Lt. General James Doolittle was commander of US air forces in north Africa and Europe during World War II. He had also served as an aviator in World War I. Doolittle had achieved fame as a pilot in the 1920s for completing the first coast-to-coast crossing of the country in one day. He had also won a number of races and had pioneered instrumentation flying. In 1932, he set a speed record for land planes. He is perhaps best remembered for leading a 16-plane B-25 force on the first bombing attack on Tokyo in 1942.