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Friday, September 10, 2010
James Harold Doolittle
General James Harold "Jimmy" Doolittle, USAF (December 14, 1896 – September 27, 1993) was an American aviation pioneer. James H. :Jimmy" Doolittle served as a brigadier general, major general and lieutenant general in the United States Army Air Forces during the Second World War.
:Jimmy" Doolittle received the Medal of Honor fom President Franklin D. Roosevelt for his valor and leadership as commander of the Doolittle Raid on Japan while he was a lieutenant colonel.
Early Life And Education
James Harold Doolittle, the son of Frank H. and Rosa C. (Shephard) Doolittle, was born on December 14, 1896 in Alameda, California.
James H. Doolittle's grammar school for 1st and 2nd grades, Nome, Alaska, 1903.
After he had at least one arrest for brawling, Jimmy Doolittle turned to amateur boxing and eventually became the amateur flyweight champion of the West Coast. Jimmy earned a reputation as a boxer.
While Jimmy Doolittle was attending high school in Los Angeles. the students from his school attended the 1910 Los Angeles International Air Meet at Dominguez Field. It was there that Jimmy Doolittle saw his first airplane. It was then he knew he wanted to fly.
A couple making a flight at Long Beach California in 1910.
He was later admitted to University of California, Berkeley where he was to study in The School of Mines.
It was while he was a student there, that James H. Doolittle was married to Josephine E. Daniels on December 24, 1917.
The Doolittles would later have two sons, James H. Doolittle Jr. and John P. Doolittle.
He then trained at the University of California School of Military Aeronautics at Rock- well Field, California.
On March 11, 1918, James H. Doolittle was commissioned a 2nd lieutenant in the Signal Corps' Aviation Section.
Military Career
During World War I, Jimmy Doolittle stayed in the United States as a flight instructor and performed his war service at Camp John Dick Aviation Concentration Camp ("Camp Dick"), Texas; Wright Field, Ohio; Gerstner Field, Louisiana; Rockwell Field, California; Kelly Field, Texas and Eagle Pass, Texas.
Jimmy Doolittle's service at Rockwell Field consisted of duty as a flight leader and gunnery instructor. At Kelly Field, he served with the 104th Aero Squadron and the 90th Aero Squadron, and with the latter unit he served at Eagle Pass. The duty included the Border Patrol that had started prior to the Mexican Punitive Expedition of 1916, and which was turned over to the Department of the Treasury in 1921.
At the start of the reduction in force at the end of the war, after qualifying for retention, 2nd Lieutenant James Doolittle received a Regular Army commission, and was promoted to 1st Lieutenant on July 1, 1920. He then attended the Air Service Mechanical School at Kelly Field and the Aeronautical Engineering Course at McCook Field, Ohio.
Jimmy Doolittle finally returned to complete his college degree. He earned the Bachelor of Arts from the University of California, Berkeley in 1922, where he also joined the Lambda Chi Alpha Fraternity.
Jimmy Doolittle was one of the most famous pilots during the inter-war period. In September 1922, he made the first of many pioneering flights, flying a de Havilland DH-4 - which was equipped with early navigational instruments - in the first cross-country flight, from Pablo Beach, Florida, to Rockwell Field, San Diego, California, in 21 hours and 19 minutes. He made only one refueling stop at Kelly Field.
For this pioneering achievement, the United States Army awarded him the Distinguished Flying Cross.
Jimmy Doolittle flew an O2U Corsair for The Guggenheim Laboratory to develop cross-country flying instruments and navigation aids.
In July 1923, after serving as a test pilot and aeronautical engineer at McCook Field, Jimmy Doolittle entered the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.
Jimmy Doolittle's Sperry Messenger at Ames Field in North Easton, Massachusetts. 1924.
In March 1924, Jimmy Doolittle conducted aircraft acceleration tests at McCook Field, which became the basis of his master's thesis and led to his second Distinguished Flying Cross. He received his Science.Masters. in Aeronautics from MIT in June 1924. Since the Army had given him two years to get his degree, and he had done it in only one, he immediately started working on his Science.Doctorate. in Aeronautics, which he received in June 1925. Jimmy Doolittle said that he considered his master's work more significant than his doctorate.
James Doolittle and his Curtiss Wright seaplane.
Following graduation, Jimmy Doolittle attended special training in high-speed seaplanes at Anacostia Naval Air Station in Washington, D.C.. He also served with the Naval Test Board at Mitchel Field, Long Island, New York. He was a familiar figure in air speed record attempts in the New York area. He won the Schneider Cup race in a Curtiss R3C in 1925 with an average speed of 232 MPH. For that feat, Jimmy Doolittle was awarded the Mackay Trophy in 1926.
In April 1926, Jimmy Doolittle was given a leave of absence to go to South America to perform demonstration flights. In Chile, he broke both ankles. That did not stop him from putting his P-1 Hawk through aerial maneuvers, while he had both his ankles in casts.
James H. Doolittle posed with three Peruvian pilots who learned to fly at the Jorge Chavez School of Aviation in Lima Peru, Las Palms Aerodrome, Peru, February 1928.
He returned to the United States, and was confined to Walter Reed Army Hospital for his injuries until April 1927.
Jimmy Doolittle was then assigned to McCook Field for experimental work, with additional duty as an instructor pilot to the 385th Bomb Squadron of the Air Corps Reserve. During this period of time, he was the first to perform an outside loop.
Flying a Curtiss P-1B Hawk biplane, Jimmy Doolittle performs the first outside loop in 1927.
Jimmy Doolittle's most important contribution to aeronautical technology was the development of instrument flying. He was the first to recognize that true operational freedom in the air could not be achieved unless pilots developed the ability to control and navigate aircraft in flight, from the takeoff run to the landing rollout, regardless of the range of vision from the cockpit.
Sikorsky S-38 Amphibian Flying Boat. 1928.
Jimmy Doolittle was the first to envision that a pilot could be trained to use instruments to fly through fog, clouds, precipitation of all forms, darkness, or any other impediment to visibility; and in spite of the pilot’s own possibly confused motion sense inputs. Even at this early stage, the ability to control aircraft was getting beyond the motion sense capability of the pilot. That is, as aircraft became faster and more maneuverable, pilots could become seriously disoriented without visual cues from outside the cockpit, because aircraft could move in ways that pilots' senses could not accurately decipher.
Jimmy Doolittle was also the first to recognize many of the psycho-physiological limitations of the human senses (particularly the motion sense inputs, i.e., up, down, left, right). He initiated the study of the subtle interrelationships between the psychological effects of visual cues and motion senses. His research resulted in programs that trained pilots to read and understand navigational instruments. A pilot learned to “trust his instruments,” not his senses, as visual cues and his motion sense inputs (what he sensed and “felt”) could be incorrect or unreliable.
In 1929, he became the first pilot to take off, fly and land an airplane using instruments alone, without a view outside the cockpit. Having returned to Mitchel Field that September, he assisted in the development of fog flying equipment. Jimmy Doolittle helped develop, and was then the first to test, the now universally used artificial horizon and directional gyroscope. He attracted wide newspaper attention with this feat of "blind" flying and later received the Harmon Trophy for conducting the experiments. These accomplishments made all-weather airline operations practical.
In January 1930, he advised the Army on the building of Floyd Bennett Field in New York City. Jimmy Doolittle resigned his regular commission on February 15, 1930, and was commissioned a major in the Specialist Reserve Corps a month later, being named manager of the Aviation Department of Shell Oil Company, in which capacity he conducted numerous aviation tests. He also returned to active duty with the Army frequently to conduct tests.
Jimmy Doolittle with the Shell Oil Company's 400 a Travel Air Model R. In 1930, Doolittle called it The finest airplane that I have ever flown.
Jimmy Doolittle helped influence Shell Oil Company to produce the first quantities of 100 octane aviation gasoline. High octane fuel was crucial to the high-performance planes that were developed in the late 1930s.
Jimmy Doolittle's Stinson Reliant.
In 1931, Jimmy Doolittle won the Bendix Trophy Race from Burbank, California, to Cleveland, Ohio, in a Laird Super Solution Biplane.
Jimmy Doolittle winner of the 1932 Thompson Trophy.
In 1932, Jimmy Doolittle set the world's high speed record for land planes at 296 miles per hour in the Shell Speed Dash.
Jimmy Doolittle in the R-1, crosses the finish line during his speed-record attempt.
Jimmy Doolittle & the Gee Bee R-1.
Later, he took the Thompson Trophy Race at Cleveland in the notorious Gee Bee R-1 racer with a speed averaging 252 miles per hour. After having won the three big air racing trophies of the time, the Schneider, Bendix, and Thompson, he officially retired from air racing stating, "I have yet to hear anyone engaged in this work dying of old age."
The famous Gee Bee Model R1 Super-sporster and it's Pilot Jimmy Doolittle.
In April 1934, Jimmy Doolittle became a member of the Baker Board. Chaired by former Secretary of War Newton D. Baker, the board was convened during the Air Mail scandal to study Air Corps organization. A year later, Doolittle transferred to the Air Corps Reserve. In 1940, he became president of the Institute of Aeronautical Science.
Lockheed Electra outside National Airways hangar, in 1936.
As America's involment in World War II became evident, Jimmy Doolittle returned to active duty on July 1, 1940, as a major and assistant district supervisor of the Central Air Corps Procurement District at Indianapolis, Indiana, and Detroit, Michigan, where he worked with large auto manufacturers on the conversion of their plants for production of planes. The following August, he went to England as a member of a special mission and brought back information about other countries' air forces and military build-ups.
*****
Doolittle Raid On Japan
Shortly after the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941, and America's entry into World War II, Jimmy Doolittle was recalled to active duty. He was promoted to Lieutenant Colonel on January 2, 1942, and assigned to Army Air Forces Headquarters to plan the first retaliatory air raid on the Japanese homeland. He volunteered for and received General H.H. Arnold's approval to lead the top-secret attack of 16 B-25 medium bombers from the aircraft carrier USS Hornet, with targets in Tokyo, Kobe, Yokohama, Osaka, and Nagoya.
The Doolittle Raid, on April 18, 1942, was the first air raid by the United States to strike a Japanese home island (Honshu) during World War II. It demonstrated that Japan itself was vulnerable to Allied air attack and provided an expedient means for United States retaliation for Japan's Pearl Harbor attack on December 7, 1941. The raid was planned and led by Lieutenant Colonel James "Jimmy" Doolittle. He would later recount in his autobiography, that the raid was intended to cause the Japanese people to doubt their leadership and to raise American morale.
The Japanese people had been told they were invulnerable. An attack on the Japanese homeland would cause confusion in the minds of the Japanese and sow doubt about the capability and reliability of their leaders.
There was a second, equally important, psychological reason for this attack - the American public badly needed a boost in their morale.
Sixteen B-25B Mitchell bombers were launched from the aircraft carrier Hornet, deep within enemy waters. The plan called for them to hit military targets in Japan, and land in China. All of the aircraft were lost and 11 crewmen were either killed or captured . One of these B-25s landed in Soviet territory where its crew remained interned for more than a year. The entire crews of 13 of the 16 aircraft, and all but one of a 14th, returned to the United States or to Allied control.
The Doolittle raid caused little material damage to Japan, but it succeeded in its goal of helping American morale. It also caused the Japanese navy to withdraw a carrier group from the Indian Ocean to defend their homeland and contributed to Japan's decision to make a large attack on Midway Island.
The raid had its start in a desire by President Franklin D. Roosevelt. He expressed to Joint Chiefs of Staff in a meeting at the White House on December 21, 1941, that Japan should 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. He reported to Admiral Ernest J. King on January 10, 1942, that he thought that twin-engined Army bombers could be successfully launched from an aircraft carrier, after he had observed 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 Jimmy Doolittle, who was a famous civilian aviator and had a good reputation as an aeronautical engineer before the war.
B-25 Mitchell
The North American B-25 Mitchell was an American twin-engined medium bomber manufactured by North American Aviation. It was used by many Allied air forces, in every theater of World War II, as well as many other air forces after the war ended, and they continued to see service for over four decades.
Requirements for the aircraft for a cruising range of 2,400 miles (3,900 km) with a 2,000 pound (900 kg) 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.
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, USSR, shortening the flight by, on the basis of turning over the B-25s as Lend-Lease. All negotiations with the Soviet Union (which was not at war with Japan) for their cooperation and permission were fruitless.
Training
When the planning indicated that the B-25 was the aircraft best meeting all specifications of the mission, two were loaded aboard the aircraft carrier at Norfolk, Virginia, and subsequently flown off the deck without difficulty on February 3, 1942. 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 Bomb Group had been the first group to receive B-25s. All four of its squadrons were equipped with the B-25 bomber by September 1941.
The 17th Bomber Group was the first medium bomb group of the Army Air Corps, and in the spring of 1942, also had the the most experienced B-25 crews. Its first assignment, following the entry of the United States into the war, was to the United States Eighth Air Force.
The 17th Bomber Group, was then flying anti-submarine patrols from Pendleton, Oregon. It was immediately moved cross-country to Lexington County Army Air Base, Columbia, South Carolina. The reason given was that they were to fly similar patrols off the east coast of the United States, but in actuality they were to prepare for the mission against Japan. The group officially transferred to Columbia on February 9, 1942, where its combat crews were offered the opportunity to volunteer for an "extremely hazardous" but unspecified mission. On February 17, the volunteer 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
* Installation of three additional fuel tanks and support mounts in the bomb bay, crawl way and lower turret area to increase fuel capacity from 646 to 1,141 U.S. gallons (2,445 to 4,319 litres)
* 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".
Two bombers also had cameras mounted to record the results of bombing.
The 24 crews selected picked up the modified bombers in Minneapolis and flew them to Eglin Air Force Base, Florida, beginning March 1, 1942. There the crews received intensive training for three weeks in simulated carrier deck takeoffs, low-level and night flying, low-altitude bombing, and over-water navigation.
Navy Lt. Henry Miller supervised their takeoff training and accompanied the crews to the launch. For his efforts, Lt. Miller is considered an honorary member of the Raider group. 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 taken off the mission because of a nose wheel shimmy that could not be repaired quickly enough.
On March 25, the remaining twenty two B-25s took off from Eglin for McClellan Field, California. They arrived on March 27 for final modifications at the Sacramento Air Depot. A total of 16 B-25s were subsequently flown to the Naval Air Station at Alameda, California, on March 31. . Fifteen raiders would be the mission force and a 16th aircraft, by last minute agreement with the Navy, would be squeezed onto the deck to be flown off shortly after departure from San Francisco to provide feedback to the Army pilots about takeoff characteristics. (Later the 16th bomber was made a part of the mission force).
The Raid
On April 1, the 16 modified bombers, their five-man crews and Army maintenance personnel, totaling 71 officers and 130 enlisted men, were loaded onto at Alameda. Each aircraft carried four specially-constructed 500-pound (225 kg) bombs. Three of these were high-explosive munitions, and one was a bundle of incendiaries. The incendiaries were long tubes, wrapped together in order to be carried in the bomb bay, but designed to separate and scatter over a wide area after release.
Lt. Col. Jimmy Doolittle, accepts from the skipper of the Hornet, Capt. Marc A. Mitscher, a medal once given to a United States Navy officer by Japan. This medal was wired to a 500-lb. bomb for return to Japan and will be dropped on Tokyo. Five of these bombs had Japanese "friendship" medals wired to them — medals awarded by the Japanese government to United States servicemen before the war.
To decrease weight (and thus increase their range), the bombers' armament was reduced. 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. Two wooden, simulated gun barrels mounted in the tail cones were intended to discourage Japanese air attacks from that direction, and were cited afterward by Jimmy Doolittle as being particularly effective. The aircraft were clustered closely and tied down on the Hornet's flight deck in the order of their expected launch.
The Hornet and "Task Force 18" left the port of Alameda, California at 10:00 on April 2, and a few days later rendezvoused with Task Force 16, commanded by Vice Admiral William F. Halsey, Jr.- the Hornet and her escort of cruisers and destroyers met in the mid-Pacific Ocean, north of Hawaii. The carrier Enterprise's fighters and scout planes would provide protection for the entire task force in the event of a Japanese air attack, since the Hornet's fighters were stowed below decks to allow the B-25s to use the flight deck.
The combined force, two carriers, three heavy cruisers, one light cruiser, eight destroyers, and two fleet oilers, then proceeded across the Pacific in radio silence. On the afternoon of April 17, 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 Japanese controlled waters east of Japan.
At 07:38 on the morning of April 18, while the task force was still about 650 miles (1,050 km) from Japan, it was sighted by Japanese picket boat No. 23 Nitto Maru, which radioed an attack warning to Japan. Although the boat was fatally damaged by gunfire from the cruiser, Jimmy Doolittle and Hornet skipper Captain Marc Mitscher decided to launch the B-25s immediately — 10 hours early and farther from Japan than planned. After respotting to allow for engine start and run-ups, the Doolittle's aircraft had 467 ft (142 metres) of takeoff distance.
Despite the fact that none of the B-25 pilots, including Jimmy 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 the mission was compromised, Doolittle made a command decision to utilize the reserve aircraft. This was the only time that United States Army Air Forces bombers were launched from a United States Navy aircraft carrier on a combat mission.
The B-25s then flew towards Japan. Most of them in groups of two to four aircraft before changing to single-file at wave-top 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 anti-aircraft 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 anti-aircraft fire. Plane No. 4, piloted by Lt. Everett W. Holstrom, jettisoned its bombs before reaching its target when it came under attack by fighters after its gun turret malfunctioned.
Fifteen of the sixteen aircraft then proceeded southwest along the southern coast of Japan and across the East China Sea towards eastern China, where several fields in Chekiang (now Zhejiang) Province were supposed to be ready to guide them in using homing beacons. They were then to recover and refuel them for continuing on to Chungking. The primary base was at Chuchow, toward which all the aircraft navigated, but Admiral Halsey never sent the planned signal to alert them. It was supposed that it was because of the possible threat to the task force.
One B-25, was extremely low on fuel and headed, instead, for the closer land mass of the USSR.
The raiders faced several unforeseen challenges during their flight to China: night was approaching, the aircrafts were running low on fuel, and the weather was rapidly deteriorating. None of the planes would have reached China at all except for a fortunate tail wind as they came off the boming target and increased their ground speed by 25 knots for seven hours.
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. Fifteen aircraft reached the Chinese coast after 13 hours of flight and crash landed or bailed out. The crew who flew to Russia landed 40 miles (65 km) beyond Vladivostok, where their B-25 was confiscated and the crew interned until they managed to escape through Iran in 1943. It was the longest combat mission ever flown by the B-25 Mitchell medium bomber, averaging approximately 2,250 miles (3,600 km).
Jimmy Doolittle and his crew, after safely parachuting into China, received assistance from Chinese soldiers and civilians as well as John Birch (an American military intelligence officer and a Baptist Missionary) in China. As did the others who participated in the mission, Jimmy Doolittle had to bail out, but fortunately landed in a heap of dung (saving a previously injured ankle from breaking) in a rice paddy in China near Chuchow (Quzhou). Jimmy Doolittle recommended John Birch for intelligence work with General Chennault's Flying Tigers.
Jimmy Doolittle thought that the raid had been a terrible failure because the aircraft were lost, and that he would be court-martialed upon his return.
Of the fifteen planes that ended their run over Chinese territory, eleven of the bomber crews bailed out while two ditched in coastal waters and another two crash-landed. They were all in areas under Japanese occupation. Three crewmen were lost immediately, killed by parachute failures or their crash-landing.
Chinese resistance guerrillas, and civilians, found the surviving men and risked their own lives to bring them to safety. The Japanese military mounted a desperate search, all the while torturing and killing thousands of Chinese and foreign missionaries. Soldiers burned villages, and destroyed crops in an effort to force the Chinese to give up the American flyers. Despite these efforts of the Japanese soldiers, for more than a month after the raid on Japan, the Chinese people helped 64 crew members (four of these in serious medical condition) to evade capture, and to reach the safety of inland airfields, and return to United States forces by way of Chungking and India.
Eight of the men (from two planes) were captured; three of the captives were executed by the Japanese on October 15, 1942 while one other died of mistreatment in prison. The other four endured four years of brutal treatment until liberated July 20, 1945.
This War Bonds poster uses public anger at the treatment of the captured Doolittle Raiders.
News of the massacre of the helpful Chinese and the later crew executions further enflamed anti-Japanese feelings and increased support for the war.
Seventy-nine of the Doolittle Raiders received the Distinguished Service Cross for their actions in the raid while Col. Doolittle was promoted to Brigadier General and was awarded the Congressional Medal of Honor. Jimmy Doolittle commanded Twelfth Air Force and Northwest African Strategic Air Forces in North Africa in 1942 and the Eighth Air Force in England after 1943.
The Doolittle Raid crew members who returned fit for service flew again. Many of them served under Jimmy Doolittle again in North Africa and Europe. Some of the raiders remained on active duty as valued members of the military well after the war.
On May 15, 1995, to extend the honors related to the historic Doolittle mission, the Secretary of the Navy authorized a special citation for all personnel in ships that were deployed with Task Force 16.
The Japanese pride was severely wounded, removing with one raid the Japanese confidence in their superiority, impenetrable defenses, their cause.
The inhabitants of Tokyo were stunned. The people panicked. After repeated promises by the authorities that Japan's sky would be "clean" forever, the Doolittle raid was a shock to Japan's military and population. The commanders of the Air Force and Navy accused each other, and the commander of Tokyo's air defense committed a suicide.
Japanese ships and planes were diverted to the defense of the home islands to discourage anyfurther attacks. This removed vital militaryresources from the field of combat.
The Men Who Volunteered For The Raid On Japan
Lt. Col. James H. Doolittle and Capt. Marc A. Mitscher with members of Doolittle's Raiders while en route to Japan on board USS Hornet CV-8.
The 16 B-25 Flight Crews In Order Of Their Takeoff
April 18, 1942
Takeoff No.1 - Target Tokyo
AAF Serial No. 40-2344 (Bail Out) N Chuchow, China
Crew from 34th Squadron, 17th Group
Pilot - Lt. Col. James H. DooLittle
Co-pilot - Lt. Richard E. Cole
Navigator Lt Henry A. Potter
Bombardier - Sgt. Fred A. Braemer
*Flight Engineer/Gunner - Sgt. Paul J. Leonard (Killed in bomb attack in Africa Jan. 5, 1943)
Doolittle Tokyo Raiders, Crew No. 1
Crew No. 1 (Plane #40-2344, target Tokyo): 34th Bombardment Squadron, front row: Lt. Col. James H. Doolittle, pilot; Lt. Richard E. Cole, copilot; back row: Lt. Henry A. Potter, navigator; Staff Sgt. Fred A. Braemer, bombardier; and Staff Sgt. Paul J. Leonard, flight engineer/gunner. (U.S. Air Force photo)
Takeoff No.2 - Target Tokyo
AAF Serial No. 40-2292 (Crash Landing) Ningpo, China
Crew from 37th Squadron, 17th Group
Pilot - Lt. Travis Hoover
Co-pilot - Lt. William N. Fitzhugh
Navigator - Lt. Carl R. Wildner
*Bombardier - Lt. Richard E. Miller (Killed in action in Africa Jan. 22, 1943)
Flight Engineer/Gunner - Sgt. Douglas V. Radney
Doolittle Tokyo Raiders, Crew No. 2
Crew No. 2 (Plane #40-2292, target Tokyo): 37th Bombardment Squadron, front row: Lt. Travis Hoover, pilot; Lt. William N. Fitzhugh, copilot; back row: Lt. Carl R. Wildner, navigator; Lt. Richard E. Miller, bombardier; and Sgt. Douglas V. Radney, flight engineer/gunner. (U.S. Air Force photo)
Takeoff No.3 - Target Tokyo
AAF Serial No. 40-2270 (Bail Out) SE Chuchow, China
Crew from 95th Squadron, 17th Group
*Pilot - Lt. Robert M. Gray (Killed in crash enroute to China from India Oct. 18, 1942)
*Co-pilot - Lt. Jacob E. Manch (Killed balling out of T-33, Las Vegas, Nevada, Mar. 24, 1958)
Navigator - Lt. Charles J. Ozuk
Bombardier - Sgt. Aden E. Jones
*Flight Engineer/Gunner - Cpl. Leland D. Faktor (Killed bailing out in China after Tokyo Raid, April 18, 1942)
Doolittle Tokyo Raiders, Crew No. 3
Crew No. 3 (Plane #40-2270, target Tokyo): 95th Bombardment Squadron, Lt. Robert M. Gray, pilot; Lt. Jacob E. Manch, copilot; Lt. Charles J. Ozuk Jr., navigator; Sgt. Aden E. Jones, bombardier; Cpl. Leland D. Faktor, flight engineer/gunner. (U.S. Air Force photo)
Takeoff No.4 - Target Tokyo
AAF Serial No. 40-2282 (Bail Out) SE Shangjao, China
Crew from 95th Squadron, 17th Group
Pilot - Lt. Everett W. Holstrom
*Co-pilot - Lt. Lucien N. Youngblood (Killed in crash Feb. 28, 1949)
Navigator - Lt. Harry C. McCool
*Bombardier - Sgt Robert J. Stephens (Died April 13, 1959)
Flight Engineer/Gunner - Cpl. Bert M. Jordan
Doolittle Tokyo Raiders, Crew No. 4
Crew No. 4 (Plane #40-2282, target Tokyo): 95th Bombardment Squadron, front row: Lt. Everett W. Holstrom, pilot; and Lt. Lucian N. Youngblood, copilot; back row: Lt. Harry C. McCool, navigator; Sgt. Robert J. Stephens, bombardier; and Cpl. Bert M. Jordan, flight engineer/gunner. (U.S. Air Force photo)
Takeoff No.5 - Target Tokyo
AAF Serial No. 40-2283 (Bail Out) SW Chuchow, China
Crew from 95th Squadron, 17th Group
Pilot - Capt. David M. Jones (P.O.W. Germany 2 1/2 years)
*Co-pilot - Lt. Rodney R. Wilder (Died June 6, 1964)
*Navigator - Lt. Eugene F. McGurl (Killed in crash after raid In Burma, June 8, 1942)
*Bombardier - Lt. Denver V. Trulove (Killed in action in Sicily April 5, 1943)
Flight Engineer/Gunner - Sgt. Joseph W. Manske
Doolittle Tokyo Raiders, Crew No. 5
Crew No. 5 (Plane #40-2283, target Tokyo): 95th Bombardment Squadron, front row: Capt. David M. Jones, pilot; and Lt. Ross R. Wilder, copilot; back row: Lt. Eugene F. McGurl, navigator; Lt. Denver V. Truelove, bombardier; and Sgt. Joseph W. Manske, flight engineer/gunner. (U.S. Air Force photo)
Takeoff No.6 - Target Tokyo
AAF Serial No. 40-2298 (Ditched At Sea, Wenchu, China}
Crew from 95th Squadron, 17th Group
*Pilot - Lt. Dean E. Hallmark (Executed by Japanese Oct. 15, 1942)
*Co-pilot - Lt. Robert J. Meder (Died in Japanese P.O.W. Camp Dec. 1, 1943)
Navigator - Lt. Chase J. Nielsen (P.O.W. Japanese 31/2 years)
*Bombardier - Sgt. william J. Dieter (Drowned after ditching following raid April 18, 1942)
*Flight Engineer/Gunner - Sgt Donald E. Fitzmaurice (Drowned after ditching following raid April 18, 1942)
Doolittle Tokyo Raiders, Crew No. 6
Crew No. 6 (Plane #40-2298, target Tokyo): 95th Bombardment Squadron, front row: Lt. Dean E. Hallmark, pilot; and Lt. Robert J. Meder, copilot; back row: Lt. Chase J. Nielsen, navigator; Sgt. William J. Dieter, bombardier; and Sgt. Donald E. Fitzmaurice, flight engineer/gunner. (U.S. Air Force photo)
Takeoff No.7 - Target Tokyo
AAF Serial No. 40-2261 (Ditched at Sea, Shangchow, China)
Crew from 95th Squadron, 17th Group
Pilot - Lt. Ted W. Lawson
Co-pilot - Lt. Dean Davenport
Navigator - Lt. Charles L. McClure
*Bombardier - Lt. Robert S. Clever (Killed in crash in U.S., Nov. 20, 1942)
Flight Engineer/Gunner - Sgt. David J. Thatcher
Doolittle Tokyo Raiders, Crew No. 7
Crew No. 7 (Plane #40-2261, target Tokyo): 95th Bombardment Squadron, front row: Lt. Ted W. Lawson, pilot; and Lt. Dean Davenport, copilot; back row: Lt. Charles L. McClure, navigator; Lt. Robert S. Clever, bombardier; and Sgt. David J. Thatcher, flight engineer/gunner. (U.S. Air Force photo)
Takeoff No.8 - Target Tokyo
AAF Serial No. 40-2242 (Landed In USSR) Interned Primorsky Krai, Siberia
Crew from 95th Squadron, 17th Group
Pilot - Capt. Edward J. York
Co-pilot - Lt. Robert G. Emmens
Navigator/Bombardier - Lt. Nolan A. Herndon
Engineer S/Sgt. Theodore H. Laban
Flight Engineer/Gunner - Sgt. David W. Pohl
Doolittle Tokyo Raiders, Crew No. 8
Crew No. 8 (Plane #40-2242, target Tokyo): 95th Bombardment Squadron, front row: Capt. Edward J. York, pilot; and Lt. Robert G. Emmens, copilot; back row: Lt. Nolan A. Herndon, navigator/bombardier; Staff Sgt. Theodore H. Laban, flight engineer; and Sgt. David W. Pohl, gunner. (U.S. Air Force photo)
Takeoff No. 9 - Target Tokyo
AAF Serial No. 40-2303 (Bail Out) S Nanchang, China
Crew from 34th Squadron, 17th Group
Pilot - Lt. Harold F. Watson
Co-pilot - Lt. James N. Parker
Navigator - Lt. Thomas C. Griffin (P.O.W. Germany 2 years)
Bombardier - Sgt. Wayne M. Bissell
Flight Engineer/Gunner - S/Sgt. Eldred V. Scott
Doolittle Tokyo Raiders, Crew No. 9
Crew No. 9 (Plane #40-2203, target Tokyo): 34th Bombardment Squadron, front row: Lt. Harold F. Watson, pilot; and Lt. James N. Parker Jr., copilot; back row: Lt. Thomas C. Griffin, navigator; Sgt. Wayne M. Bissell, bombardier; and Tech. Sgt. Eldred V. Scott, flight engineer/gunner. (U.S. Air Force photo)
Takeoff No.10 - Target Tokyo
AAF Serial No. 40-2250 (Bail Out) NE Chuchow, China
Crew from 89th Recon Squadron
Pilot Lt. - Richard 0. Joyce
Co-pilot Lt. J. Royden Stork
Navigtor/Baombardier - Lt. Horace E. Crouch
*Bombardier - Sgt. George E. Larkin, Jr. (Killed in crash on flight to China from India Oct. 18, 1942)
Flight Engineer/Gunner - S/Sgt. Edwin W. Horton, Jr.
Doolittle Tokyo Raiders, Crew No. 10
Crew No. 10 (Plane #40-2250, target Tokyo): 89th Reconnaissance Squadron, front row: Lt. Richard O. Joyce, pilot; and Lt. J. Royden Stork, copilot; back row: Lt. Horace E. Crouch, navigator/bombardier; Sgt. George E. Larkin Jr., flight engineer; and Staff Sgt. Edwin W. Horton Jr., gunner. (U.S. Air Force photo)
Takeoff No.11 - Target Yokohama
AAF Serial No. 40-2249 (Bail Out) NE Chuchow, China
Crow from 89th Recon Squadron
*Pilot Capt. C. Ross Greening (P.O.W. Germany 2 years died March 29, 1957)
Co-pilot - Lt. Kenneth E. Reddy (Killed in crash in U.S. Sept 3, 1942)
Navigator - Lt. Frank A. Kappeler
Bombardier - S/Sgt. William L. Birch
*Flight Engineer/Gunner - Sgt Melvin J. Gardner (Killed in crash in Burma June 3, 1942)
Doolittle Tokyo Raiders, Crew No. 11
Crew No. 11 (Plane #40-2249, target Yokohama): 34th Bombardment Squadron, front row: Capt. C. Ross Greening (89th RS), pilot; and Lt. Kenneth E. Reddy, copilot; back row: Lt. Frank A. Kappeler, navigator; Staff Sgt. William L. Birch, bombardier; and Sgt. Melvin J. Gardner, flight engineer/gunner. (U.S. Air Force photo)
Takeoff No.12 - Target Yokohama
AAF Serial No. 40-2278 (Bail Out) NE Chuchow, China
Crow from 37th Squadron, 17th Group
Pilot - Lt. William M. Bower
*Co-pilot - Lt. Thadd H. Blanton (Died Sept. 26, 1961)
*Navigator Lt. William R. Pound (Died July 13, 1967)
Bombardier - Sgt. Waldo J. Bither*Flight Engineer/Gunner - Sgt. Omer A. Duquette (Killed in crash in Burma June 3, 1942)
Doolittle Tokyo Raiders, Crew No. 12
Crew No. 12 (Plane #40-2278, target Yokohama): 37th Bombardment Squadron, front row: Lt. William M. Bower, pilot; and Lt. Thadd H. Blanton, copilot; back row: Lt. William R. Pound Jr., navigator; Tech. Sgt. Waldo J. Bither, bombardier; and Staff Sgt. Omer A. Duquette, flight engineer/gunner. (U.S. Air Force photo)
Takeoff No.13 - Target Yokosuka
AAF Serial No. 40-2247 (Bail Out) N Nanchang, China
Crew from 37th Squadron, 17th Group
Pilot - Lt. Edgar E. McElroy
Co-pilot - Lt. Richard A. Knobloch
Navigator - Lt. Clayton J. Campbell
Bombardier - Sgt. Robert C. Bourgeois
Gunner - Sgt. Adam R. Williams
Doolittle Tokyo Raiders, Crew No. 13
Crew No. 13 (Plane #40-2247, target Yokosuka): 37th Bombardment Squadron, front row: Lt. Edgar E. McElroy, pilot; and Lt. Richard A. Knobloch, copilot; back row: Lt. Clayton J. Campbell, navigator; Master Sgt. Robert C. Bourgeois, bombardier; and Sgt. Adam R. Williams, flight engineer/gunner. (U.S. Air Force photo)
Takeoff No.14 - Target Nagoya
AAF Serial No. 40-2297 (Bail Out) SE Shangjao, China
Crew from 89th Recon. Squadron
Pilot - Maj. John A. Hilger
Co-pilot - Lt. Jack A. Sims
Navigator/Bombardier - Lt. James H. Macia, Jr.
Engineer - S/Sgt Jacob Eierman
*Gunner - Sgt. Edwin V. Bain (Killed in action off Rome Italy, July 19, 1943)
Doolittle Tokyo Raiders, Crew No. 14
Crew No. 14 (Plane #40-2297, target Nagoya): 89th Reconnaissance Squadron, front row: Maj. John A. Hilger, pilot; and Lt. Jack A. Sims, copilot; back row: Lt. James H. Macia Jr., navigator/bombardier; Staff Sgt. Job Eierman, flight engineer; and Staff Sgt. Edwin V. Bain, gunner. (U.S. Air Force photo)
Takeoff No.15 - Target Nagoya
AAF Serial No. 40-2267 (Crash Landing) Shangchow, China
Crew from 89th Recon. Squadron
*Pilot - Lt. Donald G. Smith (Killed in crash in British Isles Nov. 12, 1942)
Co-pilot - Lt. Griffith P. Williams (P.O.W. Germany 2 years)
Navigator/Bombardier - Lt. Howard A. Sessler
Engineer - Sgt. Edward J. Saylor
Gunner - Lt. Thomas R. White (Medical Corps)
Doolittle Tokyo Raiders, Crew No. 15
Crew No. 15 (Plane #40-2267, target Nagoya): 89th Reconnaissance Squadron, back row: Lt. Donald G. Smith, pilot; and Lt. Griffith P. Williams, copilot; back row: Lt. Howard A. Sessler, navigator/bombardier; Lt. Thomas R. White, flight engineer; and Sgt. Edward J. Saylor, gunner. (U.S. Air Force photo)
Takeoff No.16 - Target Nagoya
AAF Serial No. 40-2268 (Bail Out) S Ningpo, China
Crew from 34th Squadron, 17th Group
*Pilot - Lt. William G. Farrow (Executed by Japanese Oct. 15, 1942)
Co-pilot - Lt. Robert L. Hite (Japanese P.O.W. 31/2 years)
Navigator - Lt. George Barr (Japanese P.O.W. 31/2 years) (Died July 12, 1967)
Bombardier - Cpl. Jacob D. DeShazer (Japanese P.O.W. 31/2 years)
*Engineer/Gunner - Sgt. Harold A. Spatz (Executed by Japanese Oct. 15, 1942)
Doolittle Tokyo Raiders, Crew No. 16
Crew No. 16 (Plane #40-2268, target Nagoya): 34th Bombardment Squadron, front row: Lt. William G. Farrow, pilot; and Lt. Robert L. Hite, copilot; back row: Lt. George Barr, navigator; Cpl. Jacob D. DeShazer, bombardier; and Sgt. Harold A. Spatz, flight engineer/gunner. (U.S. Air Force photo)
*Deceased
***
Corporal Leland D. Faktor was killed during his bailout attempt over China. April 1942
Staff Sgt. William J. Dieter, drowned when their B-25 crashed off the coast of China. April 1942
Sgt. Donald E. Fitzmaurice, drowned when their B-25 crashed off the coast of China. April 1942
Lieutenant Dean E. Hallmark was captured and executed by a firing squad on October 15, 1942.
Lieutenant William G. Farrow was captured and executed by a firing squad on October 15, 1942.
Corporal Harold A. Spatz was captured and executed by a firing squad on October 15, 1942.
Lieutenant Robert J. Meder was captured and died on December 1, 1943.
Lieutenant Chase Nielsen was captured and freed in August 1945.
Lieutenant Robert L. Hite was captured and freed in August 1945.
Lieutenant George Barr was captured and freed in August 1945.
Corporal Jacob DeShazer was captured and freed in August 1945. In 1948 he became a missionaryand returned to Japan for 30 years.
Corporal Jacob DeShazer
***
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 August 28, 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 October 14, 1942, these three crewmen were advised that they were to be executed the next day. At 16:30, 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 December 1, 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.
***
Five of the pilots on the raid later in their career became Generals.
James H. Doolittle
John A. Hilger
David M. Jones
Everett W. Holstrom
Richard A. Knobloch (co-pilot)
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.
Some Crewmen
Ted Lawson
Ted W. Lawson (March 7, 1917 – January 19, 1992) was known as the author of the best selling memoir, "Thirty Seconds Over Tokyo". It described his participation in the Doolittle Raid on Tokyo in 1942. In January 1943, he and well-known newspaper columnist Bob Considine decided to write a book about the mission, entitled "Thirty Seconds Over Tokyo" and in four nights and two days in the Mayflower Hotel in Washington, the entire story was lined out.
The book was subsequently adapted into a film of the same name. Through friends in the Los Angeles area, Ted made contact with MGM producer Sam Zimbalist, and the movie was launched in 1944. The film starred Van Johnson as Ted Lawson, alongside Spencer Tracy and Robert Mitchum. It won an Academy Award for Best Special Effects
The aircraft that he flew on the raid was nicknamed "The Ruptured Duck." Ted Lawson and his crew were forced to ditch "The Ruptured Duck" off the coast of the small island of Nantien. Lawson and his co-pilot were both thrown clear of the plane, with Ted Lawson suffering a lacerated left leg in the process. After being transported through out several provinces in China, Lawson's leg was surgically amputated. The nose-art of the crashed bomber, the Ruptured Duck, was later salvaged by the Japanese and put on display in Tokyo.
After leaving the hospital, he served as Liaison Officer, U.S. Air Mission, Santiago, Chile from May 1943 until April 1944. He was retired for physical disability on February 2, 1945. His decorations include the Distinguished Flying Cross, Purple Heart, and the Chinese Army, Navy, and Air Corps Medal, Class A, 1st Grade.
Ted Lawson owned and operated a machine shop in Southern California, as well as working for Reynolds Metals as a liaison between the company and the military. He died in his home in Chico, California on January 19, 1992 and was interred at the Chico Cemetery Mausoleum.
Frank Kappeler
Frank Kappeler remembers the start of his military career: how he went to technical college in Oakland, entered the Navy reserve, transferred to the Army Air Corps, volunteered for pilot training but washed out. How he spent some time working for an aircraft company in Southern California.
When the United States entered the war, he was back in the Air Corps, as a navigator on boatd an airplane making anti-submarine patrols out of Pendleton Army Air Base in Oregon.
It was a good job, as military jobs go. He was living in the bachelor's officer quarters, he had a dog and a brand new yellow Plymouth convertible. He was 28, which was an old man by wartime standards.
One day, some officers came to the base. "They said they were looking for volunteers for a very dangerous mission," Kappeler remembers. "They said there was only a 50-50 chance of surviving."
Frank Kappeler was not there that day, but his friends knew he would want to go, so they signed him up. That was fine with Kappeler.
"I got in the service to fight in a war if we had to. A 50-50 chance didn't sound so bad. All of us felt that way," he said. When asked why he did it, he said "That was our job."
Later he found out who the leader was: Jimmy Doolittle, a legendary pilot who had won all the top trophies racing planes. He was one of the best in the world.
"He told us we would fly B-25s and take off on a runway only 400 feet long. Most pilots said they never heard of such a thing," Kappeler said. "Anyway, I was just a lowly navigator."
They trained in February and March. By the end of March, all 16 planes flew to McClellan Air Force Base near Sacramento, then to Alameda.
Here the planes were loaded aboard the carrier Hornet, which was less than a year old and barely battle ready. The bombers were so large that they had to be loaded on the flight deck and stored there, in plain sight.
The ship sailed from Alameda at 3 in the afternoon and anchored for the night in San Francisco Bay. The aircrews got liberty. Most of them went to the Top of the Mark in San Francisco. They could see the ship from the bar, loaded down with bombers.
Frank Kappeler, who had grown up in Alameda, went home. "I played cards with my family," he said. "Pinochle."
In the morning, he rejoined the ship and the Hornet sailed out of the Golden Gate on April 2, on a secret mission - in broad daylight. Once well at sea, the crew was told the target: Tokyo and other Japanese cities.
Master Sergeant Edwin W. Horton, Jr.
Master Sergeant Edwin W. Horton Jr. entered the Army in 1935. He served overseas with Field Artillery at Schofield Barracks, Hawaii from 1935 to 1938 before re-enlisting and serving with the 95th Bomb Squadron at March Field, California. He then completed Gun Turret-Maintenance School, Aircraft Armament and Aircraft Mechanics Schools. He volunteered, and was an engineer/gunner for the secret mission that would later be known as the Doolittle Raid.
Edwin Horton was a gunner and flight engineer for crew number ten. His crew completed their B-25 mission over Japan and flew on to China, where Edwin Horton and four other crew members parachuted out at night and hid from Japanese troops until finding safe refuge. Edwin Horton's aircraft commander, 1stLt Richard O. Joyce recalls Horton's response when given the order to bail out: "Okay Lieutenant, here I go and thanks for a swell ride!" Lt. Joyce later remarked: "I couldn't help but laugh at that and it made me feel good. Here we had been flying for about 14 hours, had been in combat and hit, and now had to bail out and he thanked me for the ride! Horton's spirit of discipline was typical of my whole crew and I was thankful."
His crew successfully struck the Japanese Special Steel Company and the heavy industrial section in the Shiba Ward. His quick response and expertise with the turret gun thwarted multiple attacks by Japanese Zeros, patrol aircraft and Nakajima 97 attack aircraft. The Japanese attacks left an eight inch hole in the B-25's fuselage and multiple bullet holes in the left wing. Fortunately the damage was minor and Horton's B-25 was the only aircraft in the raid to receive damage over Japan.
Sergeant Horton remained in the China-Burma-India Theater after the Tokyo Raid as the 11th Bomb Squadron B-25 Armament Chief until June 1943. He held other various assignments and was among the first Air Force personnel assigned to the newly constructed Climatic Laboratory at Eglin AFB, Florida in 1947. Horton's decorations include the Distinguished Flying Cross and numerous Chinese, Army, Navy, Air Corps, and Air Force Medals. Master Sergeant Horton retired from the United States Air Force in 1960 after 25 years of distinguished military service.
He had a second career as a civilian employee at the Air Force Climatic Laboratory, Eglin Air Force Base, Florida.
David M. Jones
David M. Jones was a pilot in the "Doolittle Raid". After he and his crew completed their B-25 missions over Japan, they flew on to China, where they bailed out.
After returning to the United States, David Jones took an assignment with the 319th Bomb Group in North Africa. He was shot down Dec. 4, 1942, over Bizerte, Tunisia, on his fifth mission.
German soldiers captured Jones and he spent the next 2½ years in a German prisoner of war camp, Stalag Luft III. David Jones was involved in several escape attempts and was finally liberated in April 1945.
After the war, David Jones’ career focused on bomber assignments and research and development work. He was director of the B-58 test force and at one time had more supersonic flying time in that aircraft than any other Air Force pilot, according to the Air Force.
In 1961, he was named vice commander of the Aeronautical Systems Division at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base, Ohio, and deputy commander for the GAM-87 air-launched ballistic missile.
After the cancellation of the GAM-87, David Jones became deputy chief of staff for systems at the Air Force Systems Command and in 1964 became deputy associate for manned space flight with NASA. In 1967, he took command of the Air Force Eastern Test Range at Cape Kennedy, Fla., for Manned Space Flight. He retired in 1973. His home was in Tucson, Arizona.
Fate Of 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 August 15, 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 died in 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, Sgt. William J. Dieter and Cpl. Donald E. Fitzmaurice, had died 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 October 14, 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 December 1, 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.
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.
The 16th B-25
On board the Hornet, Jimmy Doolittle had informed the volunteer crews that the Soviet government, led by Premier Joseph Stalin and Molotov, was adamantly opposed to United States bombers landing on Soviet soil.
The 16th B-25 made a safe landing at 5:45 p.m. at Primiori Airfield north of Vladkvostok, Captain York and his crew were briefly interviewed by the base commander, Colonel Kovalev, and then fed prior to their overnight stay. The following morning, their journey across Siberia began with their first stop at Khabarovsk, some 400 miles north of Vladivostok, where they met the Soviet Far Eastern Army Commander, General Stearn. He informed them that they were ‘interned pursuant to the Geneva Convention International Law.’ The crew was held for 10 days at Khabarovsk. They then traveled by train, accompanied by a 21 year old Russian officer, for 21 days westerly to Penza, approximately 400 miles southwest of Moscow.
According to co-pilot Bob Emmans, the five man crew remained at Penza for 2 1/2 months. While in Penza they were visited by U.S. Military Attache, Colonel Joe Michela, from Moscow. Michela reported the crew’s health and general condition to the United States Embassy in Washington, D.C.
On March 25, 1943, the crew was moved from Okhansk (Perm) to Ashkabad near the Iranian border.
Just prior to May 29, 1943, the 2242 crew members (with a blink of the Russian eye), escaped through the rugged mountains to Mashhad, Iran, and subsequently returned to the U.S. via the British Embassy in Tehran, Iran. All crew members had survived the ordeal and were able to continue their flying service in Europe until the German surrender in May, 1945.”
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. 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 Louisiana, 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.
The 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 local Chinese villagers to make their escape, the subsequent Japanese response against the Chinese was particularly extreme. All airfields in an area of some twenty thousand square miles in the areas where the Raiders landed were torn up, germ warfare was utilized against the civilian population, and an estimated quarter of a million of the local Chinese villagers were killed. The massive Japanese retaliation against the local Chinese in this area became known as the Zhejiang-Jiangxi Campaign; it is generally overlooked in most American and Japanese discussions of the after effects of the Doolittle Raid.Impact
Compared to the devastating B-29 Superfortress attacks against Japan later in the war, the Doolittle raid did little material damage. Eight primary and five secondary targets were struck, and the Japanese reported that the two planes whose crews were captured had also struck their targets. At least one bomb from the plane of Lt. Edgar E. McElroy struck the Japanese aircraft carrier Ryuho. Nevertheless, when the news of the raid was released,
American morale soared. 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, in that it caused the Japanese to recall some fighting units back to the home islands for defense. The Fast Carrier Task Force, consisting of six carriers under Admiral Chuichi Nagumo, had inflicted serious losses on the Royal Navy in the Indian Ocean Raid; after the Doolittle Raid, Nagumo's task force was recalled to Japan, relieving the pressure on the Royal Navy in the Indian Ocean. The Japanese Navy also bore a special responsibility for the fact that an American carrier task force had approached the Japanese Home Islands in a manner similar to that on Pearl Harbor, and then escaped unpunished. The fact that land-based bombers carried out the attack served to confuse Japanese war planners about he source of the attack. This confusion and an assumption that Japan was vulnerable to air attack strengthened Admiral Isoroku Yamamoto's resolve to seize Midway Island, resulting in the decisive 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." - Gen. James H. Doolittle, July 9, 1942
Jimmy Doolittle received the Medal of Honor from President Franklin D. Roosevelt at the White House for planning and leading his raid on Japan.
The Doolittle Raid is viewed by historians as a major morale-building victory for the United States. Although the damage done to Japanese war industry was minor, the raid showed the Japanese that their homeland was vulnerable to air attack, and forced them to withdraw several front-line fighter units from Pacific war zones for homeland defense. More significantly, Japanese commanders considered the raid deeply embarrassing, and their attempt to close the perceived gap in their Pacific defense perimeter led directly to the decisive American victory during the Battle of Midway in June 1942.
When asked from where the Tokyo raid was launched, President Roosevelt covertly said its base was Shangri-La, a fictional paradise from the popular novel Lost Horizon. In the same vein, the United States Navy named one of its carriers the USS Shangri-La.
Jimmy Doolittle was portrayed by Spencer Tracy in the 1944 film Thirty Seconds Over Tokyo and by Alec Baldwin in the 2001 film Pearl Harbor, in which a fictionalized account of the Doolittle raid was depicted.
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. 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.
*****
World War II, Post-raid
In July 1942, as a Brigadier General - he had been promoted by two grades on the day after the Tokyo attack, by-passing the rank of full colonel - Doolittle was assigned to the nascent Eighth Air Force and in September became commanding general of the Twelfth Air Force in North Africa. He was promoted to Major General in November 1942.
In March 1943 he became commanding general of the Northwest African Strategic Air Forces, a unified command of United States Army Air Force and Royal Air Force units.
Maj. Gen. Doolittle took command of the Fifteenth Air Force in the Mediterranean Theater of Operations in November 1943. On June 10, he flew as co-pilot with Jack Sims, fellow Tokyo Raider, in a B-26 Marauder of the 320th Bombardment Group, 442nd Bombardment Squadron on a mission to attack gun emplacements at Pantelleria. From January 1944 to September 1945, he held his largest command, the Eighth Air Force (8 AF) in England as a Lieutenant General, his promotion date being March 13, 1944 and the highest rank ever held by a reserve officer in modern times.
Maj. Gen. Jimmy Doolittle took command of the Eighth Air Force in Britain when Arnold established the United States Strategic Air Forces in Europe.
Gen. Doolittle's major influence on the European air war occurred early in the year when he changed the policy requiring escorting fighters to remain with the bombers at all times. With his permission, P-38s, P-47s, and P-51s on escort missions strafed German airfields and transport while returning to base, contributing significantly to the achievement of air supremacy by Allied Air Forces over Europe.
Lieutenant General James Doolittle and Lieutenant General Carl Spaatz in Europe 1944.
(Left to right) Lieutenant General Carl Spaatz, Lieutenant General George Patton, Lieutenant General James Doolittle, Major General Hoyt Vandenberg, Brigadier General O.P. Weyland.
Jimmy Doolittle with Colonel Curtis LeMay in Britain, in 1944.
After the end of the European war, the Eighth Air Force was re-equipped with B-29 Superfortress bombers and started to relocate to Okinawa in the Pacific. Two bomb groups had begun to arrive on August 7. However, the 8th was not scheduled to be at full strength until February 1946 and Doolittle declined to rush 8th Air Force units into combat simply to say that "the 8th Air Force had operated against the Japanese in the Pacific".
On May 10, 1946, Gen. Jimmy Doolittle reverted to inactive reserve status in the grade of lieutenant general and returned to Shell Oil as a vice president, and later as a director.
He was the highest-ranking reserve officer to serve in the U.S. military in World War II.
In March 1951, Jimmy Doolittle was appointed a special assistant to the Chief of Staff of the Air Force, serving as a civilian in scientific matters which led to Air Force ballistic missile and space programs.
In 1952, following a string of three air crashes in two months at Elizabeth, New Jersey, Harry S. Truman appointed him to lead a presidential commission examining the safety of urban airports. The report "Airports And Their Neighbors" lead to zoning requirements for buildings near approaches, early noise control requirements, and initial work on "super airports" with 10,000 ft runways, suited to 150 ton aircraft.
He retired from Air Force duty on February 28, 1959 but continued to serve his country as chairman of the board of Space Technology Laboratories. He also was the first president of the Air Force Association in 1947, assisting in its organization.
In 1972, Jimmy Doolittle received the Tony Jannus Award for his distinguished contributions to commercial aviation, in recognition of the development of instrument flight.
On April 4, 1985, the U.S. Congress promoted Jimmy Doolittle to the rank of full General on the Air Force retired list.
In a later ceremony, President Ronald Reagan and U.S. Senator and retired Air Force Reserve Major General Barry Goldwater pinned on Doolittle's four-star insignia.
In addition to his Medal of Honor for the Tokyo raid, during his career Doolittle also received the Presidential Medal of Freedom, two Distinguished Service Medals, the Silver Star, three Distinguished Flying Crosses, the Bronze Star, four Air Medals, and decorations from Great Britain, France, Belgium, Poland, China, and Ecuador.
Jimmy Doolittle is the only person to be awarded both the Medal of Honor and the Medal of Freedom, the nation's two highest honors. In 1983, he was awarded the United States Military Academy's Sylvanus Thayer Award. He was inducted in the Motorsports Hall of Fame of America as the only member of the air racing category in the inaugural class of 1989, and into the Aerospace Walk of Honor in the inaugural class of 1990. The headquarters of the United States Air Force Academy Association of Graduates (on the grounds of the United States Air Force Academy), Doolittle Hall, is named in his honor.
On May 9, 2007, The new 12th Air Force Combined Air Operations Center, Building 74, at Davis - Monthan Air Force Base, Tucson, Arizona, was named in his honor as the "General James H. Doolittle Center." Several surviving members of the Doolittle Raid were in attendance during the ribbon cutting ceremony.
Personal
James Harold Doolittle married his high school sweetheart Josephine E. Daniels on December 24, 1917.
The Doolittles had two sons, James Jr., and John. Both of them became military aviators.
James Jr was an A-26 Invader pilot during World War II and committed suicide at the age of thirty-eight in 1958. At the time of his death, James Jr was commander of the 524th Fighter-Bomber Squadron and piloted a F-101 Voodoo.
Their other son, John P. Doolittle, retired from the Air Force as a Colonel, and his grandson, Colonel James H. Doolittle, III, was the vice commander of the Air Force Flight Test Center, Edwards Air Force Base, California.
At a dinner celebration after Jimmy Doolittle’s first all-instrument flight in 1929, Josephine asked her guests to sign her white damask tablecloth. She would later, embroider the names in black. She continued this family tradition, collecting hundreds of signatures from the aviation world. The tablecloth was later donated to the Smithsonian.
Jimmy Doolittle and his wife Josephine.
James Harold "Jimmy" Doolittle died at the age of 96 in Pebble Beach, California on September 27, 1993. Josephine Doolittle had died in 1988, five years before her husband.
He is buried at Arlington National Cemetery in Arlington Virginia, (across the river from Washington, D.C.), next to his wife and high school sweetheart, Josephine Daniels Doolittle (May 24, 1895 - December 24, 1988). The Doolittles were married for 71 years. They are buried in Section 7-A.
In his honor, at the funeral, there was also a fly-over of "Miss Mitchell", a lone B-25 Mitchell, and USAF Eighth Air Force bombers from Barksdale Air Force Base, Louisiana.
After a brief graveside service, Jimmy Doolittle's great-grandson played Taps flawlessly.
Many pioneers of aviation died while they were young, often through accidents. But Jimmy Doolittle survived to live a full and illustrious life. When asked the secret of his longevity in such a high-risk profession, he replied that he never took an uncalculated risk, but that he also had a lot of luck.
Jimmy Doolittle said that he wouldn’t want to live his life again, because "I could never be so lucky again."
Honors And Awards
Military Honors
Medal Of Honor
Citation:
For conspicuous leadership above the call of duty, involving personal valor and intrepidity at an extreme hazard to life. With the apparent certainty of being forced to land in enemy territory or to perish at sea, Gen. Doolittle personally led a squadron of Army bombers, manned by volunteer crews, in a highly destructive raid on the Japanese mainland.
Army Distinguished Service Medal
Citation:
The President of the United States of America, authorized by Act of Congress July 9, 1918, takes pleasure in presenting the Army Distinguished Service Medal to Major General James Harold Doolittle (ASN: 0-271855), United States Army Air Forces, for exceptionally meritorious and distinguished services to the Government of the United States, in a duty of great responsibility as Commander of the Northwest African Strategic Air Force since its organization. Under his guidance and direction, this Force has developed a high degree of efficiency and accuracy and brought about, in great measure, a critical reduction in the supplies and reinforcements needed by the enemy. General Doolittle's energy, good judgment, exceptional qualities of leadership and wholehearted cooperation were primary factors in the ultimate success of air operations during the Tunisian Campaign.
Distinguished Flying Cross
1st Citation:
The President of the United States of America, authorized by Act of Congress, July 2, 1926, takes pleasure in presenting the Distinguished Flying Cross to First Lieutenant (Air Service) James Harold Doolittle (ASN: 0-271855), U.S. Army Air Corps, for extraordinary achievement while participating in an aerial flight. On 4–5 September 1922, Lieutenant Doolittle accomplished a one-stop flight from Pablo Beach, Florida, to San Diego, California, in 22 hours and 30 minutes elapsed time, an extraordinary achievement with the equipment available at that time. By his skill, endurance, and resourcefulness he demonstrated the possibility of moving Air Corps units to any portion of the United States in less than 24 hours, thus reflecting great credit on himself and to the Army of the United States.
2nd Citation:
The President of the United States of America, authorized by Act of Congress, July 2, 1926, takes pleasure in presenting a Bronze Oak Leaf Cluster in lieu of a Second Distinguished Flying Cross to First Lieutenant (Air Service) James Harold Doolittle (ASN: 0-271855), U.S. Army Air Corps, for extraordinary achievement while participating in an aerial flight. During March 1924, at McCook Field, Dayton, Ohio, Lieutenant Doolittle, piloting a Fokker PW-7 pursuit airplane, performed a series of acceleration tests requiring skill, initiative, endurance, and courage of the highest type. In these test a recording accelerometer was mounted in the airplane and the accelerations taken for the following maneuvers. Loops at various air speeds; single and multiple barrel rolls; power spirals; tail spins; power on and power off; half loop, half roll, and immelman turn; Inverted flight; pulling out of dive at various air speeds; flying the airplane on a level course with considerable angle of bank; and flying in bumpy air. In these test the airplane was put through the most extreme maneuvers possible in order that the flight loads imposed upon the wings of the airplane under extreme conditions of sir combat might, be ascertained. These test were put through with that fine combination of fearlessness and skill which constitutes the essence of distinguished flying. Through them scientific data of great and permanent importance to the Air Corps were obtained.
3rd Citation:
The President of the United States of America, authorized by Act of Congress, July 2, 1926, takes pleasure in presenting a Second Bronze Oak Leaf Cluster in lieu of a Third Distinguished Flying Cross to Colonel (Air Corps) James Harold Doolittle (ASN: 0-271855), United States Army Air Forces, for extraordinary achievement as Pilot of a B-24 Bomber and Commanding Officer of the 1st Special Aviation Project (Doolittle Raider Force), while participating in a highly destructive raid on the Japanese mainland on 18 April 1942. Colonel Doolittle with 79 other officers and enlisted men volunteered for this mission knowing full well that the chances of survival were extremely remote, and executed his part in it with great skill and daring. This achievement reflects high credit on himself and the military service.
Silver Star
Citation:
Citation:
The President of the United States of America, authorized by Act of Congress July 9, 1918, takes pleasure in presenting the Silver Star to Major General (Air Corps) James Harold Doolittle (ASN: 0-271855), United States Army Air Forces, for gallantry in action. Since 19 February 1943, when he took command of the Allied Strategic Air Force (Northwest Africa), General Doolittle, by his untiring energy, initiative and personal example has inspired the units under him to renewed successful efforts against the enemy. On 5 April 1943, the strategic air force was responsible for the destruction of forty eight enemy planes in the air and approximately 100 on the ground. This extraordinary achievement under the leadership of General Doolittle reflects great credit to himself and the armed forces of the United States.
Other Honors
The Society of Experimental Test Pilots annually presents the James H. Doolittle Award in his memory. The award is for "outstanding accomplishment in technical management or engineering achievement in aerospace technology".
James Harold "Jimmy" Doolittle said that he was able to live the life that he did, because he was LUCKY. I believe that the United States Of America was lucky to have this Valiant American during one of it's darkest hours.
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