James Harold "Jimmy" Doolittle (December 14, 1896 – September 27, 1993) was an American aviation pioneer. Having been a famous stunt pilot pre-war, Doolittle served with great distinction as a general in the United States Army Air Forces during World War II. He earned the Congressional Medal of Honor for his valor and leadership as commander of the first bombing raid on the Japanese home island Honshu (the "Doolittle Raid") in April 1942. He was promoted from lieutenant colonel to brigadier general in the aftermath of the Raid, and become a critical figure in the air war of the Pacific Theater of World War II.
Jimmy Doolittle's raid over Tokyo was one of America's proudest moments during its brief involvement in World War II. When Bobby Fiore, an American prisoner taken by the Race to their study lab in China, encountered Japanese stragglers, they briefly assumed he was a pilot from the raid.
A year after the Doolittle Raid, Japan was America's ally in the war against the Race. When the Race's explosive-metal bomb destroyed Tokyo, US General Leslie Groves was filled with dread, yet he remembered ironically that he had cheered Doolittle for bombing the same city.
Due to intense press coverage, the government of Japan knew about Jimmy Doolittle's planned air-raid raid on Tokyo, and intercepted his planes before they got off the ground.
Jimmy Doolittle led an air raid on Hawaii in March, 1942 after the Empire of Japanconquered the American territory the month before. The raid, which caused little serious damage, was humiliating for Japan,[1] which retaliated with a raid on San Francisco shortly after.[2]
