Doolittle Raid

Conflict	Doolittle Raid
Partof	World War II, Pacific War
Caption	A B-25 taking off from for the raid
Date	18 April 1942
Place	Tokyo and other Japanese cities
Combatant1
Combatant2
Commander1	James H. Doolittle
Commander2	N/A
Strength1	16 B-25 Mitchells, 80 airmen (52 officers, 28 enlisted)
Strength2	Unknown number of troops and homeland defense
Casualties1	3 dead, 8 POWs (4 died in captivity: 3 executed, 1 disease)15 B-25s
Casualties2	About 50 dead, 400 injured

The Doolittle Raid, on 18 April 1942, was the first air raid by the United States to strike the Japanese Home Islands (Honshu) during World War II. By demonstrating that Japan itself was vulnerable to American air attack, it provided a vital morale boost and opportunity for U.S. retaliation after the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor on 7 December 1941. The raid was planned and led by Lieutenant Colonel James "Jimmy" Doolittle. Doolittle would later recount in his autobiography that the raid was intended to bolster American morale and to cause the Japanese to begin doubting their leadership:

The Japanese people had been told they were invulnerable ... An attack on the Japanese homeland would cause confusion in the minds of the Japanese people and sow doubt about the reliability of their leaders.

There was a second, and equally important, psychological reason for this attack ... Americans badly needed a morale boost.

Sixteen U.S. Army Air Forces B-25B Mitchell medium bombers were launched from the U.S. Navy's aircraft carrier deep in the Western Pacific Ocean. The plan called for them to bomb military targets in Japan, and to continue westward to land in China—landing a medium bomber on the Hornet was impossible. All of the aircraft involved in the bombing were lost and 11 crewmen were either killed or captured—with three of the captured men executed by the Japanese Army in China. One of the B-25s landed in the Soviet Union at Vladivostok, where it was confiscated and its crew interned for more than a year. Thirteen entire crews, and all but one crewman of a 14th, returned either to the United States or to American forces.

The raid caused negligible material damage to Japan, but it succeeded in its goal of helping American morale, and casting doubt in Japan on the ability of the Japanese military leaders. It also caused Japan to withdraw its powerful aircraft carrier force from the Indian Ocean to defend their Home Islands, and the raid contributed to Admiral Isoroku Yamamoto's decision to attack Midway—an attack that turned into a decisive rout of the Imperial Japanese Navy (IJN) by the U.S. Navy near Midway Island in the Central Pacific.

Up to 250,000 Chinese civilians were massacred by the Japanese Army in eastern China in its retaliatory measures.

Origins

The raid had its start in a desire by President Franklin D. Roosevelt, expressed to Joint Chiefs of Staff in a meeting at the White House on 21 December 1941, that Japan be bombed as soon as possible to boost public morale after the disaster at Pearl Harbor.

The concept for the attack came from Navy Captain Francis Low, Assistant Chief of Staff for Anti-submarine Warfare, who reported to Admiral Ernest J. King on 10 January 1942 that he thought that twin-engine Army bombers could be successfully launched from an aircraft carrier after observing several at a naval airfield in Norfolk, Virginia, where the runway was painted with the outline of a carrier deck for landing practice. It was subsequently planned and led by Doolittle, a famous civilian aviator and aeronautical engineer before the war.

Requirements for the aircraft for a cruising range of with a bomb load resulted in the selection of the North American B-25B Mitchell to carry out the mission. The B-26 Marauder, B-18 Bolo and B-23 Dragon were also considered, but the B-26 had questionable takeoff characteristics from a carrier deck and the B-23's wingspan was nearly 50% greater than the B-25's, reducing the number that could be taken aboard a carrier and posing risks to the ship's island. The B-18, one of the final two types considered by Doolittle, was rejected for the same reason.

The B-25 had yet to be tested in combat, but subsequent tests with B-25s indicated they could fulfill the mission's requirements. Doolittle's first report on the plan suggested that the bombers might land in Vladivostok, shortening the flight by on the basis of turning over the B-25s as Lend-Lease. However, negotiations with the Soviet Union (which had signed a neutrality pact with Japan in April 1941) for permission were fruitless. The raid was immediately approved and the 17th Bomb Group (Medium) chosen to provide the pool of crews from which volunteers would be recruited. The 17th BG had been the first group to receive B-25s, with all four of its squadrons equipped with the bomber by September 1941. The 17th not only was the first medium bomb group of the Army Air Corps, but in the spring of 1942 also had the most experienced B-25 crews. Its first assignment following the entry of the United States into the war was to the U.S. Eighth Air Force.

The 17th BG, then flying antisubmarine patrols from Pendleton, Oregon, was immediately moved cross-country to Lexington County Army Air Base at Columbia, South Carolina, ostensibly to fly similar patrols off the East Coast of the United States but in actuality to prepare for the mission against Japan. The group officially transferred effective 9 February to Columbia, where its combat crews were offered the opportunity to volunteer for an "extremely hazardous" but unspecified mission. On 17 February the group was detached from the Eighth Air Force.

Initial planning called for 20 aircraft to fly the mission, and 24 of the group's B-25B Mitchell bombers were diverted to the Mid-Continent Airlines modification center in Minneapolis, Minnesota. Modifications included:

Removal of the lower gun turret

Installation of de-icers and anti-icers

Steel blast plates mounted on the fuselage around the upper turret

Removal of the liaison radio set (a weight impediment)

Installation of three additional fuel tanks and support mounts in the bomb bay, crawlway and lower turret area to increase fuel capacity from 646 to 1,141 U.S. gallons (538–950 imp gal; 2,445–4,319 L)

Mock gun barrels installed in the tail cone, and

Replacement of their Norden bombsight with a makeshift aiming sight, devised by pilot Capt. C. Ross Greening and called the "Mark Twain". Lt. Col Doolittle stated in his after-action report that an operational level of training was reached despite several days when flying was not possible because of rain and fog. One aircraft was heavily damaged in a takeoff accident and another scratched from the mission because of a nose wheel shimmy that could not be repaired quickly enough. The bombers' armament was reduced to decrease weight (and thus increase range). Each bomber launched with two .50-caliber (12.7 mm) machine guns in an upper turret and a .30-caliber (7.62 mm) machine gun in the nose. The simulated gun barrels mounted in the tail cones, intended to discourage Japanese air attacks from behind, were cited afterward by Doolittle as being particularly effective. The aircraft were clustered closely and tied down on the Hornets flight deck in the order of their expected launch. , skipper of the USS Hornet, chats with Lt. Col. James Doolittle.]] The Hornet and Task Force 18 left the port of Alameda at 10:00 on 2 April and a few days later rendezvoused with Task Force 16, commanded by Vice Admiral William F. Halsey, Jr.—the carrier and her escort of cruisers and destroyers in the mid-Pacific Ocean north of Hawaii. The Enterprises fighters and scout planes would provide protection for the entire task force in the event of a Japanese air attack since the Hornets fighters were stowed below decks to allow the B-25s to use the flight deck. The combined force was two carriers, three heavy cruisers, one light cruiser, eight destroyers and two fleet oilers. The escort ships—the , , , , , , , , , , , and —then proceeded in radio silence. On the afternoon of 17 April the slow oilers refueled the task force, then withdrew with the destroyers to the east while the carriers and cruisers dashed west at 20 knots towards their intended launch point in enemy-controlled waters east of Japan.

At 07:38 on the morning of 18 April, while the task force was still about from Japan, it was sighted by the Japanese picket boat Dai-23 Nittō Maru which radioed an attack warning to Japan.No. 3 Nittō Maru was a 70-ton patrol craft captained by a chief petty officer who committed suicide rather than be captured. Five of the eleven crew survived when they were picked up by the cruiser . Although the boat was fatally damaged by gunfire from the Nashville, Doolittle and Hornet skipper Captain Marc Mitscher decided to launch the B-25s immediately—10 hours early and farther from Japan than planned. from Tokyo at launch, while Farrow, last off, was from landfall.|group=N}} After respotting to allow for engine start and runups, Doolittle's aircraft had 467 feet (142 m) of takeoff distance. Despite the fact that none of the B-25 pilots, including Doolittle, had ever taken off from a carrier before, all 16 aircraft launched safely between 08:20 and 09:19. (The 16th B-25 had been included only as a reserve, intended to fly along as an observation and photographic platform, but when surprise was compromised, Doolittle decided to use all 16 aircraft in the attack.) This was the only time that United States Army Air Forces bombers were launched from a U.S. Navy aircraft carrier on a combat mission.

The B-25s then flew towards Japan, most in groups of two to four aircraft before changing to single file at wavetop level to avoid detection. The aircraft began arriving over Japan about noon (Tokyo time; six hours after launch) and bombed 10 military and industrial targets in Tokyo, two in Yokohama and one each in Yokosuka, Nagoya, Kobe and Osaka. Although some B-25s encountered light antiaircraft fire and a few enemy fighters over Japan, no bomber was shot down. Only the B-25 of Lt. Richard O. Joyce received any battle damage, minor hits from antiaircraft fire.

15 of the 16 aircraft then proceeded southwest along the southern coast of Japan and across the East China Sea towards eastern China, where several fields in Zhejiang province were supposed to be ready to guide them in using homing beacons, then recover and refuel them for continuing on to Chongqing, the wartime Kuomintang capital. As a result of these problems, the crews realized they would probably not be able to reach their intended bases in China, leaving them the option of either bailing out over eastern China or crash landing along the Chinese coast. Doolittle subsequently recommended Birch for intelligence work with Claire Chennault's Flying Tigers.

Aftermath

Fate of the missing crewmen

Following the Doolittle Raid, most of the B-25 crews that came down in China eventually made it to safety with the help of Chinese civilians and soldiers. The Chinese people who helped them, however, paid dearly for sheltering the Americans. The Japanese military began the Zhejiang-Jiangxi Campaign to intimidate the Chinese from helping downed American airmen. The Japanese killed an estimated 250,000 civilians while searching for Doolittle's men. The crews of two aircraft (10 men in total) were unaccounted for: Hallmark's crew (sixth off) and Farrow's crew (last off). On 15 August 1942, the United States learned from the Swiss Consulate General in Shanghai that eight of the missing crew members were prisoners of the Japanese at Police Headquarters in that city (two crewmen had drowned after the crash landing of their aircraft). On 19 October 1942, the Japanese announced that they had tried the eight men and sentenced them to death, but that several of them had received commutation of their sentences to life imprisonment. No names or details were included in the broadcast. Japanese propaganda ridiculed the raid, calling it the "Do-nothing Raid", and boasted that several B-25s had been shot down. In fact, none had been lost to hostile action.

After the war, the complete story of the two missing crews was uncovered in a war crimes trial held in Shanghai. The trial opened in February 1946 to try four Japanese officers for mistreatment of the eight captured crewmen. Two of the missing crewmen, Staff Sgt. William J. Dieter and Sgt. Donald E. Fitzmaurice, had drowned when their B-25 crashed off the coast of China. The other eight, Lieutenants Dean E. Hallmark, Robert J. Meder, Chase Nielsen, William G. Farrow, Robert L. Hite, and George Barr; and Corporals Harold A. Spatz and Jacob DeShazer were captured. In addition to being tortured and starved, these men contracted dysentery and beriberi as a result of the poor conditions under which they were confined. On 28 August 1942, pilot Hallmark, pilot Farrow and gunner Spatz were given a mock trial by the Japanese, although the airmen were never told the charges against them. On 14 October 1942, these three crewmen were advised that they were to be executed the next day. At 16:30 on 15 October 1942, the three were taken by truck to Public Cemetery Number 1 outside of Shanghai and executed by a firing squad.

The other five captured airmen remained in military confinement on a starvation diet, their health rapidly deteriorating. In April 1943, they were moved to Nanking where, on 1 December 1943, Meder died. The remaining four men (Nielsen, Hite, Barr and DeShazer) eventually began receiving slightly better treatment from their captors and were even given a copy of the Bible and a few other books. They survived until they were freed by American troops in August 1945. The four Japanese officers who were tried for war crimes against the eight Doolittle Raiders were all found guilty. Three of them were sentenced to hard labor for five years and the fourth to a nine-year sentence. DeShazer eventually became a missionary and returned to Japan in 1948, where he served in that capacity for over 30 years.

Of the group, only Hite is alive. Barr died of heart failure in 1967, Nielsen in 2007 and Jacob DeShazer died 15 March 2008.

One other Doolittle Raid crewman was lost on the mission. Corporal Leland D. Faktor (flight engineer/gunner with Gray) was killed during his bailout attempt over China, the only man on his crew to be lost.

Service of the returning crewmen

Immediately following the raid, Doolittle told his crew that he believed the loss of all 16 aircraft, coupled with the relatively minor damage the aircraft had inflicted on their targets, had rendered the attack a failure, and that he expected a court-martial upon 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 Roosevelt, and was promoted two grades to brigadier general, skipping the rank of colonel. When now-promoted-to-General Doolittle toured the growing Eglin Field facility in July 1942 with Commanding Officer Col. Grandison Gardner, the local paper of record, the Okaloosa News-Journal, Crestview, Florida, while reporting his presence, made no mention of his still-secret recent training at Eglin. He 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.

In addition to Doolittle's award of the Medal of Honor, Corporal David J. Thatcher (a flight engineer/gunner on Lawson's crew) and 1st Lt. Thomas R. White (flight surgeon/gunner with Smith) each received the Silver Star for their efforts in helping the wounded crew members of Lt. Lawson's crew evade Japanese troops in China. All 80 Raiders received the Distinguished Flying Cross and those who were killed, wounded or injured as a result of the raid also received the Purple Heart. In addition, every Doolittle Raider received a decoration from the Chinese government.

Twenty-eight of the crewmen remained in the China Burma India theater flying missions, most for more than a year. Five were killed in action. Nineteen crew members flew combat missions from North Africa after returning to the United States, with four killed in action and four becoming prisoners of war. Nine crew members served in the European Theater of Operations, one killed in action. Altogether 12 of the survivors died in air crashes within 15 months of the raid. Two survivors were separated from the USAAF in 1944 due to the severity of their injuries.

The 17th Bomb Group, from which the Doolittle Raiders had been recruited, received replacement crews and transferred to Barksdale Army Air Field in June 1942, where it converted to B-26 Marauder medium bombers. In November 1942 it deployed overseas to North Africa, where it operated in the Mediterranean Theater of Operations with the Twelfth Air Force for the remainder of the war.

Zhejiang-Jiangxi Campaign

Because the majority of the B-25s from the Doolittle Raid landed along the eastern coast of China, and the American fliers had received crucial aid from the villagers in this region to make their escape, the subsequent Japanese response against the Chinese was particularly extreme. All airfields in a range of some in the areas where the Raiders had landed were torn up, germ warfare was utilized against the civilian population and an estimated quarter of a million villagers were killed. The massive Japanese retaliation became known as the Zhejiang-Jiangxi Campaign.

Impact

Compared with the future devastating B-29 Superfortress attacks against Japan, the Doolittle raid did little material damage, and all of that readily repaired. Eight primary and five secondary targets were struck. In Tokyo, the targets included an oil tank farm, a steel mill, and several power plants. In Yokosuka, at least one bomb from the B-25 piloted by Lt. Edgar E. McElroy struck the nearly completed IJN aircraft carrier Ryūhō,

For years before Pearl Harbor, there had been mock aerial drills in every Japanese city, not a precaution against China's almost nonexistent air force but part of the process of keeping warlike emotion at a high pitch. The Japanese press was told how to convey the news. The complexion was put on as cruel act, indiscriminate bombing civilians, women and children. Despite the minimal damage inflicted, American morale soared when news of the raid was released. Stinging from the attack on Pearl Harbor and Japan's subsequent territorial gains, it was important for the American public to know that a successful military response had been undertaken.

The raid also had a strategic impact, though it was not understood at the time: It caused the Japanese to recall some fighting IJN units to the Japanese Home Islands for defense. Its main aircraft carrier task force, spearheaded by five large, fast carriers—with its best naval aircraft and aircrews—under the command of Admiral Chuichi Nagumo, had inflicted serious losses on the Royal Navy and merchant shipping during the Indian Ocean Raid, steaming as far west as Ceylon for air raids on British shipping and Royal Air Force airfields there. Following the Doolittle Raid, Nagumo's force was recalled to Japan, removing all pressure from the Royal Navy in the Indian Ocean.

The Imperial Japanese Navy also bore a special responsibility for allowing an American aircraft carrier force to approach the Japanese Home Islands in a manner similar to that of the IJN fleet to Hawaii in 1941, and likewise it escaped undamaged. The fact that rather large twin-engine land-based bombers carried out the attack served to confuse the IJN's high command about the source of the attack. This confusion and the conclusion that Japan itself was vulnerable to air attack strengthened Yamamoto's resolve to capture Midway Island, with the attempt to do so resulting in the decisive IJN loss at the Battle of Midway.

"It was hoped that the damage done would be both material and psychological. Material damage was to be the destruction of specific targets with ensuing confusion and retardation of production. The psychological results, it was hoped, would be the recalling of combat equipment from other theaters for home defense thus effecting relief in those theaters, the development of a fear complex in Japan, improved relationships with our Allies, and a favorable reaction on the American people." —General James H. Doolittle, 9 July 1942

Postwar

The Doolittle Raiders have held an annual reunion almost every year since the late 1940s. The high point of each reunion is a solemn, private ceremony in which the surviving Raiders perform a roll call, then toast their fellow Raiders who passed away during the previous year. Specially engraved silver goblets, one for each of the 80 Raiders, are used for this toast. The goblets of those who have died are inverted. So that each crewmember can be recognized, whether dead or alive, their names are engraved on the goblets twice, right side up and upside down. When only two Raiders remain alive, they will drink a final toast using the vintage 1896 bottle of Hennessy cognac which has accompanied the goblets to each Raider reunion since 1960. The vintage was chosen because it was the year of Jimmy Doolittle's birth. The bottle of cognac and the goblets had been maintained by the United States Air Force Academy on display in Arnold Hall, the cadet social center. On 19 April 2006, the memorabilia were transferred to the National Museum of the United States Air Force.

Surviving airmen

# Colonel Richard E. Cole, copilot of aircraft #1 # Major Thomas C. Griffin, navigator of aircraft #9 # Lieutenant Colonel Robert L. Hite, copilot of aircraft #16 # Major Edward Joseph Saylor, engineer of aircraft #15 # Staff Sergeant David J. Thatcher, gunner of aircraft #7

As of January 2011, five Raiders are still alive. Only eight were able to attend the 64th anniversary reunion held in Dayton, Ohio, in April 2006. Seven attended the 65th anniversary in 2007 in San Antonio, Texas, six attended the 66th anniversary in 2008 in Dallas, Texas, and four attended the 67th anniversary in 2009 in Columbia, South Carolina. The raiders held their 68th reunion at the National Museum of the United States Air Force in Dayton, Ohio. Cole, Griffin, Hite and Thatcher were the only raiders well enough to attend.

There are also seven individuals, such as Lt. Miller and raider historian Col. Carroll V. Glines, who are considered honorary Raiders for their respective efforts for the mission.

Legacy

The United States Navy named one of its aircraft carriers after the fictional location, , as a reference to the Doolittle Raid. President Roosevelt had answered a reporter's question by saying that the raid had come from "Shangri-La", which was the name of the mysterious place of perpetual youth in the Himalayas in the popular book and movie of the time, Lost Horizon.

Doolittle Raiders exhibit

Doolittle Raid exhibit. The engine shrouds cover the dissimilar engine exhausts of the 'D' model which varied from the 'B' models flown on the raid.]] The most extensive display of Doolittle Raid memorabilia can be seen at the National Museum of the United States Air Force (on Wright-Patterson Air Force Base) in Dayton, Ohio. The centerpiece is a like-new B-25, which is painted and marked as Doolittle's aircraft, 40-2344, (although built as an F-10D photo reconnaissance version of the B-25D). The bomber, which North American Aviation presented to the Raiders in 1958, rests on a reproduction of the USS Hornets flight deck. The scene is made even more realistic through the use of several authentically dressed mannequins surrounding the aircraft; these include representations of Doolittle, USS Hornet, Captain Marc Mitscher, and groups of Army and Navy men loading the bomber's bombs and ammunition. Other highlights of the exhibit are the silver goblets used by the Raiders at each of their annual reunions; pieces of flight clothing and personal equipment; a parachute used by one of the Raiders in his bailout over China; and group photographs of all 16 crews. Many other interesting items are also included in this unique collection. A fragment of the wreckage of one of the aircraft as well as the medals awarded to Doolittle are on display at the Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum in Washington, D.C.

The last B-25 to be retired from the U.S. Air Force inventory is displayed at the Air Force Armament Museum at Eglin AFB in the markings of Gen. Doolittle's aircraft.

The recently opened Pacific Aviation Museum on Ford Island, Oahu, Hawaii also features a 1942 exhibit in which the centerpiece is a restored B-25 in the markings of "The Ruptured Duck" used on the Doolittle Raid.

The San Marcos, Texas, chapter of the Commemorative Air Force has in their museum the armor plate from the pilot seat of the B-25 Doolittle flew in the raid.

Doolittle Raiders re-creation

On 21 April 1992, in harmony with other World War II 50th Anniversary festivities, participated in the commemorative re-enactment of the Doolittle Raid on Tokyo, Japan.

Two World War II–era B-25 bombers were craned on board and over 1,500 guests (including national, local and military media) were embarked to witness the two vintage warbirds thunder down the Ranger's flight deck and take off.

Popular culture

The Doolittle Raid was the subject of the 1944 feature film, Thirty Seconds over Tokyo. This was based on a book of the same title by Doolittle Raider pilot Captain Ted W. Lawson, who lost a leg and had other serious injuries as a result of a crash landing off the coast of China. Spencer Tracy played Doolittle and Van Johnson portrayed Lawson. The movie is considered to be a reasonably accurate and unsensationalized depiction of the mission. The movie has the general approval of the Raiders (footage from the film was later used for the opening scenes of Midway and in the TV miniseries War and Remembrance).

The raid also inspired two other films. One was the 1943 RKO film Bombardier starring Randolph Scott and Pat O'Brien. The climax of this movie is an attack on Japan by a group of B-17s. The other film, The Purple Heart, made in 1944, starring Dana Andrews, was a fictional depiction based on a Japanese court martial of captured American airmen, from the Doolittle Raid.

The 2001 film Pearl Harbor (with Alec Baldwin playing Doolittle) presented a heavily fictionalized version of the raid. The film's portrayal of the planning of the raid, the air raid itself, and the raid's aftermath, is inaccurate, portraying the bombing as a devastatingly effective strike against an entire industrial area. Additionally, the film includes a completely fictionalized shootout between Japanese soldiers in China and American airmen, resulting in the deaths of several Americans, many Japanese, and the rescue of the surviving airmen by Chinese soldiers.

A highly fictionalized film in 1943, Destination Tokyo starring Cary Grant, tangentially involved the raid, concentrating on the fictional submarine USS Copperfin. The submarine's mission is to enter Tokyo Bay undetected and place a landing party ashore to obtain weather information vital to the upcoming Doolittle raid. The film suggests the raid did not launch until up-to-the-minute data was received. However, all the after-action reports indicated the raid launched without time for weather briefings because of the encounter with the picket ships.

References

;Notes ;Citations ;Bibliography

Chang, Iris. The Rape of Nanking. New York: Basic Books, 1997. ISBN 0-465-06835-9.

Chun, Clayton K.S. The Doolittle Raid 1942: America's First Strike Back at Japan (Campaign: 16). Botley, Oxford, UK: Osprey, 2006. ISBN 1084176-918-5.

Coletta, Paolo. "Launching the Doolittle Raid on Japan, April 18, 1942". The Pacific Historical Review, Vol. 63, No. 1, February 1993.

Craven, Lieutenant Colonel Wesley Frank and Major James Lea Cate, series editors. "Drawing the Battle Line in the Pacific", Army Air Forces in World War II, Vol. I: Plans and Early Operations, January 1939 to August 1942. Chicago: University f Chicago Press, 1948.

Doolittle, James H. and Carroll V. Glines. I Could Never Be So Lucky Again: An Autobiography. New York: Bantam Books, 1991. ISBN 0-553-58464-2.

Emmens, Robert G. Guests of the Kremlin. San Rafael, CA: Ishi Press International, 2007. ISBN 0-923891-81-1.

Glines, Carroll V. The Doolittle Raid: America's Daring First Strike Against Japan. New York: Orion Books, 1988. ISBN 0-88740-347-6

———— Doolittle's Tokyo Raiders. New York: Van Nostrand Reinhold, 1968, 1981.

———— Four Came Home. New York: Van Nostrad Reinhold, 1966, 1981.

Glover, Charles E. "Jimmy Doolittle's One Moment in Time." The Palm Beach Post, 18 April 1992.

Hasley, Edward. "War Stories: Heroism in the Pacific". 18 February 1996.

Hayostek, Cindy. "Exploits of a Doolittle Raider". thehistorynet.com, 21 July 1998. Retrieved: 10 March 2008.

Lawson, Ted W. and Robert Considine, ed.Thirty Seconds Over Tokyo. New York: Random House, Inc., 1943.

Martin, Adrian R., and Larry W. Stephenson. Operation Plum: The Ill-fated 27th Bombardment Group and the Fight For the Western Pacific. College Station, Texas: Texas A&M; University Press, 2008. ISBN 1-60344-019-4.

Nelson, Craig. The First Heroes: The Extraordinary Story of the Doolittle Raid—America's First World War II Victory. London: Penguin Press, 2002. ISBN 978-0-14-200341-1.

Oxford, Edward. "Against All Odds: B-25 Bombers Strike Japan in 1942." American History Illustrated, March–April 1992.

Prange, Gordon W., Donald M. Goldstein and Katherine V. Dillon. Miracle at Midway. New York: McGraw-Hill, 1982. ISBN 0-07-050672-8.

Watson, Charles Hoyt. DeShazer: The Doolittle Raider Who Turned Missionary. Winona Lake, Indiana: The Light and Life Press, 1950.

External links

Remembering the Doolittle Raid. An oral history featuring Jimmy Doolittle

Profile image of Doolittle's aircraft

Official Doolittle Raiders site

Wright Patterson site

"Thirty Seconds Over Tokyo" The Halsey-Doolittle Raid

"Animated History of Doolittle Raid"

Naval Historical Center site

After action report of Col. Doolittle

Doolittle Tokyo Raiders, Memorial site of Richard O. Joyce

MaritimeQuest Doolittle Raid Photo Gallery

American Heritage article on the Doolittle Raid

www.doolittleraid.com – A reference, research, and news page on things related to the Doolittle Raid and the Raiders

Jimmy Doolittle and the Tokyo Raiders Strike Japan During World War II article by Edward Oxford

A memorial site for Doolittle Raider Jacob DeShazer, including his story as written by daughter, Carol Aiko DeShazer Dixon

Official historian of the Doolittle raid, Carroll V. Glines talks about the raid

Category:Airstrikes Category:Asia and the Pacific 1941-42 Category:Conflicts in 1942 Category:1942 in Japan Category:Japanese home islands campaign