General James H. “Jimmy” Doolittle Award

The James H. “Jimmy” Doolittle Award recognizes an active Air Force or Space Force unit for gallantry, determination, esprit de corps, and superior management of joint operations in accomplishing its mission under difficult and hazardous conditions in multiple conflicts.

General James Harold “Jimmy” Doolittle was a pioneering pilot, aeronautical engineer, combat leader, and military strategist whose career stretched from World War I to the height of the Cold War. He is most famous for leading a daring bombing raid over Tokyo in 1942, the first American attack on the Japanese mainland. Doolittle’s 16 planes dropped their bombs and then, lacking fuel to return to their carrier, flew on to crash-land in China and the Soviet Union.

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    • Featured Award Winner

    2023
    480th ISR Wing Joint Base Langley-Eustis, VA

    From January through December 2022, the 480th ISRW and its subordinate groups have been at the forefront of the USAF ISR support to multiple MAJCOM’s and Joint and Combined Force Commanders in numerous AOR’s around the world. As the year began, the 480th continued its ISR support to the withdrawal of US forces from Afghanistan. Personnel also supported the bed down of Afghan refugees who were processed at Ramstein Air Base, with over 30 Airmen providing direct support to the effort in the community.

    In January, Airmen from 693rd ISRG at Ramstein AB, monitored the buildup of Russian forces on the Ukrainian border, providing ISR support to the Commander of USAFE, Commander of EUCOM and into the national intelligence picture. Once the invasion began, the 693rd ISRG was the lead USAF intelligence unit providing support to multiple task forces and met requirements from multiple customers within the US and allied intelligence communities. While much of this work is classified, when the Commander of the Air Combat Command was asked about the USAF’s support to the Ukrainian counter-offensive, his response was, “This is Air Force Intelligence’s finest hour.”

    Past Doolittle Award Recipients

    • 2021: 28th Bomb Wing, Ellsworth AFB, SD
    • 2019: 55th Wing, Offutt AFB, Nebraska
    • 2018: 1st Fighter Wing, Joint Base Langley-Eustis, VA
    • 2017: 432nd Wing, Creech AFB, NV
    • 2016: 100th Air Refueling Wing, RAF Mildenhall, UK
    • 2015: 509th Bomb Wing, Whiteman AFB, MO
    • 2014: 19th Airlift Wing, Little Rock AFB, AR
    • 2013: 720th Special Tactics Group, Hurlburt Field, FL
    • 2011: 4th Fighter Wing, Seymour Johnson AFB, NC