James Doolittle in Aviation - Essay Example

James Doolittle in AviationDoolittle was born in Alameda, California in December of 1896 but spent his youth in Alaska but later came back to Los Angeles to attend school. He married in 1917 and was married for 70 years with two sons who also followed in their father’s footsteps and became military aviators (Doolittle and Carroll 25). He had his passion in airplanes and this drove him to enlist in the military (School of Military Aeronautics) and received his Reserve Military Aviator rating and was commissioned in 1918 as part of the Signal Officers Reserve Corps.

He furthered his studies by enrolling in Air service mechanical school and the Aeronautical engineering course. He also did a master’s and doctorate in aeronautics. He won several awards in conjunction with the landing planes and flying them. His numerous successes as well as high education level in the field of aviation is what led him to be considered the pioneer of aviation and has remained to be till date even years after his death. Being the pioneer of aviation, he had no role model to emulate and hence whatever he did in aviation always was born out of his creativity, passion and dedication for airplanes which fascinated him.

Among his accomplishments which also are what makes up his contributions in the field of aviation included a distinguished flying cross received in 1926. He showed that it was possible to make only one stop flight from Pablo Beach in Florida to San Diego in California and taking less than 24 hours to make the flight. This was an impossible and never succeeded attempt but he made it possible. This was not only saving on the cost of fuel for landing and taking off but also saves a lot of time. His acceleration tests indicated that pilots are people who are highly skilled, have endurance in their work and whatever situation they are in when airborne as well as being marked with courage.

Aviation is not a very smooth and easy career but with enough education and the characteristics mentioned above, Doolittle showed that all was possible in aviation. He helped create the Air Force Association in 1947 which as meant to assist the military pilots with their aviation issues only they could understand. His most notable achievement according to Krebs, (1993) is the development of instrument flying which involved pilots being trained on using different instruments to navigate and even take control of the aircraft during weather conditions such as clouds, fog, and precipitation among others which were previously hard to maneuver.

What his contributions did is make aviation a more lovable and less feared career. It also made the pilots already in the field become proud of their achievements and especially when the association was formed where they got to share. The development of the instrument flying enabled the pilots prevent blind flying which was brought about by confusion in motion senses during flying. His courage also gave the other pilots and pilots aspirants have the courage to try out their own “tricks” that would ensue in later aviation developments and discoveries.

Work CitedDoolittle, James and Carroll Glines. I Could Never Be So Lucky Again: An Autobiography. New York: Random House Publishing Group, 2009. Krebs, Albin. “James Doolittle, 96, Pioneer Aviator Who Led First Raid on Japan, Dies.” The New York Times, September 28th, 1993. Retrieved from: http://www.nytimes.com/1993/09/28/obituaries/james-doolittle-96-pioneer-aviator-who-led-first-raid-on-japan-dies.html#