Thirty Seconds Over Tokyo

On August 18, 1942, 16 twin-engine Mitchell B-25 bombers took off from the deck of the USS Hornet 800 miles off the Japanese coast. It was the first time (and only time) B-25s had been launched from an aircraft carrier. Modified to reduce weight, they only had 400 feet to gain enough speed to maintain flight. 5 men to a plane, 80 men total. This was Doolittle's Raid.

No planes were shot down during the raid. One man, flight engineer Leland Faktor died of injuries suffered during his parachute landing after bailing from his plane. Eight Raiders were captured by the Japanese. Three were executed and one died of malnutrition. The remaining four were rescued at the end of WWII after spending 40 months in a prison camp. It was later discovered the Japanese had no intention of ever returning these four prisoners. One of these four became a minister and missionary, returning to Japan where he spent the rest of his life.

After the bombing raid was over, the plan was to head for China to ditch the planes and wait for recovery. One plane ended up in Russia where the crew was held captive for a year before they escaped to Iran. The Russians sent the U.S. a monthly bill for their upkeep.

The Japanese searched out and destroyed the USS Hornet in an act of revenge.

The three gentlemen in this photo are Tom Griffin (L), who was in aircraft #9 (the 9th B-25 to take off from the Hornet, Richard Cole (M), in aircraft #1 and co-pilot of Jimmy Doolittle, and David Thatcher (R), the turret gunner on plane #7 piloted by Ted Lawson who wrote the book Thirty Seconds Over Tokyo that later became a Hollywood movie. Richard and Tom were 26 and David was 20 at the time of the Raid.

It was a privilege to be able to sit with these gentlemen, almost one-on-one in the Pilot's Lounge of the museum, and listen to their stories before going out to meet the crowd, and to listen to them give their presentation (moderated by Jonna Doolittle, Jimmy Doolittle's granddaughter). They are extremely nice men, very generous with their time, and pretty funny.

I flew in the B-25, spending the entire 45-minutes (other than take-off and landing) in the tail gunner's seat, shooting out the back of the plane at the P-40, P-51, and T-28 that accompanied us. Richard Cole flew in the P-40 and was asked this afternoon to be copilot during a flight tomorrow. I don't think I'll go, but it would be nice to be on that flight, too. I've been inside the B-25 before, but after flying in it, I have a brand new respect for those who spent countless hours in this loud, cramped, hot (in the summer), cold (in the winter) and, when you think about it, very thin-skinned aircraft, while being shot at, shot up, and trying to bail out of a crashing aircraft. To get good shots from the tail of the plane, I had to partially crouch, half-squat to avoid the bottom frame of the window. After 45-minutes my legs were shaking, making it interesting climbing down the rear hatch ladder when we landed. My legs continued to shake for about 10 minutes after I got out of the plane and were a bit weak for an hour (good thing I've been working out) after that. The men who flew in these planes were fit. Had to be to endure that punishment.

I'll post some of the flight photos tomorrow or Monday and put a link to them so you can check 'em out. I think I got some decent shots.