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84th anniversary of the Doolittle raid on Japan
Posted on 4/18/26 at 7:36 am
Posted on 4/18/26 at 7:36 am
:
quote:
The Doolittle Raid anniversary is celebrated on April 18, marking the historic April 18, 1942, air strike led by Lt. Col. James Doolittle. It was the first American air strike against the Japanese archipelago in WWII, featuring 16 B-25B bombers launched from the USS Hornet to strike Tokyo and other locations.
Key Aspects of the Doolittle Raid Anniversary:
Mission Significance: Executed as a morale-boosting retaliation for the December 7, 1941, attack on Pearl Harbor.
Legacy and Tradition: The event is commemorated yearly by the Air Force and Space Force, often involving the "toast" tradition started by the original raiders with 1896 Hennessy cognac.
Commemorative Events: Anniversaries often feature flyovers of B-25 bombers and ceremonies at institutions like the National Museum of the United States Air Force.
Last Survivor: Lt. Col. Dick Cole, Doolittle’s co-pilot, was the last surviving raider, passing away in 2019
The raid caused minor physical damage but caused significant psychological damage to Japan, proving the Japanese mainland was vulnerable
11
Posted on 4/18/26 at 7:53 am to bigjoe1
Balls of steel. Fighter escort? What’s that?
Posted on 4/18/26 at 8:50 am to bigjoe1
Darth Vader just built a model of the airplane used in the raid and posted it last week. No idea how to find all that and help post it. Sorry
Posted on 4/18/26 at 8:53 am to bigjoe1
Posted on 4/18/26 at 8:57 am to Auburn1968
30 seconds over Tokyo on Tubi.
Posted on 4/18/26 at 8:59 am to bigjoe1
Lots of cool stories out of WWII and right after like the bouncing bombs they used on occasion, the candy bomber during the Berlin Airlift, ...
Posted on 4/18/26 at 9:07 am to bigjoe1
1/4 of a million Chinese civilians were executed, because they helped our pilots escape.
Posted on 4/18/26 at 9:09 am to LSU Neil
quote:
Darth Vader just built a model of the airplane used in the raid and posted it last week. No idea how to find all that and help post it. Sorry
Here it is.
My plane was one flown in Italy and the Med later in the war. The Doolittle raiders flew an earlier version of the B-25.
As has already been mentioned, these guys had gargantuan balls of steel. Imagine being the first guy in line to take off from the Hornet and this is all the room you have to either get airborne of go onto the depths of the Pacific Ocean…
They had only 467’ to get airborne. That’s only a little over 100’ more than a football field. And only 1/3 the normal distance required for the B-25 to takeoff.
And only top of that, they had to ditch all defensive machine guns, so they knew they’d be sitting ducks against Japanese fighters.
And they knew when they took off, even if they made it though Japanese airspace, they’d be lucky to still make the Chinese coast before running out of fuel.
I take back my earlier statement. These men didn’t have gargantuan balls of steel. They had gargantuan balls of depleted uranium.
Posted on 4/18/26 at 9:15 am to bigjoe1
I'm halfway through the audiobook of The First Heroes by Craig Nelson, which goes into incredible detail about the Doolittle raid. It also goes well beyond just the specifics of the raid itself as it sets the stage for what happened in the broader context of the war.
It's an excellent book which really makes you appreciate what they did and the guts it took. The Doolittle Raid was in many respects a "hope for the best" suicide mission that many of them did not expect to survive. The participants were given repeated opportunities to drop out without consequence, but none did. Despite the risks, even before takeoff there were fliers in the reserve crews offering money begging to switch places.
It's an excellent book which really makes you appreciate what they did and the guts it took. The Doolittle Raid was in many respects a "hope for the best" suicide mission that many of them did not expect to survive. The participants were given repeated opportunities to drop out without consequence, but none did. Despite the risks, even before takeoff there were fliers in the reserve crews offering money begging to switch places.
Posted on 4/18/26 at 9:50 am to Darth_Vader
quote:
Imagine being the first guy in line to take off from the Hornet and this is all the room you have to either get airborne of go onto the depths of the Pacific Ocean…
That was Doolittle.
And remember they had to launch earlier than planned because they thought a Japanese fishing boat may have gotten off a radio message before it was sunk.
Posted on 4/18/26 at 9:52 am to Auburn1968
This was reenacted on the USS Carl Vinson. Vid on YT
Posted on 4/18/26 at 9:56 am to TigerintheNO
quote:
1/4 of a million Chinese civilians were executed, because they helped our pilots escape.
I saw some interviews of some of the crews and they described how they jumped from the planes. It was dark and they weren’t even sure they were over land. They stood around the small hatch in the floor that was used to exit and had short conversations before jumping into the darkness. Some planes were over mountains at the time so the parachutes didn’t have much time to slow them down before they hit the ground. Then they had to make the long walk to safe territory. Incredibly brave.
Posted on 4/18/26 at 10:56 am to bigjoe1
quote:
That was Doolittle. And remember they had to launch earlier than planned because they thought a Japanese fishing boat may have gotten off a radio message before it was sunk.
Yep. He was the first to go, so he had the least room to gather speed for takeoff.
And he, along with all the other pilots knew that since they were launching early due to being spotted by a Japanese fishing boat, there was a good chance they’d run out of fuel before reaching Chinese controlled territory. At best, they’d come down in Japanese controlled areas or run out of fuel somewhere in the Sea of Japan off the coast of China.
Posted on 4/18/26 at 12:48 pm to bigjoe1
One of the most American things ever. Doolittle did much.
Posted on 4/18/26 at 12:55 pm to bigjoe1
Honorable mention:
83rd anniversary of Admiral Isoroku Yamamoto's death. Recon clued us in on his itinerary and we promptly blew him out of the sky.
Teamwork makes the dream work.
83rd anniversary of Admiral Isoroku Yamamoto's death. Recon clued us in on his itinerary and we promptly blew him out of the sky.
Teamwork makes the dream work.
Posted on 4/18/26 at 1:29 pm to bigjoe1
Should have invaded their country when we had the chance
Posted on 4/18/26 at 1:47 pm to Darth_Vader
quote:
They had only 467’ to get airborne
The backstory behind Doolittle’s Raiders was the best part of “Pearl Harbor” minus the nurses.
Posted on 4/18/26 at 1:57 pm to bigjoe1
The Midway 1976 version has the Doolittle launch and raid and the opening scene is in sepia color to give it the 1940s feel.
I saw it in the theaters in 1976. The theater was shaking (not really but you could feel the sounds in your chest) from the sounds of the bombers starting their engines all the way to the bombs dropping. It was awesome to experience that on the big screen and speakers.
Do yourself a favor and watch the 1976 version and crank up the volume in the beginning.
As far as the battle of Midway, the best line in the movie was a Japanese officer looking up and saying…
“Dive bomber! Enemy dive bomber!”
Then the final shite hits the fan happens with the Japanese 4th carrier.
The Japs didn’t have radar.
I saw it in the theaters in 1976. The theater was shaking (not really but you could feel the sounds in your chest) from the sounds of the bombers starting their engines all the way to the bombs dropping. It was awesome to experience that on the big screen and speakers.
Do yourself a favor and watch the 1976 version and crank up the volume in the beginning.
As far as the battle of Midway, the best line in the movie was a Japanese officer looking up and saying…
“Dive bomber! Enemy dive bomber!”
Then the final shite hits the fan happens with the Japanese 4th carrier.
The Japs didn’t have radar.
This post was edited on 4/18/26 at 2:21 pm
Posted on 4/18/26 at 3:28 pm to bigjoe1
Doolittle Raiders used to have their re-union here in FWB as they practiced at Eglin AFB.
Was always neat to see them here....
Was always neat to see them here....
Posted on 4/18/26 at 5:37 pm to Darth_Vader
quote:
Yep. He was the first to go, so he had the least room to gather speed for takeoff.
And he, along with all the other pilots knew that since they were launching early due to being spotted by a Japanese fishing boat, there was a good chance they’d run out of fuel before reaching Chinese controlled territory. At best, they’d come down in Japanese controlled areas or run out of fuel somewhere in the Sea of Japan off the coast of China.
those baws had alloy balls, stainless steel, iron, and brass, it's no wonder fuel was an issue
This post was edited on 4/18/26 at 5:41 pm
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