Gen. Jimmy Doolittle

* The accounts of the death of Jimmy Doolittle trigger many pleasant memories (Sept. 28).

Doolittle was a very informal general who wandered in and out of work locations without fanfare. One day a group of us were sitting with him in the headquarters office in Telergma, Algeria, when a colonel entered the room. An officer, not aware of the general’s presence, hollered out the traditional “Attention” and we all popped to, including Doolittle. There was an embarrassed silence as all realized what had happened. Doolittle looked at the colonel, smiled and said “&+!, you scared the hell out of me.” We all laughed, the colonel looked very relieved.

Doolittle was the ideal leader; knowledgeable, experienced and forceful but always a thoughtful and caring human being.

HOWARD B. HOLT

San Diego

* A hearty hosanna to the anonymous staff writer who wrote that comprehensive and fascinating eulogy of incomparable aviator Jimmy Doolittle.

One small error, though. Doolittle was doubtless the first to perform a deliberate outside loop in 1938--but an involuntary one was executed 23 years before by World War I pilot Adolphe Pegoud, who passed out while diving on an unsuspecting German adversary and fell forward against his control column, forcing his plane into an outside loop. When he came to, the “Boche” was nowhere to be seen, and his trusty Morane-Saulnier monoplane was flying straight ahead as if nothing had happened.

MARVIN H. LEAF

Santa Monica