Sixteen heavily laden B-25 “Mitchell” bombers on April 18, 1942, struggled into the air against horrendous winds and seas to become airborne from the deck of the USS Hornet (CV-8) in the first American strike against the Japanese homeland in the early days of World War II. For all intents and purposes, the mission was considered by the crews and onlookers to be a one-way trip # a suicide mission.

The unit was organized and led by one of the leading aviation figures of the 1930s # Jimmy Doolittle. He was a pioneer in aviation who set world speed records, was the first aeronautical engineer and worked with Shell Oil Co. to develop the first high performance aviation fuels.

Therefore, it was no surprise that when he approached the B-25 crews at the Columbia Air Base in Columbia, the men volunteered for an unknown, dangerous mission on the strength of the reputation of the now, Lt. Col. Doolittle, whom they nicknamed “The Boss.” They trained at Eglin Air Base in Florida and learned to take off from a short area painted on the runway without knowing why, until they loaded aboard the Hornet in Alemeda, Calif.

The B-25, a two-engine, land-based bomber, was chosen because it could take off from an aircraft carrier and had a longer range than the Navy’s carrier aircraft. The plan called for the crews to bomb their targets and land at specified Nationalist Chinese bases. But as with most wartime plans, they are only good until the start of the operation; such was the case when the task force was spotted by a picket ship at 650 miles from the Japanese coast # one day and 170 miles before the planned launch point.

The decision was made to go, even though it diminished the survivability of the crews after the target was hit. The result was that one crew landed in Russia and was interned for the war. Fourteen other crews either bailed out or crash-landed in China, and two of the crews were captured by the Japanese. Of the 10 men captured, two died on impact, three were executed and five survived as prisoners of war.

This raid, which caused an insignificant amount of damage to facilities in Japan, had far-reaching implications that affected the entire war in the Pacific Ocean. The embarrassment of the Japanese Army and Navy was so acute that an estimated 250,000 Chinese civilians were slaughtered for helping the Raiders and Admiral Isoriku Yamamoto decided to take Midway Atoll to keep the Americans from being able to attack the Japanese mainland again.

The resulting American victory destroyed the Japanese Navy’s major aircraft carriers and began the string of American victories that resulted in the total and unconditional surrender of the Japanese Empire.

The bravery of these men can never be questioned. Having flown off aircraft carriers with experienced pilots, I know how harrowing it can be with people who do it as a profession. I could only imagine what it took for entire crews, who had never before been on a carrier, to make their initial flight in a grossly overweight aircraft in high winds, low visibility and a pitching flight deck. At the 60th Reunion of Doolittle’s Raiders held in Columbia five years ago, I asked one of them what it was like to face that situation, and the response was: “The Boss said we could do it, and we did.”

No one ever has to ask why they and their fellow World War II servicemen were called “The Greatest Generation.”

T&D Correspondent Larry P. Jordan can be reached by phone at 803-874-3276. Discuss this and other stories online at TheTandD.com.

You must be logged in to comment.