Just over 82 years ago, on April 18, 1942, a group of 16 B-25B Mitchell medium bombers, each with a crew of five, launched from the flight deck of the aircraft carrier USS Hornet. They were led by Army Lieutenant Colonel James Doolittle, who was later awarded the Congressional Medal of Honor for leading the mission. The "Doolittle Raid" was conceived shortly after the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941 as a way to boost American morale following that devastating surprise attack. Navy Captain Francis S. Low, Assistant Chief of Staff for anti-submarine warfare is credited with the idea for the attack.
The plan required an aircraft that would be able to take-off from the flight deck of an aircraft carrier with a cruising range of 2,400 nautical miles carrying a 2,000 pound bomb load. The B-25B Mitchell had a range of about 1,300 miles, so the bombers had to be extensively modified to hold nearly twice their normal fuel reserves. Early flight tests with the B-25B Mitchell suggested that it could be successfully launched from the short runway of an aircraft carrier. The plans further called for the planes to bomb Tokyo and then fly on to China, with the likely landing spot of Chongqing.
The 16 modified bombers with their respective five-man crews (80 pilots and crew) and support personnel departed on the USS Hornet and Task Force 18 left San Francisco, California on April 2, 1942. They joined Task Force 16, commanded by Vice Admiral William "Bull" Halsey a few days later. The USS Enterprise and her escort cruisers and destroyers with Task Force 16 would accompany the Hornet in order to provide air cover and support, as the Hornet's normal complement of fighters could not be launched from its flight deck that was crowded with the 16 bombers.
At approximately 0738 on the morning of April 18, while still 650 nautical miles away from Japan, the task force was spotted by a Japanese patrol boat, which radioed an attack warning to Japan before the boat was sunk. Doolittle and the Hornet's captain decided to launch the B-25Bs immediately, 10 hours (and 170 nautical miles) earlier than planned in order to maintain some element of surprise. All sixteen aircraft safely launched, even though none of the pilots had ever flown off the deck of an aircraft carrier. They flew in groups of two to four aircraft at wave-top level in order to avoid radar detection. Despite encountering some light anti-aircraft and a few enemy fighters, all 16 bombers reached Tokyo safely and released their bombs.
One bomber was running very low on fuel and had to head towards the Soviet Union to avoid ditching in the East China Sea. The remaining 15 bombers flew towards China, all running low on fuel and flying in deteriorating weather conditions. A lucky tail wind allowed all 15 bombers to reach the coast after 13 hours of flight and either crash-landed or bailed out (they didn't have sufficient fuel to reach Chongqing). One crewman died during the bailout. In the end, the bombers flew just around 2,250 nautical miles!
Sixty-nine airmen escaped capture or death (three were killed in action). The Chinese people who helped them were later tortured or executed by the Japanese (an estimated 250,000 Chinese lives were taken by the Japanese Imperial Army during the search for the Doolittle raiders). Eight raiders were captured by the Japanese, and their fate would not be known until 1946 (three were executed, 1 died in captivity, and 4 were repatriated).
Doolittle believed that the mission had failed - they had inflicted relatively minor damage and had lost all 16 aircraft. He expected a court martial upon return to the United States. Instead, he was promoted two grades to Brigadier General and received the Congressional Medal of Honor. All 80 raiders were awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross.
After the war, the Doolittle Raiders held a reunion almost every year from the late 1940's until 2013. Every year, they would perform a roll call and toast their fellow raiders who had died during the previous year. Specially engraved silver goblets, one for each of the 80 raiders, were used for this annual toast. The goblets of those who had died were inverted (each raider's name was engraved on the goblet twice, so that it could be read right side up or upside down). The goblets and a special bottle of cognac (a 1896 Hennessy VS cognac, 1896 being Doolittle's birth year) were held at the site of the annual reunion at the United States Air Force Academy until 2006, after which time they were transferred to the National Museum of the United States Air Force at Wright-Patterson AFB in Dayton, Ohio. I visited the museum at some point afterwards, and the display of these goblets was a very special memory.
On April 18, 2013, a final reunion for the last four surviving raiders was held at Eglin Air Force Base (only one surviving raider failed to attend due to poor health). The final toast took place at the National Museum on November 9, 2013, preceded by a B-25 flyover, with three raiders - Richard Cole, Edward Saylor, and David Thatcher in attendance. The 1896 bottle of cognac was opened, and the "final toast" was given by Cole: "Gentlemen, I propose a toast to those we lost on the mission and those who have passed away since. Thank you very much and may they rest in peace." Saylor would die in 2015, while Thatcher died in 2016. Richard Cole, Doolittle's co-pilot, was the last surviving raider and died on April 9, 2019 at the age of 103. Shortly after his death, his family and Air Force dignitaries gathered together to turn over his silver goblet, thus closing the book on a famous chapter of American military history.
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