was so foggy. He took his airplane off the ground, flew
for ten minutes, and then returned to land safely.

Jimmy Doolittle's test flight had shown that instruments could
help pilots fly. He proved that flying could be safe in almost any
kind of weather.

(SOUND)

VOICE TWO:

On December Seventh, Nineteen-Forty-One, Japan attacked the
United States navy base at Pearl Harbor, Hawaii. It was the
beginning of World War Two for the United States. In the next
several months, the Japanese won victory after victory in Asia. Many
people began to believe the Japanese could not be stopped. Many
Americans believed the west coast of the United States was in
extreme danger.

VOICE ONE:

President Roosevelt asked American military leaders to attack
Japan as soon as possible. He said the American public needed a
victory, even a small one, against Japan.

This would be extremely difficult. Japan controlled the western
Pacific area. Any attack would have to begin deep in Japanese-
controlled territory. The only possible way to attack Japan was to
fly large, two-engine bombing planes from a Navy carrier ship. It
had never been done. American military leaders began looking for
someone to lead the attack. They chose Jimmy Doolittle.

VOICE TWO:

The chosen airplane was called the
B-Twenty-Five Mitchell. It carried five men. From the beginning,
Jimmy Doolittle knew the airplanes might be able to take off from a
carrier. But he knew they could never land there. They were too big.
The planes would have to fly from the carrier to Japan and then land
in China.

The attack plan was a carefully guarded secret. The airplane
crews did not know anything about it. They were only told the flight
would be extremely dangerous. The sixteen airplanes and their crews
were placed on the aircraft carrier Hornet near San Francisco. Jimmy
Doolittle told his crews where they were going only after the
carrier was at sea.

VOICE ONE:

The plan was simple. The carrier would sail to within
six-hundred-fifty kilometers of the Japanese coast. The planes would
take off from the carrier, bomb Japan at night, and land in China in
the morning.

But problems sometimes develop, with even the best made plans. At
seven-thirty on the morning of April Eighteenth, Nineteen-Forty-Two,
Japanese patrol boats saw the carrier. It was still
one-thousand-fifty kilometers from the Japanese coast.

(SOUND)

VOICE TWO:

The plans changed immediately. Orders were given to launch the
planes. The bombing would be done during the day. The pilots started
the engines.

As everyone watched, Jimmy Doolittle flew the first aircraft off
the carrier deck. The winds were strong. The ship was moving up and
down in the high waves. But he made it look easy.

The others followed. The carrier turned around and sped back
toward the United States. Jimmy Doolittle and his air crews were
alone.

VOICE ONE:

Jimmy Doolittle led the way to Japan. Each of the sixteen planes
had different targets. Most of them bombed targets in Tokyo. Others
hit targets in Yokohama and Nagoya. All the aircraft safely left
Japan. One landed in the Soviet Union. Fifteen others tried to reach
the air fields in China. None did. The distance was too great. All
the planes ran out of fuel. Most of the crews were forced to jump
from their planes using parachutes. Most of the men returned home
safely. Eight were captured.

VOICE TWO:

The bombing by Jimmy Doolittle and his air crews did very little
real damage to Japan. However, it did damage the Japanese
government. War leaders had told the Japanese people their country
never could be attacked. Jimmy Doolittle proved them wrong. Troops
and airplanes were called home to protect Japan.

At home in the United States, the Doolittle raid caused a great
deal of joy. It was the first victory against the enemy. The
newspapers praised Jimmy and his air crews as heroes.

VOICE ONE:

President Roosevelt awarded Jimmy Doolittle the Medal of Honor,
America's highest military award. He was promoted to general. He
went on to command huge numbers of fighters and bombers during the
war, often flying deep into enemy territory.

After the war, Jimmy Doolittle served his country again in many
different jobs for both private companies and for the government. He
also worked with many civilian companies as a senior official.

In Nineteen-Eighty-Nine, President Ronald Reagan presented the
Presidential Medal of Freedom to Jimmy Doolittle. The award honored
his work in aviation and his service to his country

VOICE TWO:

On September Twenty-Seventh, Nineteen-Ninety-Three, scientist,
racing pilot, aviation pioneer and military leader Jimmy Doolittle
died. He was ninety-six.

(MUSIC)

ANNOUNCER:

This Special English program was written, produced and directed
by Paul Thompson. Your narrators were Shirley Griffith and Frank
Oliver. This is Ray Freeman. Join us again next week at this time
for another EXPLORATIONS program on the Voice of America.


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