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JIMMY DOOLITTLE
The photo shows a diecast model in 48 scale of the Mitchell B-25B that Jimmy Doolittle flew on April 18, 1942 during the first attack on the Jap mainland, When President Roosevelt heard that he Japs were puzzled about where the attack could have originated he responded that the planes flew out of Shangri La. Tat puzzled the Japs even more and ay have slighter a few thousand more Chinese because of it. The Hornet soon acquired that nickname. A WWII era aircraft carrier named the U S S Hornet is a museum ship docked at the Alameda Navy Yard in San Francisco Bay. It is not the same ship hat launched the Doolittle Raid tough. That ship was sunk by the Japs in the South Pacific later in the war. The museum ship was built to replace her and saw plenty of action. It is well worth a visit next time you are in the Bay Area. JIMMY DOOLITTLE
Actually Jimmy did quite a few things during the 97 years that he scurried around the planet. He was born in 1896 at Alameda but raised for several years during his early youth up in Nome, Alaska where his dad was a gold prospector. When he came in need of education he moved with his mom down to Los Angeles to attend high school. When it came time for college he went up to Cal-Berkeley in pursuit of a mining degree, but it soon became evident that he was meant for other things. When America entered the Great War Jimmy dropped out of college and joined the Army Flying Service. It was part of the Signal Corps in those days. As an aviation pioneer he set a number of important speed and distance records; most notably he was the first pilot to complete a transcontinental flight between Florida and San Diego in fewer than 24 hours. As a test pilot he helped to develop the use of pontoons on seaplanes and improve cockpit instrumentation. The Artificial Horizon is one of his innovations. The Army sent him to Massachusetts Institute of Technology where he obtained a doctorate in aeronautical engineering. In 1930 he resigned his Army commission and joined Shell Oil Company to work on a project to improve the quality of aviation fuel. The winds of war began to waft warmly across Europe so in 1940 Jimmy rejoined the Army Air Corps. The skulking Jap launched his sneak attack at Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941 and we were in suddenly into the war up to our eyeballs. In January President Roosevelt put his keen nose into the wind and sniffed out the desire to make a bombing raid of our own against Japan. Jimmy Doolittle was selected to lead the mission based on his technical expertise, flying ability, and leadership qualities. The Mitchell B-25B medium bomber was selected as the plane best suited to carry the bomb load because it was best suited for a short takeoff run. The problem was that the B-25 did not have sufficient range. While it could barely manage a fully laden takeoff from the deck of an aircraft carrier there was no way it could be landed on one. The raid would be strictly a one way mission. It was hoped that the carriers could approach Japan closely enough without being detected so that the planes could reach their target and then continue on to Vladivostok in Russia. The planes would be abandoned to the Lend-Lease program we had with Russia and the crews would be returned through Alaska. The Russians, however, would not cooperate with that plan. They were still at peace with Japan and did not wish to violate neutrality. The next option was for the planes to come to roost in China, but the distance to Chinese air fields was farther and beyond the range of the bombers at a safe distance for the carrier fleet to launch the raid. Modifications to the planes were needed quickly that would allow the planes to carry an adequate fuel and bomb load but not be too heavy for a carrier takeoff. Jimmy Doolittle could make the modifications needed, locate crews willing to undertake an extremely dangerous mission, and prepare them for carrier takeoff. The modifications turned out to be simple ones: remove everything from the plane that was not strictly needed and install additional fuel bladders. The tail guns were removed and replaced with mop handles that were painted black. Without the tail guns there was no need for the gunner or the ammo. The turret gunner was also left behind, and the navigators, bombardiers, and flight engineers were given rudimentary training in aerial gunnery. The radioman and his radio were also left behind to assure radio silence. Sixteen planes and crews were made ready within six weeks of Roosevelt’s request for the mission. On April 3, 1942 the planes were lifted aboard the U S S Hornet at the Alameda Navy Base and the Hornet set sail across the Pacific Ocean. Ten days later they made rendezvous with the U S S Enterprise at a point northwest of Hawaii. The Enterprise would provide air cover to the fleet since Hornet’s decks were loaded with bombers. On the morning of April 18, 1942 at about 650 miles east of Tokyo the fleet was discovered by a Jap picket boat. The picket was quickly sunk but it forced an early launch that made the fuel reserves on each plane even more critical. The first attack on the Jap homeland was a smashing success. Only one plane landed safely though. It sprung a fuel leak in the new bladder and the fuel collected in the bomb bay. It got dropped into the sea, but the fuel shortage forced the plane to land at Vladivostok. The plane was confiscated by the Russians and the crew was thrown in jail for a year. The other planes were supposed to follow homing beacons to the Chinese airfield. Some of them could have landed safely but Admiral Halsey aboard the Enterprise never sent the radio transmission with the beacon code so the beacons were never turned on. He did not want to endanger his entire fleet by breaking radio silence. All 15 planes got lost, ran out of fuel and crashed in China. Eight of the crewmen were captured by the Japs and three were put to death. Another died painfully of injuries. The other 67 crewmen eventually reached safety assisted by Chinese citizens who put themselves at great peril. The Doolittle Raid enraged the Japs. They brutally decimated the entire city of Nanking in retaliation for the refusal of the Chinese to turn over the American crewmen. Estimates are that a quarter million innocent Chinese were slaughtered in that retaliation. The raid caused little damage in Japan, but it was a major morale boost to our war effort. It also caused the Japs to want to establish a forward base on Midway Island that would enable them to prevent further attacks on their homeland. The Battle of Midway a couple of months later would end in disaster for the Japs. They would never recover from the loss of their carrier fleet and their most experienced naval air crews. After the raid Jimmy was awarded the Medal of Honor and promoted two ranks to brigadier general. He served in command positions in North Africa and then as commander of the 8
th Air Force in Europe. He retired from the Air Force as a lieutenant general in 1959 but he wasn’t done yet. He took up a position as chairman of the board of Space Technology Laboratories and helped take us to the moon. In 1985 Ronald Reagan dusted him off and promoted him, at age 89, to the rank of four star general. He died in 1993 and buried with his wife in Arlington National Cemetery.
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