Did Doolittle fly a Spitfire during the war?

[LotusOmega375D]

I was watching a WWII documentary on catch-up TV earlier. It mentioned Doolittle joining the USAAF 8th Air Force whilst it was being reinforced with P-51 fighter escorts and, in the moments before, showed some film of an officer climbing aboard a USAAF liveried Spitfire at a UK bomber base and heading off.

[FourWheelDrift]

LotusOmega375D said:

I was watching a WWII documentary on catch-up TV earlier. It mentioned Doolittle joining the USAAF 8th Air Force whilst it was being reinforced with P-51 fighter escorts and, in the moments before, showed some film of an officer climbing aboard a USAAF liveried Spitfire at a UK bomber base and heading off.

It's possible, he came to Britain in September 1937 to see how we operated our aircraft, noting our technical advances and design features on Spitfires, Hurricanes and the Wellington. He may have had a go then, most likely not though. But when the 12th Airforce was formed in 1942 and he was given command of it, it consisted of 2 fighter groups of Spitfires - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Twelfth_Air_Force#Wo... I'm sure at some point he could have used his authority to try one out. Even if it was just for personal reasons not propaganda.

[CanAm]

The stock footage used in these documentaries often bears little relation to the storyline. I was watching one about the Flight 19 Avengers in the Bermuda Triangle, which miraculously turned into P-47s in one shot, a documentary about the Mosquito showed Beaufighters at one point, and a recent documentary about the Kennedy family had the tale of one of the younger members killed in an aircrash after allegedly ignoring warnings not to fly in bad weather, showed a Hercules taking off, a 4-engined airliner in flight and finally the wreckage of a twin-engined light plane!

[twister]

FourWheelDrift said:

But when the 12th Airforce was formed in 1942 and he was given command of it, it consisted of 2 fighter groups of Spitfires - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Twelfth_Air_Force#Wo... I'm sure at some point he could have used his authority to try one out. Even if it was just for personal reasons not propaganda.

https://www.wearethemighty.com/articles/how-jimmy-...

Suggests he did fly a Spitfire at least once during his time with the 12th

[LotusOmega375D]

I have now found the documentary on Youtube. Check out the footage from 31m 09s to 31m 21s.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gdz6fVDPQeE

Is that him in the Spitfire?

[aeropilot]

LotusOmega375D said:

I have now found the documentary on Youtube. Check out the footage from 31m 09s to 31m 21s.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gdz6fVDPQeE

Is that him in the Spitfire?

Yes.

He famously incurred the wrath of Eisenhower by doing so, as well as flying on bombing missions when he had been instructed not to do so.

[AMD87]

aeropilot said:

Yes.

He famously incurred the wrath of Eisenhower by doing so, as well as flying on bombing missions when he had been instructed not to do so.

Respect to him for doing so. Higher ups thought he was too important to risk but he didn't feel like he was more important than the men he was commanding.