Calculated Risk: The Extraordinary Life of Jimmy Doolittle-Aviation Pioneer and World War II Hero

Famous for leading the Doolittle (or Tokyo) Raid, America's first strike against Japan in World War II, Jimmy Doolittle led a remarkable life as an American pilot. This firsthand account by his granddaughter Jonna Doolittle Hoppes reveals an extraordinary individual:

• An aviation pioneer who was the first to fly across the United States in less than 24 hours and the first to fly “blind” (using only his plane’s instruments).

• A barnstormer well known for aerobatics and a popular racing pilot who won every major air race at least once.

• Recipient of both the Congressional Medal of Honor and Presidential Medal of Freedom.

• A four-star general and commander of both the 8th, 12th, and 15th Air Forces.

• A scientist with a doctorate in aeronautical engineering from MIT.

Calculated Risk provides insights into the public and private world of Jimmy Doolittle and his family, and sheds light on the drives and motivation of one of America's most influential and ambitious aviators.

This updated edition contains a new foreword written by Richard P. Hallion, a new afterword written by Clarence E. “Bud” Anderson, and a new introduction by author Jonna Doolittle Hoppes.

Jonna Doolittle Hoppes is the granddaughter of Jimmy Doolittle and the author of Just Doing My Job: Stories of Service from World War II (Santa Monica Press). She has taught classes at the United States Air Force base in Los Angeles and has written for such magazines as Smithsonian Air and Space, Air Force Magazine, and Air Power History. Hoppes is president of the Air Force Historical Foundation (founded by General Spaatz in 1953), and an advisor for the Flying Tiger Foundation. She has spoken at the Madingley American Cemetery in England, the ROC Air Force Academy in Taiwan, the Smithsonian Air and Space Museum, the Pritzker Military Library, the Pacific aviation Museum at Ford Island in Hawaii, the Udvar-Hazy Center in Virginia, as well as at the Air Force Academy in both the United States and England. She has appeared in the television program Man, Moment, Machine, and in the documentary From Vengeance to Forgiveness: Jake DeShazer’s Extraordinary Journey. Hoppes lives in Huntington Beach, California. 

Retired Air Force Colonel Carroll V. Glines is the author of 36 books and more than 700 magazine articles on aviation and military subjects. Three of his books are about the 1942 Doolittle Raid on Japan. He was also the co-author of General Jimmy Doolittle’s autobiography entitled I Could Never Be So Lucky Again. He was formerly the editor of Air Cargo, Air Line Pilot, and Professional Pilot magazines, and is now the curator of the Doolittle Library at the University of Texas, Dallas, and historian for the Doolittle Tokyo Raiders. 

Richard P. Hallion holds a Ph.D. in history from the University of Maryland, and has completed specialized governmental and national security programs at the Federal Executive Institute, and the John F. Kennedy School of Government. He has been a Curator at the Smithsonian Institution’s National Air and Space Museum; a Historian with the National Aeronautics and Space Administration and the U.S. Air Force; the Harold Keith Johnson Chair of Military History at the Army War College; the Charles Lindbergh Professor at the National Air and Space Museum; a Senior Issues and Policy Analyst for the Secretary of the Air Force; The Air Force Historian; a Senior Advisor for Air and Space Issues for the Air Force’s Directorate for Security, Counterintelligence, and Special Programs; a Special Advisor for Aerospace Technology for the Air Force Chief Scientist; a Senior Advisor to the Science and Technology Policy Institute of the Institute for Defense Analyses; a Research Associate in Aeronautics for the National Air and Space Museum; and a Trustee of Florida Polytechnic University. He is a Fellow of the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics, the Royal Aeronautical Society, and the Royal Historical Society, and an Honorary Member of the Order of Daedalians who has flown as a mission observer in a wide range of military aircraft. He lives in Shalimar, Florida. 

In thirty years of continuous service, Clarence E. “Bud” Anderson flew two combat tours during World War II, flight tested aircraft at Wright Field and Edwards Air Force Base, did two tours at the Pentagon, commanded three fighter units, and flew ground-sup- port combat missions in Southeast Asia. He was decorated twenty-five times. A triple ace of World War II, he is the highest scoring living American fighter ace. A member of the National Aviation Hall of Fame, he lives in Auburn, California, where he celebrated his 100th birthday on January 13, 2022.