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<\/p>\nIt 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\u00a0headed 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\u00a0picket boats. The boats were part of an early warning system for the Japanese military, and were an en-expected surprise\u00a0to 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.<\/p>\n
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.<\/p>\n
The planned escape\u00a0route\u00a0contained 15\u00a0of the 16 B-25’s\u00a0headed down\u00a0the southeast coast of Japan heading across the East China Sea toward the coast of eastern\u00a0China. A single bomber piloted by Captain Edward J. York\u00a0decided to head for the Soviet Union. Unknown to the “Doolittle Raiders” headed for China, their planned landing fields has never been completed.\u00a0All of\u00a0the 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\u00a0aircraft that headed north out of Japan did\u00a0manage to land safely in\u00a0the Soviet Union. Fearing Japanese retaliation, the Soviet’s grounded the bomber, and\u00a0the crew was interned for the remainder of the war. Out of the\u00a080 airmen who took part\u00a0in the raid,\u00a08 crew members were captured by the Japanese, and 3\u00a0were killed before reaching safety or capture.<\/p>\n
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