History of aviation – September 3, 1932. On this Saturday, September 3, 1932, aeronautical news is marked by the great performance that James H. Doolittle managed to achieve. The American major is today at the origin of the new world speed record at the controls of an airplane. It was during the American National Air Race or “Thomson Trophy” that the pilot achieved this feat. This last event took place in the state of Ohio, more precisely in Cleveland in the summer of 1932.
It did not take far from ten years for this record to change hands: in fact, since December 11, 1924, it was the French aviator Florentin Bonnet who was the holder, thanks to a flight of 448,771 kilometers per hour, carried out with a racing aircraft, a Bernard V-2 monoplane.
The average speed of James H. Doolittle recorded on September 3, 1932 was 473.820 kilometers, with even peaks of 497.18 kilometers with his Granville Gee-Bee R-1 with a Pratt and Whitney Hornet engine displaying 900 horsepower. power.
