le was a career officer in the US Army Air Corps. He joined the army in 1917, but didn't see any action in WWI. He became an instructor quite early in his career and then went on to set many flying records between 1917 and 1930, gaining publicity for the Air Corps. He also took part in a demonstration led by General Billy Mitchell which proved that air power could make obsolete the navy idea that battleships should be the first line of naval offense. Doolittle left active service in 1930, but kept up his connection with the service through the reserves. Seeing that war was inevitable for the U.S. Doolittle returned to active service in 1940. Soon after Pearl Harbor, President Roosevelt started pressing the Joint Chiefs to come up with a plan to hit back at the Japanese homeland. It wasn't long after that Navy captain Francis Low came up with a plan to launch bombers from a carrier, which has never been done before, and bomb Japan. He thought Army planes would have to do it because they had more range than Navy fighters. He presented the idea to Admiral King (Chief of Naval Operations) Admiral King ordered the idea to studied, refined and finally, turned over to General Henry "Hap" Arnold of the U.S. Army Air Corps, who in turn gave it to Doolittle to see if it was workable. Two days later Arnold had his answer. It could be done with B25 bombers. By February 2nd it was tested when Lts. John Fitzgerald, and James McCarthy flew two B25s, after practicing short run takeoffs from the deck of the newly commissioned carrier Hornet. Now the mission would go forth. Doolittle was put in charge of the training from the Army side, and Navy Captain Donald Duncan, considered the top authority on Naval aircraft, was in charge from the Navy side. Doolittle wanted the crews to come from the 17th Bombardment Group and the 89th Recon Squadron who were then based in Oregon. The call went out for volunteers f

Some topics in this essay:
Henry Miller, Air Corps, Captain Duncan, Joe Stillwell, Billy Mitchell, Hornet PA, Robert Wall, James McCarthy, Recon Squadron, Harbor Hawaii, air corps, army air corps, army air, head china, miles japan, enemy held, pearl harbor, active service, planes ships, home islands, admiral king,