Background
Gen. James H. “Jimmy” Doolittle was a profound presence in aviation: from his U.S. Army Air Corps service to his groundbreaking
instrument-only flight to leading of the Doolittle Raid during World War II. Born in Alameda California., December 14, 1896
Jimmy Doolittle attended University of California Berkeley before joining the U.S. Army Signal Corp Reserves on campus. His
flight-training took place at Rockwell Field, California. During the remainder of World War I, Doolittle served as a flight
instructor. After the war, he became the first pilot to fly across the country in less than 24 hours. Aided for the Daniel
Guggenheim Fund for the Promotion of Aeronautics, INC, he helped develop technology for instrument-only flying. In 1929 Doolittle
made the first known blind flight.