BRIGADIER GENERAL JAMES H. "JIMMY" DOOLITTLE - ILLUSTRATION SIGNED - HFSID 254508

JAMES H. "JIMMY" DOOLITTLE
Signed reproduction of an award that Doolittle earned at the Aviation Hall of Fame in Dayton, Ohio in 1967, with a listing of his achievements and a b/w bust portrait of him.
Illustration signed "J. H. Doolittle". B/w, 15¾x11¾. This is a reproduction of an award given to Doolittle at the Aviation Hall of Fame in Dayton, Ohio, on Sept. 19, 1967. He was given the award "for outstanding contributions to aviation by his pioneering scientific advances in flight tecn-nology, military leadership, and valued service to astronautics". In 1922, Doolittle (1896-1993, born in Alameda, California) made the first transcontinental flight in less than 24 hours. In the 1920s and 1930s, he set various speed and flight records. During WWII, Doolittle, a veteran of WWI, and 79 other pilots, co-pilots, navigators, bombardiers, and gunners ("Doolittle's Raiders") bombed Tokyo on April 18, 1942, the first air attack on the Japanese capital. Also hit were targets in Yokohama and other cities, scoring a huge victory for U.S. morale at a time when Japan's position in the Pacific seemed impregnable. Doolittle was promoted to Brigadier General the next day and was later awarded the Congressional Medal of Honor for the raid. After retiring from the military at the end of WWII, Doolittle was an executive with Shell Oil until his retirement in 1959. Lightly creased and bowed, otherwise in fine condition.