THE DOOLITTLE RAID

On April 18, 1942 Sixteen United States Army B-25 Mitchell bombers began America’s first offensive operation of the Second World War by launching from the narrow confines of a Navy aircraft carrier and striking-out towards the ancient capital of imperial Japan.  In retaliation for Japan’s surprise attack on the American naval base at Pearl Harbor, the sixteen American bombers struck at targets in Tokyo and three other major Japanese cities.   Following the attack, the bombers continued on a westerly course towards Allied airfields in unoccupied China.  However, due to a chance encounter with a Japanese picket ship, the American bombers were launched several hours earlier than originally planned.  

The earlier than scheduled launch, meant that the B-25’s would not have the necessary fuel to reach airfields that had been prepared for them deep within unoccupied China.  Consequentially, the bomber crews were ordered to fly as far into the Chinese interior as possible, and then take to their parachutes.  Once on the ground it was hoped that the American airmen would make contact with either Chinese civilians or military forces and then make their way to their intended airfields.   

Unfortunately, all sixteen of the B-25’s flew to the end of their fuel reserves and were lost  

One of the B-25, landed safely on an airfield in the Soviet Union, where the aircraft was confiscated and its five-man crew was interned by the Soviet.  All the other bombers were lost while trying to reach the Chinese interior.  Of the fifteen B-25’s that flew on towards China, eleven were lost when their crews took to their parachutes, the other four aircraft were lost while making forced landings – one near Nanchang, one on the coast and two at sea. 

It is a lasting tribute to the courage of the Chinese people, that nearly all of Doolittle’s airmen were able to reach the safety of the Chinese interior.  However, the Chinese were to suffer a brutal retribution at the hands of the Imperial Japanese Army for helping the American airmen.  Some Chinese sources say that as many as 250,000 Chinese civilians were killed by the Japanese Army, in an act of savage brutality that Japanese military leaders thought would discourage the Chinese from aiding other downed American airmen.

1. North American B-25 Mitchell bombers of Doolittle’s attack force are seen spotted on the flight deck of the USS Hornet.  This photograph was taken while the U.S.S. Hornet and its escorting force were crossing the northern Pacific Ocean on their way to waters off the eastern coast of the Japanese home islands.

2. As the first of the Tokyo Raiders to launch from the U.S.S. Hornet, Lt. Colonel James H. “Jimmy” Doolittle’s B-25 is seen clawing its way into the air.   This particular photograph documents the launch of what at that time, was the largest aircraft ever to launch from the deck of an aircraft carrier.

3. On board the USS Hornet, Lt. Ted Lawson,  and his crew are seen in front of their B-25, “The Ruptured Duck.” From left to right are: co-pilot Lt. Charles L. McClure,  pilot Ted W. Lawson,  bombardier Lt. Robert S. Clever,  navigator Dean Davenport and engineer- gunner Sergeant David J. Thatcher.  Though severely injured while crash landing his B-25 in the surf off the Chinese coast, thanks to the selfless courage of an uncounted number of Chinese civilians, soldiers and guerilla soldiers, and the skills of a USAAF doctor, who had participated on the “Tokyo Raid” as an aerial gunner on an other of the attacking aircraft, Ted Lawson survived his injuries and returned safely to the U.S.  While recovering from his injuries, Lawson wrote Thirty Seconds Over Tokyo, one of the most respected non-fiction books to be written during the Second World War.  In 1944, Thirty Seconds Over Tokyo was made into to a major motion picture, which to this day, is considered one the finest motions pictures ever produced on the Second World War.

5. The five “Tokyo Raiders” of Crew Number 15, are photographed with Chinese civilians and soldiers who were involved with their rescue and safe return to Allied airfields in ‘unoccupied” China.  From left to right are: Sergeant Edward J. Saylor, Lt. Thomas R. White,  Lt. Donald G. Smith,  Lt. Griffith P. Williams and Lt. Howard A. Sessler.