14 Facts About Doolittle Raid

Doolittle Raid, known as the Tokyo Raid, was an air raid on 18 April 1942 by the United States on the Japanese capital Tokyo and other places on Honshu during World War II.

The consequences of the Doolittle Raid were most severely felt in China, where Japanese reprisals caused the deaths of 250,000 civilians and 70,000 soldiers.

Doolittle Raid initially believed that the loss of his aircraft would lead to his court-martial – instead he received the Medal of Honor and was promoted two ranks to brigadier general.

Doolittle Raid reported to Admiral Ernest J King on 10 January 1942 that he thought that twin-engined Army bombers could be launched from an aircraft carrier, after observing several at Naval Station Norfolk Chambers Field in Norfolk, where the runway was painted with the outline of a carrier deck for landing practice.

The aircraft to be used would need a cruising range of 2,400 nautical miles with a 2,000-pound bomb load, so Doolittle Raid selected the B-25B Mitchell to carry out the mission.

Related searches

Doolittle Raid considered the Martin B-26 Marauder, Douglas B-18 Bolo, and Douglas B-23 Dragon, but the B-26 had questionable takeoff characteristics from a carrier deck and the B-23's wingspan was nearly 50-percent greater than the B-25's, reducing the number that could be taken aboard a carrier and posing risks to the ship's superstructure.

Doolittle Raid stated in his after-action report that the crews reached a "safely operational" level of training, despite several days when flying was not possible because of rain and fog.

Immediately following the raid, Doolittle told his crew that he believed the loss of all 16 aircraft, coupled with the relatively minor damage to targets, had rendered the attack a failure, and that he expected a court-martial upon his return to the United States.

When General Doolittle Raid toured the growing Eglin Field facility in July 1942 with commanding officer Col.

Doolittle Raid went on to command the Twelfth Air Force in North Africa, the Fifteenth Air Force in the Mediterranean, and the Eighth Air Force in England during the next three years.

Finally, as Doolittle noted in his autobiography, he successfully insisted that all of the Raiders receive a promotion.

Doolittle Raid recounted in his autobiography that at the time he thought the mission was a failure and he would be demoted upon return to the US.

Fragment of the wreckage of one of the aircraft, and the medals awarded to Doolittle Raid, are on display at the Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum in Washington, DC.

Doolittle Raid was the subject of another 1944 feature film, Thirty Seconds Over Tokyo, based on the book of the same title by Ted Lawson, who was seriously injured in a crash landing off the coast of China.