Those boys had big ones :
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Those boys had big ones :
"A pessimist sees the difficulty in every opportunity, an optimist sees the opportunity in every difficulty” ---Sir Winston Churchill
"Political extremism involves two prime ingredients: an excessively simple diagnosis of the world's ills, and a conviction that there are identifiable villains back of it all." ---John W. Gardner
“You can’t go back and change the beginning, but you can start where you are and change the ending.” ---C. S. Lewis
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Indeed, for a guy who never grew any taller than 5'6" Doolittle's probably dragged the ground...Here is his B-25 a second before leaving the deck...Originally Posted by Dave Grubb
Those boys had big ones :...Ben
The future is forged on the anvil of history...The interpreter of history wields the hammer... - Unknown author...
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Dave , If you want to talk about a " drop " after T O . Ask your SIL if he ever had a heavy weight T O from Guam.We used to watch them sink below the cliff all the time.
Guam was also a place you could watch the Airspeed increase and then decrease on T O at heavy weights .
Individual rights are protected only as long as they don't conflict with the desires of the state .
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I think we all grew up knowing Doolittle's name as one of our heroes. I think he exemplifies what a Medal Of Honor winner should be.
"He was eventually promoted to general in 1985, presented to him by President Ronald Reagan 43 years after the Doolittle Raid. In 2003, he topped Air & Space/Smithsonian magazine's list of the greatest pilots of all time, and ten years later, Flying magazine ranked Doolittle sixth on its list of the 51 Heroes of Aviation."
- Wikipedia
Hunter
I don't care if it hurts. I want to have control. I want a perfect body. I want a perfect soul. - Creep by Radiohead
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Merely a point of semantics here, Hunter, not an argument - LCol. Doolittle didn't win anything, he earned his awards the same as any other servicemember...The American people were the winners...
He did indeed reach the rank of General in 1985 then in his retirement...After making his way across Asia following being found in China after The Raid, he returned to America expecting to face a court martial for losing his aircraft...He instead found he had been bumped two ranks to Brigadier General and awarded the CMoH by a grateful nation...He requested a return to action where he could be useful, and was assigned to the European Theater under the command of General Eisenhower...Ike was not impressed considering him just a hotshot daredevil pilot who got lucky, and assigned him to the 12th, then the 15th Air Force where his commands succeeded even with nearly no resources available...
When it came time to name a commander of the 8th Air Force which would begin the bombing of Germany, Ike was still reluctant to consider Doolittle...Then the US Army's Chief of Staff, General George Marshall, called Eisenhower back to Washington for a personal conference...He pointed out to Ike that Doolittle not only knew more about flying than anyone in the world, he also knew more about flying than anyone else knew about anything...Having earned the first Doctorate ever awarded in the field of aeronautics, he was the leading authority on any subject dealing with movement by air...Marshall told him that everything that was being taught to the future pilots who would lead the way into battle was first invented and then perfected by Doolittle...He then suggested that Ike cut him a break and give him his chance to succeed...
Ike acquiesced, and Doolittle was named commander of the 8th Air Force...He piloted the lead bomber on the first bombing mission into Germany himself...He preferred to lead from the front, not the rear...After his election to the White House, Eisenhower remembered his comeuppance, and Doolittle's subsequent service to the nation and recommended him as chairman of NACA, the predecessor to the present-day NASA......Ben
The future is forged on the anvil of history...The interpreter of history wields the hammer... - Unknown author...
Charter Member
"Having earned the first Doctorate ever awarded in the field of aeronautics, he was the leading authority on any subject dealing with movement by air."
- Ben
Yes, he definitely helped his generation earn the Greatest label.
Hunter
I don't care if it hurts. I want to have control. I want a perfect body. I want a perfect soul. - Creep by Radiohead
Ahhh General Doolittle. In elementary school I was his paperboy riding my bicycle delivering the Evening Outlook to his front porch in Santa Monica
"The only thing that we learn from torture is the depths of our own moral depravity"
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I will do that---he was deployed to Guam for awhile.
Ben-----really a great story about the General----thank you for sharing that
Last edited by Dave Grubb; 08-02-2022 at 06:58 AM.
"A pessimist sees the difficulty in every opportunity, an optimist sees the opportunity in every difficulty” ---Sir Winston Churchill
"Political extremism involves two prime ingredients: an excessively simple diagnosis of the world's ills, and a conviction that there are identifiable villains back of it all." ---John W. Gardner
“You can’t go back and change the beginning, but you can start where you are and change the ending.” ---C. S. Lewis
Registered Member
It's always my pleasure to talk about history...That reminds me I need to re-read my copy of Crusade in Europe...It's one of my favorite accountings of WWII because Ike wrote it in the style of a military report, very little about personalities included unless it was necessary to the narrative...Ben-----really a great story about the General----thank you for sharing that...Ben
The future is forged on the anvil of history...The interpreter of history wields the hammer... - Unknown author...
Charter Member
Ironically, my daughter is due home today from Guam---so I might find out were her husband is
Added in edit: She got home late last night
I haven't talked to her yet but here is a picture she posted from Guam:
Last edited by Dave Grubb; 08-02-2022 at 09:41 AM.
"A pessimist sees the difficulty in every opportunity, an optimist sees the opportunity in every difficulty” ---Sir Winston Churchill
"Political extremism involves two prime ingredients: an excessively simple diagnosis of the world's ills, and a conviction that there are identifiable villains back of it all." ---John W. Gardner
“You can’t go back and change the beginning, but you can start where you are and change the ending.” ---C. S. Lewis
Charter Member
I got a note from my SIL overnight:
That’s not real.
"A pessimist sees the difficulty in every opportunity, an optimist sees the opportunity in every difficulty” ---Sir Winston Churchill
"Political extremism involves two prime ingredients: an excessively simple diagnosis of the world's ills, and a conviction that there are identifiable villains back of it all." ---John W. Gardner
“You can’t go back and change the beginning, but you can start where you are and change the ending.” ---C. S. Lewis
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