75th Anniversary of the Doolittle Raid

[pt200386]

Incredibly brave action that did not accomplish much in and of itself. However, it did precipitate the Battle of Midway with the accompanying immolation of the Japanese Carrier Force. We'll never see their like again - well done guys!

B-25B-DR-40-2261-The-Ruptured-Duck-Lawson.jpg

[kham]

Robert E. Cole, 101, Last Surviving Member of the Doolittle Raiders...

[kham]

B-25 Bombers Land • 75th Anniversary Of Doolittle Raid
A little footage from Wright-Patterson Field yesterday, various models of B-25. Always one of the cooler looking warbirds I think

[PM2K]

B-25 Bombers Land • 75th Anniversary Of Doolittle Raid
A little footage from Wright-Patterson Field yesterday, various models of B-25. Always one of the cooler looking warbirds I think

I agree. One of my prized model kits back in the day was a B-25 at 1/32 scale... where you had the option and the parts to make it any variant you wanted. Naturally, I went for the Doolittle version. It had rotating gun turrets, elevating MGs and even had bomb bay doors that opened to see all the bombs inside. It was details like that which impressed my pre-teen self.

(The other was a P-38 Lightning... you had the fixings to make it any number of variants... I went with ground attack and attached racks of air to ground rockets under the wings. Bugger had a two and a half foot wingspan to it...)

One kit which got away from me was the aircraft carrier which carried the Doolittle raiders with them. This was complete with little B-25s covering the flight deck ready to take off to strike Tokyo. It was a sweet looking kit, back when you didn't need to spend a bloody fortune on a decent sized one.

[dlodoski]

I was always a little partial to the A-26 for looks, but the B-25 was most assuredly a more significant plane.

It was before my time, but what I understand from the history I know, the Doolittle raid had a tremendous psychological impact - on both sides, particularly among the civilian populations.

May we always have the guts for this kind of audacity when times call for it.

[kham]

I am hoping Jon Parshall does something for Midway 75, a lecture of some sort, but if not, I'll post the one he did for 70 and do some ruminating. But you consider the BALLS on the these men. Never mind the crappy modern films. Find Thirty Seconds Over Tokyo. Van Johnson, Spencer Tracy. No hollywood bullshit in that one. Probably one of the most accurate depictions of the raid and aftermath. And actual footage of Enterprise and Hornet. Remember too, Hornet had all her birds struck below. Only Enterprise had a ready deck for CAP. It was, and remains, one hell of a chance to take. But Fortune Favours the Brave.
6 months later, Hornet would be gone, and Enterprise would be the only remaining operational carrier in the Pacific.
FULLBORE

[DangerGirl]

I got to meet Ed Saylor, the flight engineer on the number 15 bird, "TNT," a few years ago. Once the Hornet got underway, he discovered a problem with the planetary drive gear assembly on one of the engines that would have grounded the airplane, meaning it would have to be rolled off the deck into the sea to make room for plane number 16 to take off. The problem was, the planetary drive gear assembly was on the accessory section behind the engine, and the only way to get to it was to completely dismount the engine from the airplane. The ship didn't have the cranes and maintenance stands the Army used to do this kind of work, so they had to manhandle the 2000-pound R-2600 engine off its mounts down onto the deck, and then get it down into the hangar deck. Keep in mind that the broken part was a precision-machined piece of equipment, and this was normally depot-level maintenance work. Using the ship's machine shop, Ed was able to get the part fixed, and they then somehow managed to wrestle the engine back up onto the airplane. The first engine run after the work was completed was when it was started for the mission, and the test flight was the mission itself. The plane took off and completed the mission, the engine running great until fuel starvation forced them to ditch in the South China Sea. A young Chinese boy helped them evade the Japanese patrols looking for them and reach friendly Chinese troops.

Ed said that he had just volunteered for a special mission, and wasn't told what it was until they were on the carrier and well on their way. The crew of TNT was incredibly motivated to get the airplane fixed and make the mission, not just because every plane was needed and no one wanted to be left out of the big show, but also because they thought it was safer to go on the mission than to stay on the carrier, which they expected would soon be hotly pursued by the entire Imperial Japanese Navy. Ed's wife had no idea what he was up to, until she went to a movie and saw Ed in newsreel footage about the raid. He went on to retire from the US Air Force as a Lieutenant Colonel.

Sadly, Ed Saylor passed away in 2015, not long after I met him. Clear skies and following winds, sir.

[Mynock]

The Collings Foundation shows up at a local airport near me every year with a B-25. They'll actually take you for a 30 minute ride in it for about $450......every year I tell myself I'm going for it next year when I have more money.