Jimmy Doolittle’s Wild Ride: The 235 MPH Bailout

Alright, picture this: You’re hurtling through the sky at 235 miles per hour, minding your own business, when suddenly your plane starts shedding parts like a molting bird. What do you do? Well, if you’re Jimmy Doolittle—stunt pilot, speed freak, and all-around aviation legend—you simply yank the stick, flip the plane on its back, and leap out like it’s just another day at the office. And folks, this wasn’t even his first time bailing out. Let’s dive into one of the most ridiculous—and downright heroic—escapes in aviation history.

---

Jimmy Doolittle Makes Thrilling Leap From Crippled Ship 

Published in the September 1931 issue of Popular Aviation

MAJOR JAMES H. (JIMMY) DOOLITTLE, formerly an ace stunter of the army air corps, leaped to safety a few weeks ago when the fabric tore loose from the wings of his plane while traveling at an indicated speed of 235 miles an hour. Although Doolittle was not injured, the plane was a total wash-out. His leap is considered one of the most spectacular in aviation history.

Doolittle was putting the plane, one of his own design with which he had hoped to break the present record for land planes, through speed tests at East St. Louis. He was flying at an altitude of only about 100 feet when the wings started to flutter and then pieces of fabric began to fall. The flyer immediately nosed the plane upward and leaped when it reached an altitude of between 300 and 400 feet. Doolittle said the wings, which he had taken from an old plane, apparently were not strong enough for the high speed he was making. 

“Jimmy” Doolittle had bailed out before, but he regarded this leap as his closest call, due to his speed and low altitude. He had been flying the plane for about 15 minutes before the trouble developed. When the fabric started falling from the wings, one witness said, it looked as though the plane had struck “a bunch of birds.” 

Doolittle’s plane was completed only a short while before his flight. This fight was the first of a series Doolittle had planned with an ultimate view of attempting to break both the American and world speed records for land planes. The American record is 266 miles an hour and the world record 277. 

“I was in level at about 235 miles an hour,” Doolittle said, “when I suddenly felt the right wing become heavy. I couldn’t tell what had happened, but I knew I would have to nose her up if I was going to get out. I pulled the ship up as steep as I could and turned her over on her back. Then I let loose. I was so close to the ground it seemed I didn’t have time to do more than pull the rip cord before I landed.” 

When the first spectators reached the scene Doolittle was intently searching for the rip cord, which aviators who bail out consider a good-luck souvenir. He found it. Doolittle’s 10-year old son, Jimmy, Junior, was in the crowd which witnessed the famous flyer’s narrow escape.

---

So there you have it—Jimmy Doolittle, a guy so cool under pressure that he quite literally flipped his plane upside down, leapt out, and still had the presence of mind to hunt down his rip cord as a keepsake. And while his homemade speed machine ended up in pieces, Jimmy walked away unscathed, probably dusted himself off, and started planning his next record-breaking flight. Because for a guy like Doolittle, an unexpected parachute jump wasn’t a disaster—it was just another Tuesday. And that, my friend, is why he’s a legend.