The Terrible Story of The 80 men who Achieved The Unimaginable When They Took off From An Aircraft Carrier
On April 18, 1942, 80 men achieved the unimaginable when they took off from an aircraft carrier on a top secret mission to bomb Japan. These men, led by Lt. Col. James H. "Jimmy" Doolittle, USAAF, came to be known as the Doolittle Tokyo Raiders.
The Doolittle Raid was the first U.S. air raid to strike the Japanese home islands during WWII.
The mission is notable in that it was the only operation in which U.S. Army Air Forces bombers were launched from an aircraft carrier into combat.
The raid demonstrated how vulnerable the Japanese home islands were to air attack just 4 months after their surprise attack on Pearl Harbor. While the damage inflicted was slight, the raid significantly boosted American morale while setting in motion a chain of Japanese military events that were disastrous for their long-term war effort.
Doolittle, of Alameda, California, was awarded the Medal of Honor and promoted for his extraordinary actions on this day. In addition to Doolittle’s Raid, Doolittle made several other famous contributions to the military such as instrumental flight and his change in policy that previously required escorting fighters to remain with their bombers at all times.
He retired from Air Force Reserve duty in February 1959 and died in September 1993. He is buried in Arlington National Cemetery, Arlington, Virginia. Flying magazine ranked him 6th on its list of the 51 Heroes of Aviation.
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