Video: Doolittle’s Raid
posted at 9:48 am on April 18, 2007 by Bryan
On April 18, 1942, James Doolittle led a daring raid over Tokyo. Wikipedia describes it thus:
The Doolittle Raid of April 18, 1942, was the first air raid by the United States to strike the Japanese home islands during World War II. The mission was notable in that it was the only operation in which United States Army Air Forces bombers were launched from a U.S. Navy aircraft carrier. It was the longest combat mission ever flown by the B-25 Mitchell medium bomber. The Doolittle Raid demonstrated that the Japanese home islands were vulnerable to Allied air attack and it provided an expedient outlet for U.S. retaliation for Japan’s attack on Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941.
The raid was planned and led by Lieutenant Colonel Jimmy Doolittle, already a famous civilian aviator and aeronautical engineer before the war. The raid, however, had its roots in the mind of Navy Captain Francis Low, who early in the war predicted that, under the right conditions, twin-engined Army bombers could be successfully launched from an aircraft carrier. Subsequent calculations by Doolittle indicated that the B-25 Mitchell could be launched from a carrier with a reasonable bomb load, hit military targets in Japan, and fly on to land in China.
Michelle and I interviewed some of the surviving raiders and sailors who helped get the mission airborne on Veterans Day last year.
I spent my Air Force years mostly in Tokyo, and much of that time at one of the bases that Doolittle’s Raiders struck. So it was a thrill to meet such legends and heroes.
Blowback
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Thank you Bryan, Michelle and everyone at Hot Air for remembering our heroes of our past along with our heroes of the present.
Sven on April 18, 2007 at 10:05 AM
And thank you Lt. Col. Doolittle.
CurtZHP on April 18, 2007 at 10:10 AM
Our troops are still the best in the world, the politicos not so much.
bbz123 on April 18, 2007 at 10:14 AM
Things were very different back then. We didn’t have politically biased Pentagon officials leaking war strategies to the New York Times.
The result?
Successful missions.
fogw on April 18, 2007 at 10:22 AM
Just think of all the amazing missions today that we hear nothing about. Americans are still brave, self-sacrificing people, but allow a dangerous culture to grow that substitutes true heros with entitled, self serving bottom feeders.
Instead of Doolittle and Patton, this era has John Kerry and Murtha as American military examples. Heaven help us.
Hening on April 18, 2007 at 10:34 AM
This was an all volunteer mission. Because of possible detection by a sampan, the mission took off early, using more fuel than planned for. Many of the B-25′s crashed in or near the sea.
America has always been blessed by brave men like these. Thanks to Hot Air for remembering.
May God Bless them.
mountainmanbob on April 18, 2007 at 10:37 AM
The reunion is being held here in San Antonio.
We have 4 B-25s here and you can go up for a ride but it’ll cost you.
Labamigo on April 18, 2007 at 10:55 AM
Where do we find guys like that today ?
moc23 on April 18, 2007 at 10:59 AM
Patience. I’m still growing one!
CurtZHP on April 18, 2007 at 11:17 AM
God bless them.
morganfrost on April 18, 2007 at 11:54 AM
May God Bless the Doolittle Raiders!
Zorro on April 18, 2007 at 11:59 AM
Courageous and self-effacing. It never ceases to amaze me how these heroes always seem to find it somewhat uncomfortable to be labeled “heroes.” But that’s exactly what we are, and we are forever indebted to them. May God bless them all.
lan astaslem on April 18, 2007 at 12:05 PM
Where do we find guys like that today ?
moc23 on April 18, 2007 at 10:59 AM
They are in Iraq and Afghanistan and proudly serving our country all over the world.
Sven on April 18, 2007 at 12:10 PM
Sven,
you could not have said it any better to Moc!
and to the heroes of the doolittle raid “Nothing can stop the Army Air Corps” thank you for your humble bravery.
robo on April 18, 2007 at 1:16 PM
I wonder what it was like to live in a country where Doolittle was the name of a war hero (!) rather than a description of our foreign policy.
billy on April 18, 2007 at 1:21 PM
You guys’ll like this. I work for Southwest, I used to be an Operations Agent in Ft. Lauderdale, that means I did the weight and balance, deplaned and boarded the passengers, etc. Anyway, one day I was waiting for my flight to arrive, I pull up the paperwork, which includes the names of the Crew. The Captain’s name is Billy Mitchell, the First Officer’s name is Jimmy Doolittle. I look at the Crew list and think “Is this for real?” So when the plane got in, I go into the cockpit to drop off the paperwork and hold up the Crew list and said “Is this a joke?” Billy said “Nope, that’s us.” I said “Any relation to those guys?” Billy said “Yup, great-grandson.” Jimmy says “Grandson.” I said “Holy crap! Do you have any idea … uh, yeah, I guess ya do.” They had already discussed it so no big deal by the time they got to me. So when I get ready to load up the passengers, I got on the mic and explained who the pilots were, but they just looked at me like “Who? Yeah, so what?” They had no idea what I was talking about. Our education system is lacking in the history department.
Tony737 on April 18, 2007 at 1:27 PM
It’s not lacking – it’s being counter-trained. Remember the recent story concerning parents objecting to a memorial statue of a SEAL killed in Iraq. It depicts him holding a gun, and that “glorifies violence” and “young children should (not) be exposed to that in that way – unsupervised by their parents or any adults…”
Doolittle and Mitchell are being driven down the memory hole. I suspect newly minted history books will have a lot more coverage of Cindy Sheehan.
eeyore on April 18, 2007 at 1:47 PM
DAMN SKIPPY Sven!!! I’ve got one who left for the gulf Monday and the other heads to Iraq in September.
csdeven on April 18, 2007 at 2:09 PM
DAMN SKIPPY Sven!!! I’ve got one who left for the gulf Monday and the other heads to Iraq in September.
csdeven on April 18, 2007 at 2:09 PM
God bless them and their service, I will be joining them soon.
Sven on April 18, 2007 at 2:32 PM
CS
Thank your sons for serving and may god bless them and return them home safely….Our son returned from “the sandbox” last june…
robo on April 18, 2007 at 2:34 PM
DAMN SKIPPY Sven!!! I’ve got one who left for the gulf Monday and the other heads to Iraq in September.
csdeven on April 18, 2007 at 2:09 PM
God bless them and their service, I will be joining them soon.
Sven on April 18, 2007 at 2:32 PM
Sven
you have our thanks and prayers…may god bless and stay safe…..
robo on April 18, 2007 at 2:38 PM
The story of the Doolittle raid is amazing. Someone said it earlier, but you had volunteers that were trying something entirely new, in fully armed and fueled aircraft off on a mission which they knew they would likely not return from.
They called it duty, and didn’t shy away.
BacaDog on April 18, 2007 at 4:19 PM
Your both very fortunate. I’m jealous.
I spent My A.F. years in the U.K and Germany.
Texyank on April 18, 2007 at 4:35 PM
Hey Tex, me too. RAF Greenham Common/Welford in the U.K. and Spangdahlem in Germany. You?
Tony737 on April 18, 2007 at 4:43 PM
Bentwaters , Woodbridge in Suffolk U.K
The one in germany was T.D.Y. Ramstein. I think
been a looong time.
And Wheelus AFB in Libya until The Col K.
kicked the yanks out.
Texyank on April 18, 2007 at 5:21 PM
If they flew the Doolittle mission today, the New York Times would castigate Bush for launching a doomed mission with little prospects of success to further a war impossible to win. Meanwhile the Truthers would be claiming it was impossible for Japanese planes to fly all that way to Pearl Harbor; it must have been our own air force that hit us and sunk the Arizona with controlled demolitions. After all, fire has never melted steel.
Tantor on April 18, 2007 at 5:52 PM
and
Needed to be said again.
I don’t remeber heary ANYTHING about this when I was in school.
- The Cat
MirCat on April 18, 2007 at 6:25 PM
Definately less important than a year with Hot Air. For the rest of you. Confederate Air Force with footage of Jimmy Doolittle’s co-pilot Lt. Richard E. “Dick” Cole. Air Show 5-27-06 Bay City WI.
Timber Wolf on April 18, 2007 at 7:51 PM
Salute to the Doolittle Raiders. (ex-Air Force)
oakpack on April 18, 2007 at 9:57 PM
My husband wanted me to relay to you that as a young man in the Army Air Corps, his dad remembers watching Doolittle and his men flying at Pensacola at the base there.
He said that they painted two yellow stripes on the runway–the distance between the stripes being the length of an aircraft carrier. The men then practiced taking off in their B-25′s within that distance. My father-in-law watched them in those dry runs.
It was very secret-no one knew what was going on and questions were not answered.
Our gratitude to these brave men!
INC on April 18, 2007 at 10:16 PM
“Freedom is not free” – how simply and profoundly said MM.
Thank you for featuring this thread Bryan.
Entelechy on April 19, 2007 at 12:59 AM
Sadly true. History teaching, not only at the secondary level but in college For God’s Sake, has devolved from indifferent to the military to hostile to the military
Military history has become an exotic field, less common that Medieval Studies and Indigenous Peoples History
My older son is in The Stan, and for a while part of his job was finding targets for……….wait for it…….THE FRENCH NAVAL AIR WING PILOTS taking off from a FRENCH AIRCRAFT CARRIER off the coast of Pakistan.
So, cut the Frog jokes, the Surrender Monkey b.s., and give credit where credit is due: the ruling bureaucratic /corporate elites in France are Beneath Contempt, but France has a Real Military
half as good as ours, man for man and machine for machine ( their tanks are sh,,,, ) but Real
the aircraft carrier ( Foch ? ) even floats continuously……….
Janos Hunyadi on April 19, 2007 at 3:46 AM