Calculated Risk: The Extraordinary Life of Jimmy Doolittle

by Jonna Doolittle Hoppes No history of American aviation could be written without mentioning James Harold "Jimmy" Doolittle. Born before the Wright brothers made their first flights in a heavier-than-air flying machine, his life paralleled the history of fixed-wing flight and our ventures into space. He was an aerobatic and racing pilot, military aviator, aeronautical engineer, leader of the famed 1942 attack on Japan, commander of the 8th Air Force during the Normandy invasion, leader of the struggle for a separate U.S. Air Force, member of scientific governmental committees, and advisor to presidents. Calculated Risk is a firsthand account written by his grandaughter that brings readers inside the public and private world of Jimmy Doolittle and his family and sheds light on the drives and motivation of one of America's greatest heroes. Featuring many never-before-seen photographs from the Doolittle Library archives. Hard cover. 334 pages. Includes black and white archive photographs.