I have had several inquiries on links and information regarding the Doolittle Raiders. Here are some webistes/forums you may find interesting:



The "Official" Site: near as I can tell!
http://www.doolittletokyoraiders.com


Website dedicated to Richard Joyce:
http://www.doolittleraider.com


Reunion Site (For 60th Reunion!) I will try to get this year's one!)
http://www.doolittleraidersreunion.com


MSN Forum:
http://groups.msn.com/TheDoolittleRaiders


Hope this helps! (Hope these links work!!!)




ENJOY!!

Wow, those are great links and they work really good.

61st Reunion:
Dates: April 15-19, 2003
Place: Travis Air Force Base, Fairfield CA
To Benefit: The Jimmy Doolittle Air & Space Museum, Travis AFB
Hotel: Hilton Garden Inn, Fairfield, Contact: Kevin Johnson 707-426-6900

The above info is taken from: The "Official" Site: near as I can tell!
http://www.doolittletokyoraiders.com


Regards, Vanessa

Wow just watched 'Hell in the Pacific' which featured the Doolittle raid, those Japanese really took it out on the Chinese because of the B25's landing there after the raid,

Whit

Nice links USSBOWFINSS. Whit, isn't Jimmy Doolittle played by (I suppose you'll be hurt by the horrible reference) Baldwin in movie Pearl Harbor ?

All the best,

Morgy

Yes, Baldwin plays Doolittle in Pearl Harbor. Ugh.
I've talked about this before but man, is his autobiography a great read!
I like the story about one of their reunions at a hotel. The security guard put in his report that they were raising all sorts of hell until all hours of the night; swimming in the pool at 3 AM, etc. At check-out the hotel manager had them all sign this report from the night guard, telling them as far as he was concerned Doolittle and crew were entitled to all the mayhem they wanted.
"I Could Never Be So Lucky Again" check it out.
P2

Spencer Tracy in "Thirty Seconds over Tokyo" made a better Gen. Doolittle than Alec Baldwin ever could.

Alec will always be Carl Schwette. His finest roll.


Yowser !
Jiggersfromsphilly

Thanks for the links, they're great.
BillC

Thanks Bill these are excellent sites !

Yowser !
Jiggersfromsphilly

Of the 50 men, as best I can tell, it looks like 7 died either from crashes or murdered by the Japanese. Is that right?

What an amazing story!

Actually, it was 60 men who participated in the raid-16 planes with 5 crewmembers each!

And, you are correct: Three Raiders were killed either from drowning/trauma from bailout with one dying when he chute didn't deploy.

Three were executed by the Japanese and the fourth Raider died from malnutrition during the 40 months of captivity as "guests" of the Japanese.


Glad I could help with the links!!

I read in my WWII book (I, of course, can't remember the name and I'm not home to check but it has the foreword by S. Ambrose) that there were 80 men on the raid. Hmm.

Great set of links

I recall reading a book about the Doolittle raid when I was in junior high, does anyone know the name of any books about this raid. As I recall it was in story format.


Cheers!

Mark

Mark,

The first one I would refer to is " Thirty Seconds over Tokyo " by Ted Lawson, Pilot of Plane # 7.

Carroll V. Glines has written several books also, their titles escape me at the present. There is a new book out called " The First Heroes" , I have not gotten a chance to read but will let you know more about it later.


Yowser !
Jiggersfromsphilly

"The First Heroes" is an excellent book. I highly recommend it.

The book goes into the lives of the Raiders well after the war. I was not aware that Gen. Davy Jones was a big wheel in the Apollo Program. He has led a life of action and adventure.

Nor was I aware that the Doolittle Raid was the first Army-Navy joint operation since the American Civil War.

Thanks Tony, I think it was 30 seconds over Tokyo that I read now that I think about. I guess I need to read it again. It was sure a good book the first time around as I remember a bit of it still 20+ years later!

Cheers!

Mark

mark,

If you can read "First Heros " also. Kiwi is right it is great story from all angles, I'm about halfway through and its hard to put it down.


Yowser !
Jiggersfromsphilly

I would agree that "The First Heroes" is an EXCELLENT read!! Having read several books, articles, etc regarding the Raid as well as corresponding with several Raiders....I would say that this particular book was a bit of an eye opener......a bit more "everyday" exposure to what went on in the lives of these brave men!!!

AND MY APOLOGIES!!! There were 80 men who participated in the Raid: 3 died or were killed after crash landings, 8 were captured and became POW's. Of that group, THREE were executed, one died in prison from malnutrition while in captivity with FOUR survivors returning home.

I would have to do some (better) research to determine how many of the Raiders survived WWII and continued in service. I believe that there are only 19 Raiders still alive at this time....their reunion is next week in CA!


I shall endeavor to do better with my "computations" as it pertains to figures!! YIKES!!

I understand that anyone who wants autographs from the remaining raiders has to contact their "business manager."

Only in America!

I'm sure the "raid to free Jessica Lynch" will gain in fame in a similar manner.

Hey folks,

I didn't really know where to put this, but I saw a few WW2 posts in here so I thought I'd take a chance. In the Pearl Harbor film (as historically inaccurate it is, it's pretty good) it's a repeated line during the Doolittle Raid that it's the first time (and only time to this date) that Army bombers were taken off of Navy carriers. Is this just because the Army and Navy are different, or was there some sort of physical aspect to the Army bombers that made it hard to do?

Any help is appreciated in advance

Personally, and this is really not based on any super backed-up facts or anything .. I believe it was because 1) they were seperate branches and it hadn't been done before and 2) the carriers were too short for the standard length of the takeoff for the bombers.

Runway deck of a carrier was too short for a fully loaded bomber to take off. Needed to strip away,
most of the armorment in order to gain air speed for take off. Also the other issue on inter service cooperation may have played a large role.


Jeff

Chavez,

I think it was political, but mainly physical limitations. From Wikipedia: "it was the only operation in which United States Army Air Forces bombers were launched from a US Navy aircraft carrier. It was also the longest combat mission ever flown by the B-25 Mitchell medium bomber."

Someone correct me if I'm wrong, but I think the Navy bombers we had at the time were single-engined and not able to make the long trip that the B-25 could, once stripped of all its excess weight as mentioned earlier. Remember, carriers were still relatively new. Doolittle and other planners realized they needed a plane with the longest possible range, and decent bomb load, to avoid detection from Japan, yet still be able to get airborne in the short distance on an early carrier.

P.S. Pearl Harbor was an AWFUL film, but the combat scenes were great of course. However on the topic of the Doolittle Raid in the movie, I remember Alec Baldwin, playing the part of Doolittle, uttered some unnecessary and totally cheesy line about heroic Americans or some other such silliness.

There was nothing political about it. It was just not practical to operate B25s from the Yorktown or Essex Class carriers of the era. The Franklin D. Roosevelt CV 42 was designed to carry carrier based planes. The Roosevelt was not christened till 1945. The B-25s were a one shot deal. Their presence handcuffed regular flight ops because the were tied down on the flight deck.

Also, the B-25 was the only bomber that could take off in the narrow space of a Yorktown-class carrier flight deck. The others had too big a wingspan.

Fighters were often flown off carrier decks in the war, but bombers almost never. After the war, the US Navy flew R4Ds (C-47s) off the Philippine Sea as part of the Antarctic exploration called "Operation High Jump."