Today April 18, 2017 is the 75th Anniversary of the Doolittle Raid on Japan. With the United States still reeling from the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, a bold plan combining elements of the U.S. Navy and the U.S. Army Air Force used the U.S.S. Hornet aircraft carrier to carry a force of normally land-based B-25 Mitchell bombers within striking distance of Japan. 80 volunteers aboard 16 aircraft launched on a one-way mission with no fighter escort.
It was a high-risk, high-reward plan that depended on the carrier being able to get close enough to Japan for the bombers to reach it. As it happened, they had to launch early which put the plan to continue on to a landing in China at risk — but they still went.
While the damage they were able to inflict was small, the effect on American and Japanese morale was huge. The Japanese were forced to redeploy forces to defend their islands, and take other measures.
Air Force Magazine has an article commemorating the raid, including who came up with the idea of putting Army bombers on a Navy ship, the men involved, the training, the raid, and the aftermath.
The Doolittle Raid is a lesson for officers and enlisted alike about decision-making, innovative thinking, and risk-taking. Low and Doolittle independently developed an unconventional plan to answer Roosevelt’s request for a retaliatory strike. Arnold also demonstrated his leadership by giving the go-ahead for an unusual idea.
During the three weeks at Eglin Field, weather and aircraft rework cut Doolittle’s training time by half, but he judged the crews adequately prepared.
On launch day, Doolittle and Mitscher both knew that launching the bombers early would mean they’d be nearly out of fuel by the time they reached the China coast, but they took the risk to accomplish the mission.
Finally, the raid, known as Special Aviation Project No. 1, was the first major joint operation since the Civil War, when Gen. Ulysses S. Grant, using Army and the Navy units, captured Vicksburg, Miss., in 1863 after a two-week siege.
Throughout the concept development to the launch off Hornet, Navy and Army Air Forces members worked together to achieve something unprecedented.
The Doolittle raid showed the value of approaching threats with new thinking when the conventional approach won’t work. It demonstrated that military leaders must be willing to accept innovative solutions to modern problems—by creating an atmosphere that will produce such ideas and people willing to provide them—and accept a degree of calculated risk.
A special ceremony is taking place today. From an email from Larry O. Spencer, president of the Air Force Association,
...The raid played a major role in developing America’s perception of airpower and aviation. But it will also be remembered for its daring, and for the courage of the crewmembers who volunteered to risk their lives for the country they loved.
The dangerous raid earned Doolittle the Medal of Honor and all of the other Raiders the Distinguished Flying Cross.
Each year we have an opportunity to remember and celebrate the achievements of Jimmy Doolittle and the Raiders so that they are long remembered.
Today, at the National Museum of the US Air Force, retired Lt. Col. Richard Cole, Doolittle’s co-pilot and sole surviving Doolittle Raider, will conduct the traditional “Goblet Ceremony” honoring those Raiders who died the previous year by overturning the Goblet belonging to retired SSgt. David Thatcher...
With everything else going on in the world today, take a moment to think of all the people who dared everything for their country — and those who still do.