75th anniversary of Doolittle Raid - April 18

Cojones grandes.

 

+1

The film of those guys thing off the deck of the carrier (the Hornet IIRC) in those huge planes is one of the most epic things I've seen. I recall that they got good luck in that there was a heavy wind (20 - 30 knots?) and they were able to head straight into it, which helped the B-25s get airborne.

Major respect to those gents. According to Wiki only one left "Col. Richard E. Cole, copilot of aircraft No. 1 (age 101)." I don't know where Col. Cole is today, but I hope he's having a great day!…T

 

He is in Comfort, TX.

 

Thanks, Taz.

If anyone has a few min to spare, this is an impressive few min of film (no sound). Planes start taking off around 1:30 mark. I never cease to be amazed that they pulled this off.

https://youtu.be/NPGq7IYQHCM

T

 

Agreed.

I got to check out a B-25 last weekend at the Lyon Museum in Orange County. An amazing story (told to us by a 92 year old veteran at the museum).

True hero's.
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Thanks for posting that.
T

 

I am certain that there was no thought about not accepting this mission or any thoughts about not surviving it. That mental attitude has never changed in any war that our guys have been engaged in. WWII, Korea, Afghanistan, Civil War. Doolittle and his crew knew that they could and would do it and entertained nothing else but completing the mission. There was no control over what would eventually happen after the mission so that would be faced after completion. Taz knows this.

 

I'm not clear on how the logistics worked for that.. opening scenes deck is full of planes tied down.. then scenes of plane after plane taking off from clear deck!

Where did they go? I can only think below deck.. but the wings don't fold? Or if fit in elevator why not just have them down below in the first place? How did they get onto the deck like that in the first place? Crane? or..

Just asking.. as I don't know what is normal practice in any event..

 

^ It is my understanding that all 16 were tied down to the deck of the Hornet...T

 

Noting about this was 'normal practice'...never been attempted before.

They were craned onto the very rear of the deck of the Hornet in Norfolk, VA, and tied down.
They stayed right there until they took off.
The back row of planes' tails cantilevered beyond the deck edge... over the open sea.

They took off in the front 2/3 of the deck as the carrier steamed directly into the wind.

Took off aft to bow.
So the last couple of planes had the entire deck to take off.

They could not go below deck, would not fit on the elevators, so they were all on deck and buttoned-up; engine covers, etc.

They did not fly in formation, they flew singly toward Japan, straight off the end of the deck; they barely had enough fuel to get to Japan, much less China, having to take off 10 hours too early.


BTW, my Dad's college roommate was on the raid; he was one of the few KIA.

 

In the YouTube video that I posted, the earliest part is the Navy shooting at a Japanese trawler which spotted them, which was the motivation for the early take off. ..T

 

Probably the closest we got to a suicide mission. You have to understand that they were defenseless. Their only defence was secrecy because all of them would have been shot down long before reaching Japan if the Japanese found out they were coming.

The men leaving the deck that day had no idea what they were flying into. As far as they knew, it was an ambush.

It looks easy today because by-in large, the mission was successful. The planes bombed their targets and the US got a huge moral PR boost just months after Pearl Harbor. And, the Japanese realized they had to protect the homeland which caused them to spend huge resources that could have been better used in prosecuting the war.

But if it failed these guys and their mission would have just disappeared from the news until after the war. NO WAY the USA could have tried this and failed and the government would have announced it to the public. They would simple be lost in some "training mission".

 

This took place only 4 months after Pearl Harbor... showing their military and civilians that we were to be reckoned with. (Showing our military and civilians the same thing!)

And only 2 months after Doolittle, was the Battle of Midway (6 months after Pearl) that was the end of the Japanese offensive, we sunk 4 of their carriers. Critical blow.

 

Guadalcanal and Midway were magical victories that came at a time when they were the most effective. Incredible luck, persistence, dedication, selflessness, and bravery all came together. I have known men who were in both actions.

 

Indeed. I read that the B-25s were stripped of many of their armaments and such to make them as lightweight as possibly, for maximizing range and getting off the Hornet, I would assume.
T

 

I am amazed they got enough airspeed to take off. Would they have been able to without the head winds?

 

In one interview that I saw, Doolittle said that their fears were early discovery and a dead calm.
T

 

Norfolk was only used for the 2 trial planes as a test. The entire group transitioned to NAS Alameda (Dolittles home town BTW) and loaded by different reports either at NAS Alameda or San Francisco. I suspect it was NAS Alameda because SF I do not believe had facilities and we all know the eastern news media has no idea where Alameda is.

 

Sums it up. Balls of steel they had.

 

A bit O/T, but today's anniversary (4/19) is of the "shot heard 'round the world" as the American Revolution started with the battles of Lexington and Concord in 1775.

 

I watched a special on one of the tv channels a while ago (Perhaps the Military) they went over the execution of 3 of the Americans shot down, and how this raid led to the execution of few hundred thousand innocent Chinese, the Japanese had thought the planes came from a base in China, and deployed resources there as a result...which took pressure off of the allies..and led to subsequent actions by the Japanese that led to their downfall...