Famous Flyers and Their Famous Flights

“In 1931, having about exhausted record-breakingin the United States, our friendMr. Hawks left these shores, and went offto Europe to sell speed and airplanes to thatcontinent. No sooner had he landed than hestarted to break their records, too. Thefirst one to fall was the speed record fromLondon to Berlin, a distance, of 600 miles, which he made in 2 hours and 57 minutes.This was just about half the time that theregular passenger planes take. He had a lighttail wind behind him, to help him, and abad fog over the channel to hinder him. Heflew the whole distance by compass.

“About a week later the United Statesagain heard from Frank Hawks. Theyheard that he’d dined in three Europeancapitals on the same day. Left Bourget beforebreakfast, had breakfast in London, kippers, I suppose, or kidneys, at the CroydonField. That was about 9:30. He leftCroydon for Berlin, and got there 3 hoursand 20 minutes later, in time for lunch atthe Tempelhof Airdrome. He flew back toParis, for tea at Le Bourget, and thenmotored into the city for a good dinner.The dinner he didn’t pay for. It was onsome friends who had bet him that hecouldn’t make it. He did. Don’t bet againstFrank Hawks. It isn’t good business.

“The next month, on June 17, Frankfelt hungry again, and maybe tired of thefood he’d been getting, anyway. So he gotinto his plane, at London, just after breakfast; had luncheon in Rome, and got backin time for tea in London. He’d made theround trip in 9 hours and 44 minutes, actualflying time. Of course, a man has totake time out to eat. Getting to Rome andback meant that he’d beaten the Alps twice.He enjoyed that trip. He’d had a head windwith him all the way, and was pretty gladabout beating the Alps. They look lessmighty and dangerous when you’re lookingdown at them from a safe plane, in the cleatsunshine. Almost gentle.

“Speedy Hawks decided to come back toAmerica. But he didn’t come back to rest.He went right on breaking records, and makingup new ones to be broken. In Januaryof 1932 he flew from Agua Caliente to Vancouver,British Columbia, in 13 hours and44 minutes. That was called his famousthree-flag flight. It was a grand flight, too, and the first of its kind to be flown in oneday. It wasn’t non-stop; he’d stopped atOakland, California and Portland, Oregon, both on the way up and the way back, forfuel. The trip was about 2,600 miles long, and he’d averaged about 180 miles per hour.

“Hawks is certainly accomplishing whathe set out to do. He’s never had to bailout, and he’s never had a serious accident.He was pretty well banged up when hedidn’t clear the ground and crashed intosome wires early in 1932, but he pulled outof that all right. Flying fast was no moredangerous than flying slowly, if a man couldhandle his plane. What the country neededwas speed and more speed, and Hawks gaveit to them. It helped, too. The wholecommercial system in the United States hasspeeded up. Two hours have been cut offthe transcontinental trip, and more will undoubtedlybe cut off. In June of ’32 Hawkswas made Lieutenant Commander Hawks.And it’s no more than he deserves. He’sa great lad.

“And so is Jimmie Doolittle. There’s somesay that Jimmie is the greatest flyer of themall, but he says he isn’t. I don’t knowwhether we should take his word for it ornot. He may be prejudiced. Anyway, he’sone of the best liked flyers in the country.James Doolittle is a little fellow. Thatis, he’s short. Just 5 feet 2, but every incha scrapper, and every inch nerve.

“Anybody who talks about Doolittlelikes to tell the story of the time he wentdown to Chile for the Curtiss Company todemonstrate a new type of flying plane tothe government. The Chilean governmentwas pretty particular. It wanted only thebest, so it decided to have five countries competein a mock fight, England, France, Germany,Italy and the United States, and theplane that won the battle would be the onebought for the Chilean army.

“Well, Curtiss asked the Army Air Serviceif they could borrow the Army’s cracktest pilot, Jimmie, and the Army lent him.Doolittle went down there all set to win.But there was a party for the aviators beforethe battle, and the aviators, all being young, and good fellows, got very jolly, and decidedthat each of them would have to puton a stunt to entertain the others. NowDoolittle decided that his best bet was acrobatics,so he balanced on the window ledge,to show his best handstands and other tricksthat he’d learned in college. A brace orsomething on the window gave way, anddown went James into the street, landed onboth feet, and broke both ankles. Just beforethe big show! Well, they took him tothe hospital and put both ankles in a plastercast.

“The show went on, and the hero wasn’tthere. But was he resting peacefully at thehospital? He was not. With the help of afriend, he cut off the plaster cast, had himselfhoisted into an ambulance, and takento the field. When he got there, they strappedhis feet to the rudder bar, and he was allset to go into his act. Only the German planewas in the air. Doolittle zoomed up, andthere followed one of the prettiest dog fightsthat anyone there had ever seen. Doolittlemaneuvered and bedeviled that Germanplane until it turned tail and retired. Jamescircled around once or twice to show thathe was cock of the walk, and then camedown to get the Chilean contract for theCurtiss people. That’s the way James Doolittledoes things.

“How did he get so scrappy? Well, he wasa born fighter. And then, he grew up in agold camp in the Klondike, and if there wasany place harder than a gold camp in Alaskain those days, it would be hard to find. Jimmiewas born in Alameda. California, in1896. His father was a carpenter and miner, and left for the Klondike in ’97, the yearbefore the big rush to Dawson in ’98. Well, two years later he sent for his wife and theboy James.

“Jimmie’s first scrap was with an Eskimochild. He drew blood, and was so frightenedthat he cried as loudly as the Eskimo warrior.But he never stopped fighting afterthat first fight. Maybe it was because he wasso small that he had to fight. Anyway, heusually was fighting boys bigger than himself, and he got so good that he’d whip themto a frazzle every time. It gets to be ahabit, you know, and any way, he was bornscrappy. Ask anyone.

“The Doolittles left the Klondike, andmoved back to California with their obstreperousson, and I imagine the Klondikeparents breathed a little easier. In CaliforniaJimmie went to school, and on the side becameAmateur Bantamweight Champion ofthe Pacific Coast.

“When he’d been graduated from HighSchool Jimmie went on to the University ofCalifornia, same college that Hawks had attended.He went on fighting, still in the bantamweightclass. But one day down in thegymnasium, the boxing coach put him inthe ring with a middleweight for some practice.Jimmie knocked him out. And heknocked out the second middleweight, andthe third middleweight. So the coach, seeingthat he had struck gold, entered Jimmie inthe match with Stanford, but in the middleweightclass. The crowd roared when theysaw the little bantam getting into the ringwith a pretty husky middle. The middleweightthought that it was a joke on him, and was careful not to hit hard. But heneedn’t have been so kind. Jimmy Doolittleretaliated by knocking him stiff and cold ina few minutes.

“Jimmie didn’t graduate. In 1917 he marriedJo, and settled down to serious things, such as going out to Nevada and becominga gold miner, and later a mining engineer.I might say a word about Jim and Jo.They’re known as the inseparables. They’realways together. They’ve got two kids, whoare thirteen and eleven years old, and whocan fly in their daddy’s footsteps. The familyleads a gypsy life, flying from one army fieldto another, but they have a great time.

“Well, I’m getting ahead of my story.Let’s get back to the War. Because the warbroke out then, you know, and Jimmiejoined the air service. His first lesson, theyturned him over to an instructor by the nameof Todd. They were still on the ground, when they heard a crash, then another crash.Two planes had collided in the air. Firstone dropped, then the other, close to Jimmie’splane. One of the pilots was killed; the other pilot and his passenger were badlyhurt. Doolittle helped them out, and wentback for his first lesson.

“Jimmie, like Hawks, was just too good.They didn’t send him to France at all, butmade him an instructor at Rockwell Field,San Diego, where he became known as oneof the star aviators in the air service. He waspretty angry when he found that he couldn’tgo to France. He went out to relieve his feelings.He picked out an innocent soldier walkingdown the road, and made for him. Hedidn’t have any grudge against that soldier, just against the world. But that soldier hadto bear the brunt. Jimmie swooped downon him. The soldier wouldn’t move out ofthe way or flatten out. Jimmie swooped closerand closer. The soldier stood his ground.Finally Jimmy came so close that his wheelsnicked the soldier, and down he went. Andaway flew Jimmie, but so low that he couldn’trise again in time to clear a barbed wirefence at the side of the road. He got caughtin the fence and smashed up. They gavehim a month in the barracks to think overhow smart-aleck he’d been, and then Jimmiewas out again. The soldier had a bumpon the head to remind him that he’d beenin the way when Jimmie Doolittle was mad.

“Jimmie had other crashes. One was justbefore he made his famous flight in 1922across country from Pablo Beach to SanDiego. On his first attempt at a take-off oneof his wheels struck some soft sand, andover he turned, being thrown into the water, plane and all. His second take-off was moresuccessful – in fact, it was perfect. He gotto San Diego in 22½ hours.

“Jimmie’s greatest achievements have beenin testing and experimenting. After the warhe went to the Army technical school atDayton. He got an honorary degree fromthe University of California, and then hewent to Boston with Jo, and entered theMassachusetts Institute of Technology.With Jo’s help he did four years’ work inthree, and got the degrees of Master ofScience, and Doctor of Aviation Engineering – thefirst flyer to get the D.A.E. degreethere.

“He resigned from the army to join theShell Petroleum Corporation, Curtiss borrowedhim again, though, and he went toEurope to demonstrate speed planes for Curtissto 21 European governments. He’s amarvellous tester. He got the D.F.C. for histranscontinental flight. In 1925 he got theSchneider Cup in the International races, and in 1929 the medal of the Federale AeronautiqueInternationale for his outstandingachievements in aviation.

“I haven’t told you the most outstanding, feats, Doolittle was one of the pioneers inblind flying. He experimented for the GuggenheimFoundation, testing instruments tobe used for blind flying. He also tested thestress and strain that flying has on the humanbody. He would go into right spirals, risking his life, in order to see under what pressurea man becomes unconscious. It’s adangerous business, but great for aviation.

“In September, 1931, Doolittle won theair derby, flying from Los Angeles to NewYork to establish a new transcontinentalWest to East record on 11 hours and 15minutes. He won at the same time the LosAngeles-Cleveland Bendix trophy when hecrossed the finish line of the National AirRaces at the Cleveland airport. His time toCleveland was 9 hours and 10 minutes, anaverage speed of 223 miles per hour. As ifthat wasn’t enough, he flew back to St.Louis to sleep, making a trip of 3,300 milesin 19 hours. He’d broken Hawks’ recordthen standing. Both the boys are still goingstrong. You never knew when you’re goingto wake up and find that one of them hasflown across the country so fast that heended up right where he started from, onlytwo hours earlier. But now I’m getting fantastic,”said Pat. “I must be getting tired, and no wonder. It’s time we were getting tobed, if we want to leave at any hour tomorrow.”