A unique series of images that explores every aspect of the Doolittle
Raid, also known as the Tokyo Raid, which was undertaken on Saturday, 18
April 1942.
On 1 April 1942, less than four months after the world had been stunned
by the attack upon Pearl Harbor, sixteen US aircraft took to the skies
to exact retribution. Their objective was not merely to attack Japan,
but to bomb its capital. The people of Tokyo, who had been told that
their city was 'invulnerable' from the air, would be bombed and
strafed - and the shock waves from the raid would extend far beyond the
explosions of the bombs.
The raid had first been suggested in January 1942 as the US was still
reeling from Japan's pre-emptive strike against the US Pacific Fleet at
Pearl Harbor. The Americans were determined to fight back and fight back
as quickly as possible. The 17th Bomb Group (Medium) was chosen to
provide the volunteers who would crew the sixteen specially modified
North American B-25 bombers. As it was not possible to reach Tokyo from
any US land bases, the bombers would have to fly from aircraft carriers,
but it was impossible for such large aircraft to land on a carrier; the
men had to volunteer for a one-way ticket.
Led by Lieutenant Colonel 'Jimmy' Doolittle, the seventy-one officers
and 130 enlisted men embarked on the USS Hornet which was shielded by a
large naval task force. However, the ships were spotted by a Japanese
ship. The decision was therefore made to take-off before word of the
task force's approach reached Tokyo, even though the carrier was 170
miles further away from Japan than planned and in the knowledge that the
B-25s would not have enough fuel to reach their intended landing places
in China.
The raid was successful, and the Japanese were savagely jolted out of
their complacency. Fifteen of the aircraft crash-landed in, or their
crews baled-out over, China; the sixteenth managed to reach the Soviet
Union. Only three men were killed on the raid, with a further eight
being taken prisoner by the Japanese, three of whom were executed and
one died of disease.
The full story of this remarkable operation, of the men and machines
involved, is explored through this fascinating collection of images.
