I Could Never Be So Lucky Over again past General James H. "Jimmy" Doolittle, with Carroll Five. Glines

This is ane of those extremely rare literary pairings where the top man in a field collaborates on his autobiography with a top writer who knows the bailiwick. "Jimmy" Doolittle is regarded by everyone as a seminal figure in aviation, a record-setting recipient of the Medal of Honor and a leader in science. C.V. Glines is unquestionably one of the acme aviation writers, and has specialized in brilliant biographies. A U.South. Air Force command pilot, Glines doesn't make any of the mistakes that a nonaviator might, no matter how excellent a writer (c.f. Tom Wolf's The Right Stuff).

One can immediately sense how closely the two men worked together, since the book reads exactly as if Jimmy Doolittle is talking to you. Doolittle was famous for his frank, friendly but succinct style, and the autobiography brings you lot non merely the essence but the very beingness of a man whose extraordinary career spanned nine decades.

Doolittle is best known for leading the famous April 18, 1942, raid on Tokyo, and the volume begins with the ultimate insider's expect at that fateful mission. No one knew information technology better nor could recount information technology as well as Doolittle. He presents the raid from showtime to terminate, bailing out of a fuel-empty North American B-25B in the wilds of China. Far from being the failure that Doolittle considered information technology at the time, the raid achieved much more than had been planned for it. President Franklin Roosevelt and Doolittle'due south seniors had hoped the 16- bomber strike would heave American morale at a time when all armed forces news was catastrophic. The raid boosted morale enormously, simply more than important, the Japanese reacted with an sick-considered determination to attack Midway Atoll. That gear up them upward for the defeat that reversed the form of the war.

The book paints a moving portrait of Doolittle's hardscrabble beginnings in Nome, Alaska, where young Jimmy, a fighter from historic period 5, proved that poverty, relatively minor stature and no apparent advantages would not bar success, no affair what the odds. Recalling a time when his father falsely accused him of lying, Doolittle writes simply: "I didn't lie and so and I don't lie now. I told him that when I was big plenty, I was going to whip him."

Doolittle had to whip many people, planes and events in his lifetime, and he always managed it with the same deductive idea processes that made him, in Glines' words, a "master of the calculated risk." Early on, a boxing motorbus brought his flailing assailment nether control and introduced him to the subtleties of anticipation, feinting and balance, all skills he would use in aviation. A 5-human foot-4-inch bantamweight, he fought successfully as an amateur and a professional merely before meeting his first love and acknowledged conservancy—Josephine Daniels, his dearest "Joe." She became the keel and rudder of his career; as Bob Hope's wife Dolores said at a 1984 award ceremony: "He spent 45 years in the air. Joe Doolittle spent 45 years waiting for him to country."

Only how appropriate this autobiography'south title is becomes apparent as Doolittle's life unfolds—his sometimes madcap Air Service flying, earning both masters and doctoral degrees in science at MIT, and his many racing triumphs. These included winning the Schneider Cup and both the Bendix and Thompson trophies. It was Doolittle's custom to push button any aircraft to the limits, and when scientific discipline demanded, beyond. Racing fans will revel in his approach to the notorious Gee Bee R-1: "I didn't trust this little monster. It was fast merely flying it was like balancing a pencil or an ice cream cone on the tip of your finger." He decided that "it would be prudent to stay outside of the remainder of them [the other racers] and climb earlier the pylons, dive before each turn, merely remain outside."

Every bit thrilling as the accounts of his legendary flying are, many people will find that this book's most rewarding aspect is the understanding it provides of the breadth of Doolittle's vision, scientific capacity and leadership capability in peace and war. The fact that modern pilots can rely on instruments to help them fly safely in heavy weather and at dark can be traced directly back to Doolittle's work with cockpit instruments and "bullheaded flying." He himself said that "This work was, I believe, my well-nigh significant contribution to aviation." Doolittle comments on his first true instrument flight on September 24, 1929, in typical depression-key manner. After ex – plaining how he became the showtime person to accept off, fly a excursion and country completely on instruments, he concludes, "However, despite all my previous practice, the approach and landing were sloppy." This is similar Alexander Fleming saying, "I discovered penicillin, merely my Petri dish had a smear on it." Doolittle is, to my knowledge, the but man to exist awarded both the Medal of Honour and the Presidential Medal of Freedom.

Although Doolittle violated war machine custom by leaving the service to serve in the Reserves for a decade, he returned to it in 1940 with gusto. The Tokyo Raid was simply the start of his contributions; he rose to command the mighty Twelfth, Fifteenth and Eighth air forces. At the Eighth he changed the grade of the state of war by putting its fighters on the offensive, breaking the Luftwaffe's back.

I Could Never Be And so Lucky Again improves with each rereading considering it is so content laden. Glines lets Doolittle be Doolittle, but he incorporates an incredible number of salient facts. I urge whatsoever first-time reader to browse the career summary, which outlines Doolittle'southward staggering series of accomplishments in ceremonious and war machine roles. No library should be without this book, and no writer should try either an autobiography or a biography without studying its mode.

Originally published in the March 2009 issue of Aviation History. To subscribe, click hither.