Doolittle Raid Launch Footage (1942)

The Doolittle Raid, April 18, 1942, was the first air raid by the United States to strike the Japanese home island of Honshu during World War II. The mission was notable since it was the only time in U.S. Military history that United States Army Air Forces bombers (16 modified B-25B bombers) were launched from a U.S. Navy aircraft carrier on a combat mission. The raid demonstrated that the Japanese home islands were vulnerable to Allied air attack, and it provided an expedient means for U.S. retaliation for Japan's attack on Pearl Harbor on December 7th, 1941.

The bombers were carried by the USS Hornet (CV-8) from Alameda, California to their launch point in the Pacific. At a distance of about 650 miles from Japan, the task force encountered a Japanese picket boat, which radioed an attack warning to Japan. Although the boat was destroyed by gunfire from the cruiser USS Nashville, Lt. Col. Jimmy Doolittle and Hornet skipper Captain Marc Mitscher decided to launch the B-25s immediately ten hours earlier and 170 miles farther from Japan than planned.

The footage shows some of the men rescued from the picket boat (and I believe the boats destruction), although the shot of the Japanese men is overexposed. Most of the rest of our film shows the men preparing the aircraft for launch and launching. They launched their aircraft between 8:30 and 9:19 in the morning.

This reel doesn't contain any footage after the raid left the Hornet there are a couple of still shots with possible bomb damage and maybe a picture of a crashed B-25 in China, and some footage of at least one of the raiders receiving a medal in China, but that's all we have.

Immediately after the raid, Lt. Col. Doolittle told his crew that he believed that the loss of all 16 aircraft, coupled with the relatively minor damage that had been inflicted on their targets had rendered the attack a failure, and that he expected a court martial on his return to the United States. Instead, the raid bolstered American morale to such an extent that Doolittle was awarded the Medal of Honor by President Franklin Roosevelt. He was also promoted two grades to Brigadier General, skipping the rank of colonel. He went on to command the 12th Air Force in North Africa, the 15th Air Force in the Mediterranean, and the 8th Air Force in England during the next three years.

Category:

Education

Tags:

• Doolittle
• Raid
• Launch
• Footage
• 1942
• world
• war
• II
• europe
• pacific
• united
• states
• military
• warfare
• history
• navy
• army
• air
• force
• marines
• cold
• korean
• propaganda
• vietnam
• communism
• democracy

[MrScott8]

Parts that are filmet out-of-Hornet deck were filmed from Enterprise or which ship?

[colindominy]

Great footage !! This entire mission, from conception to execution to post-rescues of downed pilots in China, is just an incredible story of courage, bravery-in-action & valour. It was daring-beyond-belief in concept - so much so, that I truly believe that only the yanks, with their famous "adapt / improvise / can-do" approach, would have been capable of pulling this mission off. No other country nor its military personnel could've done so, nor would have even considered it remotely feasible.

[kdp262]

Little bit of film means so much....

[GoldenIronify]

love it

[CaptainNomura]

Best complete footage of the actual Doolittle Raiders I've seen so far. Gives more credit to the braveness of these men, launching at such rough seas from such small flighdeck. The 2001 movie does no justice. This is real. Note no #8 on flightdeck. The Doolittle Raiders changed the course of war, because of them, the Japanese were forced to focus on Midway, which led to their ultimate defeat. Even Japanese like me with 30+ years in USAF service are proud of them,

[spaguru]

@Coins4Cheese Not really. Yes, there was an air raid drill that day, but my fathers airplane encountered 16 hostile enemy aircraft, suffered a large 10" hole in the fuselage, dodged AA Fire all over, and had many bullet holes through his B-25. Your story is true up to the point where Doolittle's crew, plane 1, and first over Japan, dropped their first bomb, and it was a battlefield after that.

[spaguru]

@windseeker242 You are incorrect. Robert Hite came home and will be in attendance at the 69th Doolittle Raiders Reunion in Omaha NE in April 2011. Jacob DeShazer came home from that crew, and went back to Japan as a missionary. One of the most remarkable stories of any of the Raiders.

[spaguru]

@ZacKramer All B-25s took off from the very same spot as there was a cork inlay in the deck of the Hornet where the planes wheels sat and grabbed for traction as the plane locked its brakes and went to full power without skidding around the deck... They all had the same 368 feet of available runway.

[spaguru]

@GomerfromIsaan Thise are B-25 Mitchell Medium Bombers, and not a B-29 Long Range Bomber

[spaguru]

@GomerfromIsaan Those are B-25s