He was born in California in 1896 and enlisted in the military in 1917. James Doolittle is an American Medal of Honor recipient mostly known for his success in what was later named the ‘Doolittle Raid’. These are some of those men, the ace pilots of early military aviation. Legends were carved out in the skies as distinguished pilots made names for themselves by taking off into suicide missions and coming back alive, over and over again. Inexplicably, while some men wilted in the air, others bloomed. The casualty rate for WWI and WWII fighter pilots was insanely high, which is really not that surprising when you stop and consider what they were doing with the equipment they had. Many men were terrified to go up in the air and come face-to-face with enemy planes and artillery, but they did it anyway. These rickety, propeller-driven wooden planes were built with virtually no equipment compared to the modern flying experience, and the pilots lived or died based on the all too human qualities of intuition and reflexes. If the idea of flying a modern fighter jet is unappealing, then the thought of setting foot in a fighter plane built pre-1945 is probably horrifying. This isn’t ‘Top Gun’, there’s a very real chance that when you step in the cockpit you won’t come back – but maybe that’s part of the appeal. Bold, adrenaline-junkie men and women who find the idea of living life as close to the edge as possible to be the only way to exist. Still, it’s testament to the various forms of the human experience that we as a species do have members who want in. The risk of a fiery death tends to put off the majority of people. True, the average person probably wants nothing to do with it. There are no recruiters hanging out at job fairs trying to convince people that getting into the cockpit of a jet and flying around the world is a satisfying experience. Being a fighter pilot is one career that needs absolutely no advertising or PR management the job is intrinsically cool.
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