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Doolittle Raid
Lt. Col. Jimmy Doolittle (second from right) and his crew pose in front of a B-25 on the deck of the USS Hornet 
Lt. Col. Doolittle wires a Japanese medal to a bomb, for "return" to its originators. The Doolittle Raid, 18 April 1942, was the first air raid by the United States to strike the Japanese home island of Honsh? during World War II. It demonstrated that the Japanese home islands were vulnerable to Allied air attack, and provided an expedient means for U.S. retaliation for Japan's attack on Pearl Harbor on 7 December 1941. The Doolittle Raid 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 raid was planned and led by Lieutenant Colonel James "Jimmy" Doolittle, with the North American B-25B Mitchell the airplane selected to carry out the mission. The plan was to launch them from a carrier, hit military targets in Japan, and fly on to land in China. All 16 aircraft were lost on the mission, and 11 crewmen were either killed or captured. The crews of 13 aircraft, however, were recovered and returned to the United States, and a 14th crew interned by the Soviet Union eventually made its way home in 1943. While the military significance of the raid was minimal, it proved to be a substantial morale booster for Americans.
OriginsThe raid had its roots in a desire by President Franklin D. Roosevelt, expressed to Joint Chiefs of Staff in a meeting at the White House on December 21, 1941, that Japan be bombed as soon as possible to boost public morale after the disaster at Pearl Harbor.[1] The concept for the attack came from Navy Captain Francis Low, a submariner, who reported to Admiral Ernest J. King on January 10, 1942, that he surmised that twin-engined Army bombers might 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.[2] It was subsequently planned and led by Doolittle, already a famous civilian aviator and aeronautical engineer before the war. Requirements for the aircraft for a cruising range of 2,400 miles (3,900 km) with a 2,000 pound (900 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,[3] 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.[4] Subsequent tests with B-25s indicated it could be launched from a carrier, hit military targets in Japan, and fly on to land in China. Doolittle's first report on the plan suggested that the bombers might land in Vladivostok, shortening the flight by , on the basis of turning over the B-25s as lease lend.[5] However, negotiations with the Soviet Union (which was not at war with Japan) for permission were fruitless.[6] TrainingWhen 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 February 3, 1942.[7] The raid was immediately approved and the 17th Bomb Group (Medium) chosen to provide the pool of crews from which volunteers would be recruited. In the spring of 1941, the 17th BG had been the first group to receive B-25s, with all four of its squadrons equipped with the bomber by September, and it not only was the first medium bomb group of the Army Air Corps, but it 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.[8] The 17th BG, then flying antisubmarine patrols from Pendleton, Oregon, was immediately moved cross-country to Lexington County Army Air Base, 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 arrived in Columbia on February 9, where its combat crews were offered the opportunity to volunteer for an "extremely hazardous" but unspecified mission. On February 17 the group was officially detached from the Eighth Air Force. Initial planning called for 20 aircraft to fly the mission,[9] and 24 of the group's B-25B Mitchell bombers were diverted to the Mid-Continent Airlines modification center in Minneapolis, Minnesota. Modifications included:
Two bombers also had cameras mounted to record the results of bombing.[6] 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 carrier deck takeoffs, low-level and night flying, low altitude bombing, and over water navigation. 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 taken off the mission because of a nose wheel shimmy that could not be repaired in time.[6] On 25 March, the remaining 22 B-25s took off from Eglin for McClellan Field, California. They arrived on 27 March for final modifications at the Sacramento Air Depot. A total of 16 B-25s were subsequently flown to 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.) B-25 aircraft of the Doolittle RaidIn order of launching, the 16 aircraft were:[11]
Flying the Raid
B-25Bs on USS Hornet en route to Japan 
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 its 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, two carriers, three heavy cruisers, one light cruiser, eight destroyers, and two fleet oilers,[14] then proceeded in radio silence towards their intended launch point in enemy-controlled waters east of Japan. On the morning of 18 April, at a distance of about 650 miles (1,050 km) from Japan, the task force was sighted by a Japanese picket boat No. 23 Nitto Maru which radioed an attack warning to Japan.[15] Although the boat was destroyed by gunfire from the cruiser USS Nashville, Doolittle and Hornet skipper Captain Marc Mitscher decided to launch the B-25s immediately—10 hours early and 170 miles (275 km) farther from Japan than planned. After respotting to allow for engine start and run-ups, Doolittle's aircraft had 467 ft (142 metres) of takeoff distance.[16] 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 the mission was compromised, Doolittle made a command decision to utilize the reserve aircraft.)[17] They then flew towards Japan in sections of three-four aircraft before changing to single-file at wavetop level to avoid detection.[18] 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 anti-aircraft 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 anti-aircraft fire.[19] Fifteen of the 16 aircraft then proceeded southwest along the southern coast of Japan and across the East China Sea towards eastern China, where five recovery bases supposedly awaited them.[20] One B-25, extremely low on fuel, headed instead for the closer land mass of Russia. 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. 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. Fifteen aircraft reached the Chinese coast after 13 hours of flight and crash landed or bailed out; the crew who flew to Russia landed 40 miles (65 km) beyond Vladivostok, where their B-25 was confiscated and the crew interned until they managed to escape through Iran in 1943.[21] It was the longest combat mission ever flown by the B-25 Mitchell medium bomber, averaging approximately 2,250 miles (3,600 km). 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 rice paddy in China near Chuchow (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. Doolittle subsequently recommended Birch for intelligence work with General Chennault's Flying Tigers. AftermathFate 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. 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, Sgt. William J. Dieter and Cpl. Donald E. Fitzmaurice, had died when their B-25 crashed off the coast of China. The other eight, Lieutenants Dean E. Hallmark, Robert J. Meder, Chase J. Nielsen, William G. Farrow, Robert L. Hite, and George Barr; and Corporals Harold A. Spatz and Jacob DeShazer were captured. In addition to being tortured and starved, these men contracted dysentery and beriberi as a result of the poor conditions under which they were confined. On 28 August 1942, pilot Hallmark, pilot Farrow and gunner Spatz were given a mock trial by the Japanese, although the airmen were never told the charges against them. 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 put before 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 still alive. Barr died of cancer 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 crewmenImmediately 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. 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.[21] 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. ImpactCompared to the devastating B-29 Superfortress attacks against Japan later in the war, the Doolittle raid did little material damage. Eight primary and five secondary targets were struck, and the Japanese reported that the two planes whose crews were captured had also struck their targets. At least one bomb from the plane of Lt. Edgar E. McElroy struck the Japanese aircraft carrier Ry?h?.[23] Nevertheless, when the news of the raid was released, American morale soared from the depths to which it had plunged following the Pearl Harbor attack and Japan's subsequent territorial gains. It was important for Americans to know that a military response had been undertaken. The raid also had a strategic impact, though it was not understood at the time, in that it caused the Japanese to recall some fighter units back to the home islands for defense. They did not understand how American aircraft could attack from such a distance and assumed that America had developed a new, extremely long-range aircraft, when in reality, American forces knew it would essentially be a one-way trip. This assumption that the home islands were vulnerable to air attack strengthened Admiral Yamamoto's resolve to carry out military action against Midway Island. These reassignments subsequently weakened Japan's air capabilities against the Allies at the Battle of Midway and later Pacific Theater campaigns. 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.
LegacyThe United States Navy named one of its aircraft carriers after the fictional location, USS Shangri-La, as an obvious reference to the Doolittle Raid. The name referred to the recently lost USS Hornet. 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.[25][26] Doolittle Raiders exhibit
NMUSAF Doolittle Raid exhibit 
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 recently-opened Pacific Aviation Museum 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.[27] Doolittle Raiders recreation
The restored World War II B-25 Mitchell bomber aircraft "Heavenly Body" takes off from the deck of Ranger. Popular cultureThe 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). 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 presented a heavily fictionalized version of the raid, with the attack portrayed as having destroyed an entire industrial area against withering antiaircraft gunfire and with many other technical inaccuracies. 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.[6] 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 Russia 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 some excellent old clips 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. ReferencesNotes
Bibliography
External links
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