Evening star., 1927-05-29
he tore through the air at ESQ miles

he tore through the air at ESQ miles
an hour.
For the plane 1t meant that Ameri-
can design and construction Of air.
craft have reached a stage where air.
men no longer need fear that their
wings or tail surfaces will come off in
maneuvers of the most arduous type,
barring. of course, the human error
that might creep in or an undiscovered
flaw in the material.
| In the ordinary loop the plane does
not need much speed, only enough to
pull up on its back, for. in effect, It
coasts" down the other half of the
circle. With the outside loop. how.
ever. Lieut.. Doolittle had to mobilize
all the speed his 42o.horsepower Cur
tiss DIP engine and a dive of several
hundred feet could give him. The dive
at the speed of ESQ miles an hour itself
subjected the plane to tremendous
strain. Then, contrary to the planes
usual method of flight, 1t had to be
turned under to form the circle. Hun
dreds Of pounds Of pressure were
tearing away at the wings from all
directions, and the specially designed
straps were bending under their task
of keeping the pilot from being cata.
pulled out into space.
1t was a "stunt" that airmen and
aeronautical engineers would have
travelled from all parts Of the world
to see. TO the layman it would have
been worth long journey just for the
spectacular feature. 1t Is not known
whether the plane bore any special
instruments to determine the stress
and strain upon 1t. but IL it did not,
aeronautical science loses much. How.
ever, it is reimbursed with the fact
that both pilot and plane are in good
condition today.
AS far as can be determined, airmen
who have thought much about execut.
ing this maneuver have been dis.
couraged for two reasons: First, there
has been no plane available, until a
few years ago, that was powerful
enough to go over the 250-mile'an-hour
limit, as speed Is the prime requisite,
and second, there was no assurance
that the ship would hold together
once it began its turns at such a high
rate of speed. The actual control of
the plane by the pilot, to describe a
perfect circle, likewise was not to be
ignored as being trivial.
The difficulty of achieving success
was emphasized by the records, which
showed that two airmen had lost their
lives in such attempts in the early
days Of flying.
Lieut.. Doolittle is probably the most
unusual airman in the world today.
His brother airmen in the Air Corps
say there never will be another Jimmie
Doolittle. He combines a rare knowl.
edge of flying; first, he is a pilot with.
out a peer; second, he Is mechanic
with few equals, and third, he Is an
aeronautical engineer and dynamic ex.
pert of the highest standing.
Had the news from Dayton omitted
the name Of the pilot who executed the
outside loop, speculation on who occu-
pied the seat would probably have been
unanimous in favor of Doolittle. 1T
sounds just like Doolittle," said one
high ranking airman here. "Just be.
cause the world believed 1t couldn't be
done, Doolittle did it," said another.
The Air Corps recognizes in the
dimunitive pilot valuable asset. His
contributions to the advancement of
aviation are many. In the business
world his ability would have brought
reward after reward. But he is in the
Army now, and he, like many others,
can only advance through seniority.
Doolittle apparently does not mind
this, but is content to plug along day
after day, with the sole object in view
Of turning out good days work.
The circus Ia an example of big bust.