It was 75 years ago today that Jimmy Doolittle and his raiders set off from the carrier USS Hornet to launch the first bombing attack of World War II on Tokyo, Japan. On April 18, 1942, the 16 B-25 Mitchell bombers took off headed for the Japanese homeland, and then on to landing fields in China. The planes, each with a crew of 5 men, knew the odds were against them. In the wee hours of early morning, the carrier Hornet and her escort ships came across a fleet of enemy picket boats. The boats were part of an early warning system for the Japanese military, and were an en-expected surprise to the US fleet. Fearing enemy retaliation now that the mighty Imperial Navy of Japan had been alerted, the decision to launch the planes early was made.
Arriving over the coastline around noon time, the bombers broke into separate attack groups to make the run to their targets. The mission was aimed at 10 targets in Tokyo, 2 in Yokohama, and 1 in Kobe, Nagoya, Osaka, and Yokosuka. The air crews were surprised to see very little resistance to their invasion into enemy territory. Only light anti-aircraft fire was encountered, and most defense aircraft didn’t seem to eager to engage the American aircrews. Once the bombs had been dropped, it was time to flee to the coast of China.
The planned escape route contained 15 of the 16 B-25’s headed down the southeast coast of Japan heading across the East China Sea toward the coast of eastern China. A single bomber piloted by Captain Edward J. York decided to head for the Soviet Union. Unknown to the “Doolittle Raiders” headed for China, their planned landing fields has never been completed. All of the bombers headed for the China reached the coast 13 hours after takeoff. All of the plane crews either bailed out, or crash landed. None of these 15 planes managed to land safely. The single stray aircraft that headed north out of Japan did manage to land safely in the Soviet Union. Fearing Japanese retaliation, the Soviet’s grounded the bomber, and the crew was interned for the remainder of the war. Out of the 80 airmen who took part in the raid, 8 crew members were captured by the Japanese, and 3 were killed before reaching safety or capture.
