May 23, 1927: Lt. James A. Doolittle files the first outside loop in a Curtiss P-1-B pursuit plane at McCook Field. Starting at an altitude of 8000 ft Doolittle pointed the nose of the a/c down and describes a circle of 2000 ft diameter, leveling out at his original altitude. At the bottom of the circle, flying inverted, it is estimated that his a/c was traveling at 280 mph. The outside loop had not been previously attempted because of fear that the a/c would disintegrate. [Note: French pilot Pegoud is purported to have performed outside loops prior to this date.]