Date: 1-10-01
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.
(((THEME)))
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.
(((CUT ONE: Piston engine aircraft in flight. ))))
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 Bee-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.
(((CUT TWO: Claxon horn.
.
.
battle stations--battle stations,
engines starting)))
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.
ANNCR:
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.