Doolittle Raid

Doolittle Raid
Part of World War II, Pacific War
A B-25 taking off from Hornet for the raid
Date 18 April 1942 Location Tokyo and other Japanese cities Result First attack on Japanese Home Islands United States propaganda victory No significant tactical or strategic victory
Belligerents
United States	Empire of Japan
Commanders and leaders
James H. Doolittle	N/A
Strength
16 B-25 Mitchells, 80 airmen (52 officers, 28 enlisted), 2 aircraft carriers, 4 cruisers, 8 destroyers	Unknown number of troops and homeland defense
Casualties and losses
3 dead, 8 POWs (4 died in captivity: 3 executed, 1 by disease) 15 B-25s	About 50 dead, 400 injured (include civilian)

18 April 1942: Lt. Col. Jimmy Doolittle (second from left) and his crew pose in front of a B-25 on the deck of the USS Hornet {Doolittle Tokyo Raiders, Crew No. 1 (B-25 #40-2344, target Tokyo): 34th Bombardment Squadron, Lt. Col. James H. Doolittle, pilot; Lt. Richard E. Cole, copilot; Lt. Henry A. Potter, navigator; SSgt. Fred A. Braemer, bombardier; SSgt. Paul J. Leonard, flight engineer/gunner. (U.S. Air Force photo)}

The Doolittle Raid, on 18 April 1942, was the first air raid by the United States to strike the Japanese Home Islands (specifically Honshu) during World War II. By demonstrating that Japan itself was vulnerable to American air attack, it provided a vital morale boost and opportunity for U.S. retaliation after the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor on 7 December 1941. The raid was planned and led by then-Lieutenant Colonel James "Jimmy" Doolittle, USAAF. Doolittle would later recount in his autobiography that the raid was intended to bolster American morale and to cause the Japanese to begin doubting their leadership:

The Japanese people had been told they were invulnerable ... An attack on the Japanese homeland would cause confusion in the minds of the Japanese people and sow doubt about the reliability of their leaders. There was a second, and equally important, psychological reason for this attack ... Americans badly needed a morale boost.^[1]

Sixteen U.S. Army Air Forces B-25B Mitchell medium bombers were launched from the U.S. Navy's aircraft carrier USS Hornet deep in the Western Pacific Ocean. The plan called for them to bomb military targets in Japan, and to continue westward to land in China—landing a medium bomber on the Hornet was impossible. All of the aircraft involved in the bombing were lost and 11 crewmen were either killed or captured—with three of the captured men executed by the Japanese Army in China. One of the B-25s landed in the Soviet Union at Vladivostok, where it was confiscated and its crew interned for more than a year. Thirteen entire crews, and all but one crewman of a 14th, returned either to the United States or to American forces.^[2][3]

The raid caused negligible material damage to Japan, but it succeeded in its goal of helping American morale, and casting doubt in Japan on the ability of the Japanese military leaders. It also caused Japan to withdraw its powerful aircraft carrier force from the Indian Ocean to defend their Home Islands, and the raid contributed to Admiral Isoroku Yamamoto's decision to attack Midway—an attack that turned into a decisive rout of the Imperial Japanese Navy (IJN) by the U.S. Navy near Midway Island in the Central Pacific.

Approximately 250,000 Chinese civilians were massacred by the Japanese Army in eastern China in retaliation for Chinese assistance of the attacking American aviators.^[4]

Origins

The raid had its start in a desire by President Franklin D. Roosevelt, expressed to Joint Chiefs of Staff in a meeting at the White House on 21 December 1941, that Japan be bombed as soon as possible to boost public morale after the disaster at Pearl Harbor.^[5]

The concept for the attack came from Navy Captain Francis Low, Assistant Chief of Staff for Anti-submarine Warfare, who reported to Admiral Ernest J. King on 10 January 1942 that he thought that twin-engine Army bombers could be successfully launched from an aircraft carrier after observing several at a naval airfield in Norfolk, Virginia, where the runway was painted with the outline of a carrier deck for landing practice.^[6] It was subsequently planned and led by Doolittle, a famous civilian aviator and aeronautical engineer before the war.

Requirements for the aircraft for a cruising range of 2,400 nautical miles (4,400 km) with a 2,000-pound (910 kg) bomb load resulted in the selection of the North American B-25B Mitchell to carry out the mission. The B-26 Marauder, B-18 Bolo and B-23 Dragon were also considered,^[7] but the B-26 had questionable takeoff characteristics from a carrier deck and the B-23's wingspan was nearly 50% greater than the B-25's, reducing the number that could be taken aboard a carrier and posing risks to the ship's island. The B-18, one of the final two types considered by Doolittle, was rejected for the same reason.^[8]

The B-25 had yet to be tested in combat,^{[N 1][9]} but subsequent tests with B-25s indicated they could fulfill the mission's requirements. Doolittle's first report on the plan suggested that the bombers might land in Vladivostok, shortening the flight by 600 nautical miles (1,000 km) on the basis of turning over the B-25s as Lend-Lease.^[10] However, negotiations with the Soviet Union (which had signed a neutrality pact with Japan in April 1941) for permission were fruitless.^[11]

Training

Lt. Col. Doolittle wires a Japanese medal to a bomb, for "return" to its originators.

When planning indicated that the B-25 was the aircraft best meeting all specifications of the mission, two were loaded aboard the aircraft carrier USS Hornet at Norfolk, Virginia, and subsequently flown off the deck without difficulty on 3 February 1942.^[12] The raid was immediately approved and the 17th Bomb Group (Medium) chosen to provide the pool of crews from which volunteers would be recruited. The 17th BG had been the first group to receive B-25s, with all four of its squadrons equipped with the bomber by September 1941. The 17th not only was the first medium bomb group of the Army Air Corps, but in the spring of 1942 also had the most experienced B-25 crews. Its first assignment following the entry of the United States into the war was to the U.S. Eighth Air Force.^[13]

The 17th BG, then flying antisubmarine patrols from Pendleton, Oregon, was immediately moved cross-country to Lexington County Army Air Base at Columbia, South Carolina, ostensibly to fly similar patrols off the East Coast of the United States but in actuality to prepare for the mission against Japan. The group officially transferred effective 9 February to Columbia, where its combat crews were offered the opportunity to volunteer for an "extremely hazardous" but unspecified mission. On 17 February the group was detached from the Eighth Air Force.

Initial planning called for 20 aircraft to fly the mission,^[14] and 24 of the group's B-25B Mitchell bombers were diverted to the Mid-Continent Airlines modification center in Minneapolis, Minnesota. Modifications included:

• Removal of the lower gun turret
• Installation of de-icers and anti-icers
• Steel blast plates mounted on the fuselage around the upper turret
• Removal of the liaison radio set (a weight impediment)
• Installation of three additional fuel tanks and support mounts in the bomb bay, crawlway and lower turret area to increase fuel capacity from 646 to 1,141 U.S. gallons (538–950 imp gal; 2,445–4,319 L)
• Mock gun barrels installed in the tail cone, and
• Replacement of their Norden bombsight with a makeshift aiming sight, devised by pilot Capt. C. Ross Greening and called the "Mark Twain" the materials for the bombsight cost only 20 cents.^[13]

Two bombers also had cameras mounted to record the results of bombing.^[11] The 24 crews selected picked up the modified bombers in Minneapolis and flew them to Eglin Field, Florida, beginning 1 March 1942. There the crews received intensive training for three weeks in simulated carrier deck takeoffs, low-level and night flying, low-altitude bombing and over-water navigation, primarily out of Wagner Field, Auxiliary Field 1. Lieutenant Henry Miller, USN, from nearby Naval Air Station Pensacola supervised their takeoff training and accompanied the crews to the launch. For his efforts, LT Miller is considered an honorary member of the Raider group.^[15] Lt. Col Doolittle stated in his after-action report that an operational level of training was reached despite several days when flying was not possible because of rain and fog. One aircraft was heavily damaged in a takeoff accident and another scratched from the mission because of a nose wheel shimmy that could not be repaired quickly enough.^[11]

On 25 March 1942, the remaining 22 B-25s took off from Eglin for McClellan Field, California. They arrived two days later at the Sacramento Air Depot for final modifications. A total of 16 B-25s were subsequently flown to NAS Alameda, California, on 31 March. Fifteen raiders would be the mission force and a 16th aircraft, by last-minute agreement with the Navy, would be squeezed onto the deck to be flown off shortly after departure from San Francisco to provide feedback to the Army pilots about takeoff characteristics. The 16th bomber was made part of the mission force instead.

Participating aircraft

In order of launching, the 16 aircraft were:^[15]

AAF serial #	Nickname	Sqdn	Target	Pilot	Disposition
40-2344		34th BS	Tokyo	Lt. Col. James H. Doolittle	crashed N Chuchow, China
40-2292		37th BS	Tokyo	Lt. Travis Hoover	crashed Ningpo, China
40-2270	Whiskey Pete	95th BS	Tokyo	Lt. Robert M. Gray	crashed SE Chuchow, China
40-2282		95th BS	Tokyo	Lt. Everett W. Holstrom	crashed SE Shangjao, China
40-2283		95th BS	Tokyo	Capt. David M. Jones	crashed SW Chuchow, China
40-2298	The Green Hornet	95th BS	Tokyo	Lt. Dean E. Hallmark	ditched at sea Wenchu, China
40-2261	The Ruptured Duck	95th BS	Tokyo	Lt. Ted W. Lawson	ditched at sea Shangchow, China
40-2242		95th BS	Tokyo	Capt. Edward J. York	interned Primorsky Krai, Siberia
40-2303	Whirling Dervish	34th BS	Tokyo	Lt. Harold F. Watson	crashed S Nanchang, China
40-2250		89th RS	Tokyo	Lt. Richard O. Joyce	crashed NE Chuchow, China
40-2249	Hari Kari-er	89th RS	Yokohama	Capt. C. Ross Greening	crashed NE Chuchow, China
40-2278	Fickle Finger of Fate	37th BS	Yokohama	Lt. William M. Bower	crashed NE Chuchow, China
40-2247	The Avenger	37th BS	Yokosuka	Lt. Edgar E. McElroy	crashed N Nanchang, China
40-2297		89th RS	Nagoya	Maj. John A. Hilger	crashed SE Shangjao, China
40-2267	TNT	89th RS	Kobe	Lt. Donald G. Smith	ditched at sea Shangchow, China
40-2268	Bat Out of Hell	34th BS	Nagoya	Lt. William G. Farrow	crashed S Ningpo, China

Mission

B-25Bs on the USS Hornet en route to Japan

On 1 April 1942, the 16 modified bombers, their five-man crews and Army maintenance personnel, totaling 71 officers and 130 enlisted men,^[14] were loaded onto the USS Hornet at Alameda. Each aircraft carried four specially constructed 500-pound (225 kg) bombs. Three of these were high-explosive munitions and one was a bundle of incendiaries. The incendiaries were long tubes, wrapped together in order to be carried in the bomb bay but designed to separate and scatter over a wide area after release. Five bombs had Japanese "friendship" medals wired to them—medals awarded by the Japanese government to U.S. servicemen before the war.^[16] The bombers' armament was reduced to decrease weight (and thus increase range). Each bomber launched with two .50-caliber (12.7 mm) machine guns in an upper turret and a .30-caliber (7.62 mm) machine gun in the nose. The simulated gun barrels mounted in the tail cones, intended to discourage Japanese air attacks from behind, were cited afterward by Doolittle as being particularly effective.^[11] The aircraft were clustered closely and tied down on the Hornet's flight deck in the order of their expected launch.

Orders in hand, Navy Capt. Marc A. Mitscher, skipper of the USS Hornet, chats with Lt. Col. James Doolittle.

The Hornet and Task Force 18 left the port of Alameda at 10:00 on 2 April and a few days later rendezvoused with Task Force 16, commanded by Vice Admiral William F. Halsey, Jr.—the carrier USS Enterprise and her escort of cruisers and destroyers in the mid-Pacific Ocean north of Hawaii. The Enterprise's fighters and scout planes would provide protection for the entire task force in the event of a Japanese air attack since the Hornet's fighters were stowed below decks to allow the B-25s to use the flight deck. The combined force was two carriers, three heavy cruisers, one light cruiser, eight destroyers and two fleet oilers. The escort ships—the Salt Lake City, Northampton, Vincennes, Nashville, Balch, Fanning, Benham, Ellet, Gwin, Meredith, Grayson, Monssen, Cimarron and Sabine—then proceeded in radio silence. On the afternoon of 17 April the slow oilers refueled the task force, then withdrew with the destroyers to the east while the carriers and cruisers dashed west at 20 knots towards their intended launch point in enemy-controlled waters east of Japan.^[17]

No.23 Nittō Maru sinking by USS Nashville

At 07:38 on the morning of 18 April, while the task force was still about 650 nautical miles (1,200 km) from Japan, it was sighted by the Japanese picket boat No.23 Nittō Maru, a 70-ton patrol craft, which radioed an attack warning to Japan.^[18] The boat was sunk by gunfire from USS Nashville;^{[N 2]} the chief petty officer who captained the boat committed suicide rather than be captured, but five of the eleven crew survived when they were picked up by Nashville.^[19] Doolittle and Hornet skipper Captain Marc Mitscher decided to launch the B-25s immediately—10 hours earlier and 170 nautical miles (310 km) farther from Japan than planned.^{[N 3]} After respotting to allow for engine start and runups, Doolittle's aircraft had 467 feet (142 m) of takeoff distance.^[20] Despite the fact that none of the B-25 pilots, including Doolittle, had ever taken off from a carrier before, all 16 aircraft launched safely between 08:20 and 09:19. (The 16th B-25 had been included only as a reserve, intended to fly along as an observation and photographic platform, but when surprise was compromised, Doolittle decided to use all 16 aircraft in the attack.)^[21] This was the only time that United States Army Air Forces bombers were launched from a U.S. Navy aircraft carrier on a combat mission.

The B-25s then flew towards Japan, most in groups of two to four aircraft before changing to single file at wavetop level to avoid detection.^[22] The aircraft began arriving over Japan about noon (Tokyo time; six hours after launch) and bombed 10 military and industrial targets in Tokyo, two in Yokohama and one each in Yokosuka, Nagoya, Kobe and Osaka. Although some B-25s encountered light antiaircraft fire and a few enemy fighters over Japan, no bomber was shot down. Only the B-25 of Lt. Richard O. Joyce received any battle damage, minor hits from antiaircraft fire.^[20] B-25 No. 4, piloted by Lt. Everett W. Holstrom, jettisoned its bombs before reaching its target when it came under attack by fighters after its gun turret malfunctioned.^[23]

15 of the 16 aircraft then proceeded southwest along the southern coast of Japan and across the East China Sea towards eastern China, where several fields in Zhejiang province were supposed to be ready to guide them in using homing beacons, then recover and refuel them for continuing on to Chongqing, the wartime Kuomintang capital.^[14] The primary base was at Zhuzhou, toward which all the aircraft navigated, but Halsey never sent the planned signal to alert them, apparently because of a possible threat to the task force. One B-25, extremely low on fuel, headed instead for the closer land mass of the Soviet Union.

The raiders faced several unforeseen challenges during their flight to China: night was approaching, the aircraft were running low on fuel and the weather was rapidly deteriorating. None would have reached China at all except for a fortuitous tail wind as they came off the target that increased their ground speed by 25 knots for seven hours.^[24] As a result of these problems, the crews realized they would probably not be able to reach their intended bases in China, leaving them the option of either bailing out over eastern China or crash landing along the Chinese coast.^{[11][N 4]} Fifteen aircraft reached the Chinese coast after 13 hours of flight and crash landed or bailed out; the crew who flew to the Soviet Union landed 40 miles (65 km) beyond Vladivostok, where their B-25 was confiscated and the crew interned. It was the longest combat mission ever flown by the B-25 Mitchell medium bomber, averaging approximately 2,250 nautical miles (4,170 km). Although York and others were well-treated, diplomatic attempts to return them to the United States proved unsuccessful. Eventually they were relocated to Ashgabat (20 miles (32 km) from the Iranian border), and York managed to bribe a smuggler, who helped them cross the border and reach nearby British consulate on May 11, 1943.^[2][3] According to declassified Soviet archives, smuggling was staged by NKVD, because the Soviet government felt unable to repatriate them legally in the face of the neutrality pact with Japan.^[25]

Doolittle and his crew, after safely parachuting into China, received assistance from Chinese soldiers and civilians as well as John Birch, an American missionary in China. As did the others who participated in the mission, Doolittle had to bail out but fortunately landed in a heap of dung (saving a previously injured ankle from breaking) in a paddy in China near Quzhou. Doolittle thought that the raid had been a terrible failure because the aircraft were lost, and that he would be court-martialed upon his return.^[26] Doolittle subsequently recommended Birch for intelligence work with Claire Chennault's Flying Tigers.

Aftermath

Fate of the missing crewmen

Lt. Col. James H. Doolittle (center) with members of his flight crew and Chinese officials in China after the attack. Lt. Richard Cole, to Doolittle's immediate right, attended the 2008 Raider Reunion. {Those present are (from left to right): Staff Sergeant Fred A. Braemer, Bombardier; Staff Sergeant Paul J. Leonard, Flight Engineer/Gunner; General Ho, director of the Branch Government of Western Chekiang Province; Lieutenant Richard E. Cole, Copilot; Lt.Col. Doolittle, Pilot and mission commander; Henry H. Shen, bank manager; Lieutenant Henry A. Potter, Navigator; Chao Foo Ki, secretary of the Western Chekiang Province Branch Government}

Following the Doolittle Raid, most of the B-25 crews that came down in China eventually made it to safety with the help of Chinese civilians and soldiers. The Chinese people who helped them, however, paid dearly for sheltering the Americans. When the Chinese helped the Americans escape the grateful Americans in turn gave them whatever they had on hand.

The Japanese military began the Zhejiang-Jiangxi Campaign to intimidate the Chinese from helping downed American airmen. All airfields in a range of some 20,000 square miles (50,000 km²) in the areas where the Raiders had landed were torn up.^[27]The use of germ warfare as well as other atrocities were committed and those who had American items, were targeted. The Japanese killed an estimated 250,000 civilians while searching for Doolittle's men.^[28][29]

The crews of two aircraft (10 men in total) were unaccounted for: Hallmark's crew (sixth off) and Farrow's crew (last off). On 15 August 1942, the United States learned from the Swiss Consulate General in Shanghai that eight of the missing crew members were prisoners of the Japanese at Police Headquarters in that city (two crewmen had drowned after the crash landing of their aircraft). On 19 October 1942, the Japanese announced that they had tried the eight men and sentenced them to death, but that several of them had received commutation of their sentences to life imprisonment. No names or details were included in the broadcast.

After the war, the complete story of the two missing crews was uncovered in a war crimes trial held in Shanghai. The trial opened in February 1946 to try four Japanese officers for mistreatment of the eight captured crewmen. Two of the missing crewmen, Staff Sgt. William J. Dieter and Sgt. Donald E. Fitzmaurice, had drowned when their B-25 crashed off the coast of China. The other eight, Lieutenants Dean E. Hallmark, Robert J. Meder, Chase Nielsen, William G. Farrow, Robert L. Hite, and George Barr; and Corporals Harold A. Spatz and Jacob DeShazer were captured. On 28 August 1942, pilot Hallmark, pilot Farrow and gunner Spatz were given a war crime trial by the Japanese because of their strafing on civilians. On 14 October 1942, these three crewmen were advised that they were to be executed the next day. At 16:30 on 15 October 1942, the three were taken by truck to Public Cemetery Number 1 outside of Shanghai and executed by a firing squad.

The other five captured airmen remained in military confinement on a starvation diet, their health rapidly deteriorating. In April 1943, they were moved to Nanking where, on 1 December 1943, Meder died. The remaining four men (Nielsen, Hite, Barr and DeShazer) eventually began receiving slightly better treatment from their captors and were even given a copy of the Bible and a few other books. They survived until they were freed by American troops in August 1945. The four Japanese officers who were tried for war crimes against the eight Doolittle Raiders were all found guilty. Three of them were sentenced to hard labor for five years and the fourth to a nine-year sentence. DeShazer eventually became a missionary and returned to Japan in 1948, where he served in that capacity for over 30 years.

Of the group, only Hite is alive. Barr died of heart failure in 1967, Nielsen in 2007 and Jacob DeShazer died 15 March 2008.

One other Doolittle Raid crewman was lost on the mission. Corporal Leland D. Faktor (flight engineer/gunner with Gray) was killed during his bailout attempt over China, the only man on his crew to be lost.

Service of the returning crewmen

Immediately following the raid, Doolittle told his crew that he believed the loss of all 16 aircraft, coupled with the relatively minor damage the aircraft had inflicted on their targets, had rendered the attack a failure, and that he expected a court-martial upon his return to the United States. Instead, the raid bolstered American morale to such an extent that Doolittle was awarded the Medal of Honor by President Roosevelt, and was promoted two grades to brigadier general, skipping the rank of colonel. When now-promoted-to-General Doolittle toured the growing Eglin Field facility in July 1942 with Commanding Officer Col. Grandison Gardner, the local paper of record, the Okaloosa News-Journal, Crestview, Florida, while reporting his presence, made no mention of his still-secret recent training at Eglin. He went on to command the Twelfth Air Force in North Africa, the Fifteenth Air Force in the Mediterranean, and the Eighth Air Force in England during the next three years.

In addition to Doolittle's award of the Medal of Honor, Corporal David J. Thatcher (a flight engineer/gunner on Lawson's crew) and 1st Lt. Thomas R. White (flight surgeon/gunner with Smith) each received the Silver Star for their efforts in helping the wounded crew members of Lt. Lawson's crew evade Japanese troops in China. All 80 Raiders received the Distinguished Flying Cross and those who were killed, wounded or injured as a result of the raid also received the Purple Heart. In addition, every Doolittle Raider received a decoration from the Chinese government.

Twenty-eight of the crewmen remained in the China Burma India theater flying missions, most for more than a year. Five were killed in action. Nineteen crew members flew combat missions from North Africa after returning to the United States, with four killed in action and four becoming prisoners of war. Nine crew members served in the European Theater of Operations, one killed in action. Altogether 12 of the survivors died in air crashes within 15 months of the raid. Two survivors were separated from the USAAF in 1944 due to the severity of their injuries.^[2]

The 17th Bomb Group, from which the Doolittle Raiders had been recruited, received replacement crews and transferred to Barksdale Army Air Field in June 1942, where it converted to B-26 Marauder medium bombers. In November 1942 it deployed overseas to North Africa, where it operated in the Mediterranean Theater of Operations with the Twelfth Air Force for the remainder of the war.

Impact

Compared with the future devastating B-29 Superfortress attacks against Japan, the Doolittle raid did little material damage, and all of that readily repaired. Eight primary and five secondary targets were struck. In Tokyo, the targets included an oil tank farm, a steel mill, and several power plants. In Yokosuka, at least one bomb from the B-25 piloted by Lt. Edgar E. McElroy struck the nearly completed IJN aircraft carrier Ryūhō,^[20] delaying her launch until November. Six schools and an army hospital were also hit. Japanese officials reported that the two aircraft whose crews were captured had struck their targets.^[30]

For years before Pearl Harbor, there had been mock aerial drills in every Japanese city, not a precaution against China's almost nonexistent air force but part of the process of keeping warlike emotion at a high pitch.The Japanese press was told how to convey the news. The attack was depicted as a cruel, indiscriminate bombing targeted at civilians, women and children.^[31]

Despite the minimal damage inflicted, American morale soared when news of the raid was released. Stinging from the attack on Pearl Harbor and Japan's subsequent territorial gains, it was important for the American public to know that a successful military response had been undertaken.^[32]

The raid also had a strategic impact, though it was not known at the time: It caused the Japanese to recall some fighting IJN units to the Japanese Home Islands for defense. Its main aircraft carrier task force, spearheaded by five large, fast carriers—with its best naval aircraft and aircrews—under the command of Admiral Chuichi Nagumo, had inflicted serious losses on the Royal Navy and merchant shipping during the Indian Ocean Raid, steaming as far west as Ceylon (Sri Lanka) for air raids on British shipping and Royal Air Force airfields there. Following the Doolittle Raid, Nagumo's force was recalled to Japan, removing all pressure from the Royal Navy in the Indian Ocean.

The Imperial Japanese Navy also bore a special responsibility for allowing an American aircraft carrier force to approach the Japanese Home Islands in a manner similar to that of the IJN fleet to Hawaii in 1941, and likewise it escaped undamaged.^{[N 5]} The fact that rather large twin-engine land-based bombers carried out the attack served to confuse the IJN's high command about the source of the attack. This confusion and the conclusion that Japan itself was vulnerable to air attack strengthened Yamamoto's resolve to capture Midway Island, with the attempt to do so resulting in the decisive IJN loss at the Battle of Midway.^[33][34]

"It was hoped that the damage done would be both material and psychological. Material damage was to be the destruction of specific targets with ensuing confusion and retardation of production. The psychological results, it was hoped, would be the recalling of combat equipment from other theaters for home defense thus effecting relief in those theaters, the development of a fear complex in Japan, improved relationships with our Allies, and a favorable reaction on the American people." —General James H. Doolittle, 9 July 1942^[11][35]

Postwar

WWII Army vet George A. McCalpin (right) speaking with Lt. Col. Richard E. Cole (seated) about McCalpin's cousin, Raider Sgt. William 'Billy Jack' Dieter, at the 66th anniversary event at the University of Texas at Dallas in April 2008.

The Doolittle Raiders have held an annual reunion almost every year since the late 1940s. The high point of each reunion is a solemn, private ceremony in which the surviving Raiders perform a roll call, then toast their fellow Raiders who passed away during the previous year. Specially engraved silver goblets, one for each of the 80 Raiders, are used for this toast. The goblets of those who have died are inverted. So that each crewmember can be recognized, whether dead or alive, their names are engraved on the goblets twice, right side up and upside down. When only two Raiders remain alive, they will drink a final toast using the vintage 1896 bottle of Hennessy cognac which has accompanied the goblets to each Raider reunion since 1960. The vintage was chosen because it was the year of Jimmy Doolittle's birth. The bottle of cognac and the goblets had been maintained by the United States Air Force Academy on display in Arnold Hall, the cadet social center. On 19 April 2006, the memorabilia were transferred to the National Museum of the United States Air Force.^[36]

Surviving airmen

1. Colonel Richard E. Cole, copilot of aircraft #1
2. Major Thomas C. Griffin, navigator of aircraft #9
3. Lieutenant Colonel Robert L. Hite, copilot of aircraft #16
4. Major Edward Joseph Saylor, engineer of aircraft #15
5. Staff Sergeant David J. Thatcher, gunner of aircraft #7

As of April 2011, five Raiders are still alive.^{[37][38] [39]} Only eight were able to attend the 64th anniversary reunion held in Dayton, Ohio, in April 2006. Seven attended the 65th anniversary in 2007 in San Antonio, Texas, six attended the 66th anniversary in 2008 in Dallas, Texas, and four attended the 67th anniversary in 2009 in Columbia, South Carolina. The raiders held their 68th reunion at the National Museum of the United States Air Force in Dayton, Ohio. Cole, Griffin, Hite and Thatcher were the only raiders well enough to attend.^[40]

There are also seven individuals, such as Lt. Miller and raider historian Col. Carroll V. Glines, who are considered honorary Raiders for their respective efforts for the mission.^[41]

The last of the surviving Doolittle raider pilots, Bill Bower, died on 10 January 2011 at age 93 in Boulder, Colorado.^[42][43][44]

Legacy

The United States Navy named one of its aircraft carriers after the fictional location, USS Shangri-La, as a reference to the Doolittle Raid. President Roosevelt had answered a reporter's question by saying that the raid had come from "Shangri-La", which was the name of the mysterious place of perpetual youth in the Himalayas in the popular book and movie of the time, Lost Horizon.^[45][46]

Doolittle Raiders exhibit

NMUSAF Doolittle Raid exhibit. The engine shrouds cover the dissimilar engine exhausts of the 'D' model which varied from the 'B' models flown on the raid.

The most extensive display of Doolittle Raid memorabilia can be seen at the National Museum of the United States Air Force (on Wright-Patterson Air Force Base) in Dayton, Ohio. The centerpiece is a like-new B-25, which is painted and marked as Doolittle's aircraft, 40-2344, (although built as an F-10D photo reconnaissance version of the B-25D). The bomber, which North American Aviation presented to the Raiders in 1958, rests on a reproduction of the USS Hornet's flight deck. The scene is made even more realistic through the use of several authentically dressed mannequins surrounding the aircraft; these include representations of Doolittle, USS Hornet, Captain Marc Mitscher, and groups of Army and Navy men loading the bomber's bombs and ammunition. Other highlights of the exhibit are the silver goblets used by the Raiders at each of their annual reunions; pieces of flight clothing and personal equipment; a parachute used by one of the Raiders in his bailout over China; and group photographs of all 16 crews. Many other interesting items are also included in this unique collection.

Raiders' goblets

A fragment of the wreckage of one of the aircraft as well as the medals awarded to Doolittle are on display at the Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum in Washington, D.C.

The last B-25 to be retired from the U.S. Air Force inventory is displayed at the Air Force Armament Museum at Eglin AFB in the markings of Gen. Doolittle's aircraft.

The recently opened Pacific Aviation Museum Pearl Harbor on Ford Island, Oahu, Hawaii also features a 1942 exhibit in which the centerpiece is a restored B-25 in the markings of "The Ruptured Duck" used on the Doolittle Raid.^[47]

The San Marcos, Texas, chapter of the Commemorative Air Force has in its museum the armor plate from the pilot seat of the B-25 Doolittle flew in the raid.

Doolittle Raiders re-creation

The restored World War II B-25 "Heavenly Body" takes off from the deck of the USS Ranger

On 21 April 1992, in harmony with other World War II 50th Anniversary festivities, USS Ranger participated in the commemorative re-enactment of the Doolittle Raid on Tokyo, Japan.

Two World War II–era B-25 bombers were craned on board and over 1,500 guests (including national, local and military media) were embarked to witness the two vintage warbirds thunder down the Ranger's flight deck and take off.

Popular culture

The Doolittle Raid was the subject of the 1944 feature film, Thirty Seconds over Tokyo. This was based on a book of the same title by Doolittle Raider pilot Captain Ted W. Lawson, who lost a leg and had other serious injuries as a result of a crash landing off the coast of China. Spencer Tracy played Doolittle and Van Johnson portrayed Lawson. The movie is considered to be a reasonably accurate and unsensationalized depiction of the mission. The movie has the general approval of the Raiders. Footage from the film was later used for the opening scenes of Midway and in the TV miniseries War and Remembrance.

The raid also inspired two other films. One was the 1943 RKO film Bombardier starring Randolph Scott and Pat O'Brien. The climax of this movie is an attack on Japan by a group of B-17s. The other film, The Purple Heart, made in 1944, starring Dana Andrews, was a fictional depiction based on a Japanese court martial of captured American airmen, from the Doolittle Raid.

The 2001 film Pearl Harbor (with Alec Baldwin playing Doolittle) presented a heavily fictionalized version of the raid. The film's portrayal of the planning of the raid, the air raid itself, and the raid's aftermath, is inaccurate, portraying the bombing as a devastatingly effective strike against an entire industrial area. Additionally, the film includes a completely fictionalized shootout between Japanese soldiers in China and American airmen, resulting in the deaths of several Americans, many Japanese, and the rescue of the surviving airmen by Chinese soldiers.

A highly fictionalized film in 1943, Destination Tokyo starring Cary Grant, tangentially involved the raid, concentrating on the fictional submarine USS Copperfin. The submarine's mission is to enter Tokyo Bay undetected and place a landing party ashore to obtain weather information vital to the upcoming Doolittle raid. The film suggests the raid did not launch until up-to-the-minute data was received. However, all the after-action reports indicated the raid launched without time for weather briefings because of the encounter with the picket ships.^[11]

Many books were written about the Doolittle Raid after the war. Doolittle's Tokyo Raiders, by C.V. Glines, tells the complete story of the raid, including the unique experiences of each B-25 crew. Guests of the Kremlin, written by copilot Bob Emmens, describes his crew's adventures as internees in The Soviet Union after their landing in that country following the raid. Four Came Home, also by C.V. Glines, tells the story of Nielsen, Hite, Barr, and DeShazer, the Raiders who were held in POW camps for over three years. The First Heroes by Craig Nelson, goes into great detail of the events leading up to the raid and the aftermath for all the pilots and their families.

A related VHS video with contemporary footage of Doolittle and the flight preparations, along with the B-25s launching, is DeShazer, the story of missionary Sergeant Jake DeShazer of B-25 #16 (the last to launch from the Hornet). The video is based on "The Amazing Story of Sergeant Jacob De Shazer: The Doolittle Raider Who Turned Missionary by C. Hoyt Watson. At the end of both the video and the book, DeShazer after the war meets Mitsuo Fuchida, the commander and lead pilot of the Pearl Harbor attack.

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  April 18, 1942. Crew No. 1 Crew No. 1 (B-25 #40-2344, target Tokyo): 34th Bombardment Squadron, Lt. Col. James H. Doolittle, pilot; Lt. Richard E. Cole, copilot; Lt. Henry A. Potter, navigator; SSgt. Fred A. Braemer, bombardier; SSgt. Paul J. Leonard, flight engineer/gunner. (U.S. Air Force photo)
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  Doolittle Tokyo Raiders, Crew No. 5: Crew No. 5 (B-25 #40-2283, target Tokyo): 95th Bombardment Squadron, front row: Capt. David M. Jones, pilot; and Lt. Ross R. Wilder, copilot; back row: Lt. Eugene F. McGurl, navigator; Lt. Denver V. Truelove, bombardier; and Sgt. Joseph W. Manske, flight engineer/gunner.
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  18 April 1942. As part of Crew No. 6, 95th Bombardment Squadron, they flew B-25 #40-2298 "The Green Hornet" to bomb targets in Tokyo. (Left to right) Lt. Chase J. Nielsen (navigator), Lt. Dean E. Hallmark (pilot), Sgt. Donald E. Fitzmaurice (engineer-gunner), Lt. Robert J. Meder (co-pilot), Sgt. William J Dieter (bombardier). (U.S. Air Force photo)
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  Crew of "The Ruptured Duck" (B-25 Doolittle Raider) Crew No. 7 (B-25 #40-2261: target Tokyo) Front Row L-R, Lt. Ted W. Lawson, pilot; Lt. Dean Davenport, copilot; Back Row L-R, Lt. Charles L. McClure, navigator; Lt. Robert S. Clever, bombardier and Sgt. David J. Thatcher, flight engineer/gunner. (U.S. Air Force photo)

References

Notes

1. ^ The first bombing mission by B-25s preceded the Doolittle Raid by only 12 days. On April 6, 1942, six Mitchells of the 3rd Bomb Group bombed Gasmata, New Britain, followed on April 12 and 13 by two days of sorties against Cebu City and Davao in the Philippines. 3rd BG staged ten Mitchells through Darwin, Australia to Mindanao for the latter.
2. ^ The order to the Nashville did not go out until 07:52. Heavy seas made hitting the picket boat difficult even with rapid fire, and it was not sunk until 08:23 (Glines, p. 70).
3. ^ Doolittle, first off, was 610 nautical miles (1,100 km) from Tokyo at launch, while Farrow, last off, was 600 nautical miles (1,100 km) from landfall (Glines, p. 71).
4. ^ Doolittle's after-action report stated that some B-25s were heard overflying the bases but, because the Chinese had not been alerted to the attack, they assumed it was a Japanese air raid.
5. ^ The Japanese, through a small amount of intercepted radio traffic between Halsey and Mitscher, were aware that an American carrier force was at large in the Western Pacific Ocean and could possibly attack Japan (Glines 1998, pp. 60–62).

Citations

1. ^ Doolittle and Glines 1991, pp. 1–2.
2. ^ ^{a b c} Eighty Brave Men Doolittle Tokyo Raiders, Memorial site of Richard O. Joyce. Retrieved: 17 February 2008.
3. ^ ^{a b} Glines 1998, pp. 166–168.
4. ^ Craig 2004, p. 162.
5. ^ Glines 1998, p. 10.
6. ^ Glines 1998, p. 13.
7. ^ Glines 1998, p. 19.
8. ^ Glines 1998, pp. 19–20.
9. ^ Martin and Stephenson 2008, pp. 174, 182–183.
10. ^ Glines 1998, p. 27.
11. ^ ^{a b c d e f g} "General Doolittle's report on raid, 9 July 1942." Hyper War. Retrieved: 19 June 2007.
12. ^ Glines 1998, p. 22.
13. ^ ^{a b} Craven and Cate 1948, p. 439.
14. ^ ^{a b c} Craven and Cate 1948, p. 440.
15. ^ ^{a b} "Memorial site of Richard O. Joyce." Doolittle Tokyo Raiders. Retrieved: 23 October 2010.
16. ^ Coletta 1993, pp. 73–86.
17. ^ Glines 1998, p. 63.
18. ^ Chun 2006, p. 45.
19. ^ Glines 1998 p. 71.
20. ^ ^{a b c} Craven and Cate 1948, p. 442.
21. ^ Watson 1950, p. 17.
22. ^ Watson 1950, p. 20.
23. ^ Glines 1998, p. 94.
24. ^ Glines 1998, pp. 81, 91.
25. ^ "Секретная миссия подполковника Дулиттла" (in Russian). http://union.psj.ru/saver_magazins/detail.php?ID=5266. 
26. ^ Doolittle and Glines 1991, p. 12.
27. ^ Chang 1997, p. 189.
28. ^ "The Perilous Fight." PBS. Retrieved: 22 November 2011.
29. ^ Nelson 2002, pp. 226–228.
30. ^ Shepherd, Joel. "USS Enterprise CV-6 The Most Decorated Ship of the Second World War." cv6.org. Retrieved: 19 April 2010.
31. ^ Chun 2006, p. 84.
32. ^ Glines 1998, p. 219.
33. ^ Glines 1998, p. 218.
34. ^ Prange et al. 1982, pp. 22–26.
35. ^ Glines 1998, pp. 215–216.
36. ^ " 'Doolittle Goblets' Find New Home." Department of Defense News. Retrieved: 24 April 2010.
37. ^ "Surviving Doolittle Tokyo Raiders." doolittleraider.com. Retrieved: 28 November 2008.
38. ^ "Obituary of Col. James H. Macia Jr." Tucson Daily Star, Retrieved: 3 January 2010.
39. ^ Bounds, Amy. "Boulder WWII hero Bill Bower dies at 93." Daily Camera, 11 January 2011.
40. ^ Nolan, John. "Doolittle raiders share memories, sign autographs." Dayton Daily News, 17 April 2010.
41. ^ Joyce, Todd. "80 Brave Men: The Doolittle Tokyo Raiders Roster." The Doolittle Tokyo Raiders, 10 December 2008. Retrieved: 12 May 2009.
42. ^ "Ravenna WWII hero Colonel Bill Bower, 'Doolittle Raider,' dies." Ravenna Record Courier, 12 January 2011. Retrieved: 30 January 2011.
43. ^ "Col. William Marsh 'Bill' Bower, February 13, 1917–January 10, 2011." Camera (newspaper), 12 January 2011. Retrieved: 30 January 2011.
44. ^ Rees Shapiro, T. "Bill Bower, last surviving bomber pilot of WWII Doolittle Raid, dies at 93." Washington Post, 15 January 2011. Retrieved: 30 January 2011.
45. ^ "A Short History." U.S.S. 'Shangri-La' Retrieved: 23 October 2010.
46. ^ "He Flew From 'Shangri-La' to Bomb Tokyo." The War Illustrated, 6 August 1943.
47. ^ "B-25 Mitchell." Pacific Aviation Museum Pearl Harbor. Retrieved: 14 November 2010.

Bibliography

• Chang, Iris. The Rape of Nanking. New York: Basic Books, 1997. ISBN 0-465-06835-9.
• Chun, Clayton K.S. The Doolittle Raid 1942: America's First Strike Back at Japan (Campaign: 16). Botley, Oxford, UK: Osprey, 2006. ISBN 1084176-918-5.
• Coletta, Paolo. "Launching the Doolittle Raid on Japan, April 18, 1942". The Pacific Historical Review, Vol. 63, No. 1, February 1993.
• Craig, John S. Peculiar Liaisons: In War, Espionage, and Terrorism in the Twentieth Century. New York: Algora Publishing, 2004. ISBN 978-0875863313.
• Craven, Lieutenant Colonel Wesley Frank and Major James Lea Cate, series editors. "Drawing the Battle Line in the Pacific", Army Air Forces in World War II, Vol. I: Plans and Early Operations, January 1939 to August 1942. Chicago: University f Chicago Press, 1948.
• Doolittle, James H. and Carroll V. Glines. I Could Never Be So Lucky Again: An Autobiography. New York: Bantam Books, 1991. ISBN 0-553-58464-2.
• Emmens, Robert G. Guests of the Kremlin. San Rafael, CA: Ishi Press International, 2007. ISBN 0-923891-81-1.
• Glines, Carroll V. The Doolittle Raid: America's Daring First Strike Against Japan. New York: Orion Books, 1988. ISBN 0-88740-347-6
• ———— Doolittle's Tokyo Raiders. New York: Van Nostrand Reinhold, 1968, 1981.
• ———— Four Came Home. New York: Van Nostrad Reinhold, 1966, 1981.
• Glover, Charles E. "Jimmy Doolittle's One Moment in Time." The Palm Beach Post, 18 April 1992.
• Hasley, Edward. "War Stories: Heroism in the Pacific". 18 February 1996.
• Hayostek, Cindy. "Exploits of a Doolittle Raider". thehistorynet.com, 21 July 1998. Retrieved: 10 March 2008.
• Lawson, Ted W. and Robert Considine, ed.Thirty Seconds Over Tokyo. New York: Random House, Inc., 1943.
• Martin, Adrian R., and Larry W. Stephenson. Operation Plum: The Ill-fated 27th Bombardment Group and the Fight For the Western Pacific. College Station, Texas: Texas A&M University Press, 2008. ISBN 1-60344-019-4.
• Nelson, Craig. The First Heroes: The Extraordinary Story of the Doolittle Raid—America's First World War II Victory. London: Penguin Press, 2002. ISBN 978-0-14-200341-1.
• Oxford, Edward. "Against All Odds: B-25 Bombers Strike Japan in 1942." American History Illustrated, March–April 1992.
• Prange, Gordon W., Donald M. Goldstein and Katherine V. Dillon. Miracle at Midway. New York: McGraw-Hill, 1982. ISBN 0-07-050672-8.
• Watson, Charles Hoyt. DeShazer: The Doolittle Raider Who Turned Missionary. Winona Lake, Indiana: The Light and Life Press, 1950.

External links

• Doolittle Tokyo Raiders, Memorial site of Richard O. Joyce, Official Site of the Doolittle Raiders as of 2009
• Doolittle Raider Reunion Information
• Remembering the Doolittle Raid. An oral history featuring Jimmy Doolittle
• Profile image of Doolittle's aircraft
• Former Official Doolittle Raiders site
• Wright Patterson site
• "Thirty Seconds Over Tokyo" The Halsey-Doolittle Raid
• "Animated History of Doolittle Raid"
• Naval Historical Center site
• After action report of Col. Doolittle
• MaritimeQuest Doolittle Raid Photo Gallery
• American Heritage article on the Doolittle Raid
• www.doolittleraid.com – A fan site on things related to the Doolittle Raid and the Raiders
• Jimmy Doolittle and the Tokyo Raiders Strike Japan During World War II article by Edward Oxford
• A memorial site for Doolittle Raider Jacob DeShazer, including his story as written by daughter, Carol Aiko DeShazer Dixon
• Official historian of the Doolittle raid, Carroll V. Glines talks about the raid
• A film clip of Doolittle Raid is available for free download at the Internet Archive [more]
• POW, Nippon News, No. 125. in the official website of NHK.