I'm glad he covered the Japanese reprisal on the Chinese for the help provided to the US airmen. We should never forget the atrocities the Japanese committed not only on the Chinese but also the Koreans and Filipinos.

Doolittle was despondent after the raid and learning of the losses. He thought he would be court-martialed for failure. He was stunned when he was greeted as a hero, promoted from Lieutenant Colonel to Brigadier General - jumping over the rank of Colonel - and awarded the Medal of Honor. He would reach the rank of Lieutenant General commanding the Eighth Air Force pounding Germany from Britain " (December 14, 1896 - September 27, 1993) was an American military general and aviation pioneer who received the Medal of Honor for his daring raid on Japan during World War II. He also made early coast-to-coast flights, record-breaking speed flights, won many flying races, and helped develop and flight-test instrument flying.

The Doolittle raid almost certainly led to the loss of Lexington, since Enterprise was thus unavailable for Coral Sea. On the other hand, radio intercepts post raid increased 10-fold as the Japanese were frantically hunting for the raiding group, and those additional radio intercepts were actually key to breaking the Japanese Codes prior to Midway.

I'm so glad you mentioned the horrific attacks that took place in China after the raids.

Dolittle died at home in bed at 96. The man possessed huge levels of the "Right Stuff".

3:10 - Chapter 1 - Training 6:25 - Chapter 2 - The raid 12:45 - Chapter 3 - Aftermath 15:20 - Chapter 4 - Japanese reprisals

Of the few photos that survived that were taken over Japan during the Dolittle Raid is one looking down on part of the Naval base at Yokosuka. It was a thrill for me to recognize the barracks I spent 3 weeks at in transient to my ship in 'Nam' back in 1966.

My dad was in the US Navy, back then. He saw the Doolittle Raid take off from the carrier

I live near Eglin AFB Fla where the raiders trained. For the 80th anniversary this year they had a memorial for Dick Cole, the last surviving raider who died in 2019. They also had a flyover along the coast. 1 B25 Mitchell, several WWII fighters , 1 B52, 1 B1B, 2 Blackhawks, 2 F22's and 2 F35's as well as some other small planes flew down the coast and looped back several times.

The Tokyo raid set the events in motion that led to America's lopsided victory at Midway. The Imperial Japanese were playing defense after that debacle as momentum swung to the allies who then began offensive operations.

In Yokosuka, at least one bomb from the B-25 piloted by 1st Lt. Edgar E. McElroy struck the nearly completed light carrier Ryuho, delaying her launch until November 1942.

As an Air Force cadet, I did a research paper on the Doolittle Raid. It's an amazing story and the more you look into it, the more you realize just how lucky these airmen were!

Another well thought out essay on an important historical event. You definitely have your craft wired. Well done.

The Doolittle Raid did push the Japanese into attacking Midway, since it showed that they needed to have a decisive battle to take out the Aircraft Carriers. So they picked Midway to lure them into a trap (which, to be fair, did end up taking out a few Aircraft Carriers)

Did you know this little known fact on Route 66? The town of Doolittle once was called Centertown, and it began to boom when Fort Leonard Wood was built nearby during the early 1940s. When the town was finally incorporated in 1944, the idea to rename it Doolittle, after the general, was well received. Gen. Doolittle also promised to attend the town’s dedication once he had the time and did so in 1946.

A heartwarming story from the Dolittle Raid is Jacob DeShazer of Raider #16. He was captured by the Japanese and survived the war after much physical and emotional pain. However, his Christian faith allowed him to forgive the Japanese, and he wrote a pamphlet called "I Was A Prisoner of Japan." It was read by LtCdr. Mitsuo Fuchida, the leader of the airwing that attacked Pearl Harbor. Fuchida was confused why DeShazer could find forgiveness instead of seeking revenge, as was the Japanese thought. Fuchida would eventually meet and befriend DeShazer. Both became Christian evangelists.

The bomb sites normally used on Mitchell's were ineffective at such a low altitude so a crew member of one of the bombers invented a very simple device to compensate. In addition the twin 50 caliber machine guns in the tail turret were replaced by broom handles painted black. While training for the mission the running gag became that that the success of it depended on less than $5 worth of broomsticks paint and scrap metal.

Ironically the entire idea was dreamed up a US navy submarine officer after watching carrier operations and making a very imaginative extrapolation. The raiders B-25s still had a .30 cal . machine gun in the nose and twin .50 caliber machine guns in the upper turret. They carried extra fuel in cans that were added to the fuel tanks enroute. The Japanese did get a message off but the Japanese General Staff assumed they would not launch until the next morning. Launching early is the only reason they succeeded at all. Some sources claim that the Japanese were conducting an air raid drill at the same time as they showed up. As a result the Japanese fighters may have asuumed the B-25s were fake 'enemy' planes sent aloft for the drill.

Amazing those planes made it off a carrier deck with that much testicular fortitude on board. Truly the greatest generation.

The Doolittle Raid did prove to Japan that the Sleeping Monster was indeed awake. Wake Island held out and the Marshall Islands raid took them by surprise.

Out of 80 men only 8 died. Most survived the raid.

Great book on this is “Thirty Seconds Over Tokyo”

thank you for talking about the japanese reprisals against the chinese; it's often overlooked at just how many civilians suffered as a direct result

In addition to removing the guns and crew members they also added extra fuel tanks to the planes and Doolittle had the fuel systems on the planes set as lean as possible so the fuel would last longer. Doolittle didn't just wing it, he had this thing figured out mathematically to the nth degree. Just prior to landing in Alameda to be loaded on the carrier they stopped in Sacramento at McClellan AFB. The chief mechanic at the base inspected the planes and found that the fuel systems were way out of whack so he dutifully re-set them back to factory specs. At that point the raid was still top secret so he had no way of knowing. Doolittle was furious when he found out but it was too late to re-set the engines so the just flew out to Alameda.

Even after knowing all about the Doolittle raid I find my self sitting on the edge of my seat listening to Simon.

Awesome videos Simon I like the way you told this story.

One interesting note is after leaving San Francisco for the raid, the USS Hornet (CV-8) would never see the U.S. Mainland again.

Alameda native here, we have the successor ship to the USS Hornet (the doolittle raid ship was the CV-8, ours is the CV-12) parked on the old naval base as a museum ship. It's an incredible visit, with a view clear across the bay to san francisco and lots of aircraft on display. Our local highschool mascots are even named for our carrier history, with the Jets and the Hornets (for the carrier) and as an Alamedan, I'm morally legally and ethically obliged to mention that we call it Ala-mee-da, not Ala-may-da

Thanks to this video I went and did a lot of reading. The USS Hornet was the ship these planes launched from. It was a major player in the battle of midway. It was part of the Guadalcanal campaign, and was sunk in the Solomon Islands while the marines and soldiers were fighting to take Guadalcanal. The last surviving raider was alive to see when the Hornet was found in 2019. The airbase that was central to the battle of Guadalcanal was named after a marine aviator who'd died in the battle of midway. The Doolittle Raiders trained at Eglin AFB (it's also where they held their reunions), and the navy flight instructor who was a key part of the operation was from Pensacola NAS, and I live basically dead in the middle of those 2 bases in a place referred to as Midway (part of Gulf Breeze). I keep finding more and more fascinating stuff about this area, and places I've lived throughout my life too, are just full of fascinating history. I lived on Hickam AFB as a child, which is now a joint base with Pearl Harbor, I could see the harbor from my playground during recess. My mother was promoted to master sergeant on the Arizona Memorial. Watching the movies Pearl Harbor and especially Midway, I recognize the houses and buildings on the base, it was spooky watching Midway, because so many scenes during the Pearl Harbor attack looked exactly how I remember Hickam looking, just without the zeroes and fire and death. I'm almost 40, and these events took place just a couple years over 40 years before I was born, making all of this seem a lot less distant to my own existence. My age reversed from my birth would still see some of the men who we part of this raid a year from being freed from Japanese custody, and I'm not even considered middle aged quite yet

The true value of the Doolittle Raid is Japan having to reserve forces and resources to protect the mainland. A very important contribution: every plane, every soldier, every gun held back to protect the mainland keeps them off the battlefield elsewhere across the Pacific. A smart sacrifice.

In the 1930s the U. S. Army Air Corps had demonstrated in exercises that heavy bombers could strike Japan from bases in the Aleutian Islands. The Japanese knew this and were watching for a raid from that direction. In 1942 the U. S. didn't have fighter aircraft capable of escorting bombers to Japan and back so they would have had no chance. That's why the raid had to be launched from the sea. It's also why the Japanese attacked and captured the islands of Attu and Kiska the first week of June 1942 and held them until the last day of May 1943 -- essentially an entire year. They were never able to invest the islands sufficiently to use them as a base for attacks on other parts of the U. S. but the fact that U. S. territory was in enemy hands had a noticeable effect upon American morale. Knowing the enemy can "hit you at home" is a big deal in warfare. It didn't have as much psychological "punch" as hitting a major city on the American mainland but it did have an effect. The U. S. recaptured the islands in several days of brutal fighting in nasty Aleutian weather and later in the war they did launch bombing raids accompanied by long-range fighter aircraft from bases in Alaska.

I remember seeing the first "Midway" film in 1976. It starts with the Doolittle Raid. The "gimmick" for the film was a surround sound, and a center 2500 watt BASS speaker that could shake the theater. Now this would be 34 years after the raid. I STILL CAN REMEMBER 400 plus AMERICANS at the Theater, LEAPING to their feet and CHEERING WILDLY during the bomb dropping scenes. Ah Jimmy Doolittle, I hope and pray that you were able to quietly get into a theater somewhere in the USA and experience the event again, and this time HEAR the CHEERS from Americans for your work! (Died 1993, very old..but always a hero.)

Simon is the Patron Saint of KZfaq Hustle.

Good summary of the operation.

"Other navy and air force officers" -simon Kinda correct but not fully.... The USAF as we know it was founded in 1947 prior to that it was the "United States army air corps". Prior to 1947 maintaing the fighters to fight for and protect the US that were non us navy carrier based planes were operated by the US army.

Do a biographic on Doolittle! He went on to do the first radar-guided flight!

Good video 👍

This is a side project rather than a War-O-Graphic? Interesting choice

As a Brit I'd call this America's 'finest hour' 🇺🇸

It helped that Doolittle's B-25s were still in prewar markings. The winged star roundel had a big red ball in the center of the star, this probably led the Japanese fighters and ground gunners to mistake them for Japanese bombers.

Simon. Please do a video on the Ploesti Raid (ie: Operation Tidal Wave).

Thanks

Can we all say morale booster.

b-25s carried a hell of a lot more than 2 defensive machine guns lol. minimum was normally 1 in the nose, 2 in the top turret, 2 in a bottom turret if installed, 2 in the waist and 2 in the tail. and some gun nose versions carried 10 more. and i wouldnt say they launched without incident. during the launch of one, a navy deckcrewman stumbled into the propeller losing an arm. the pilot was so traumatized he forgot to put down the flaps when taking off. when the b-25 left the deck it dropped precipitously seemingly to fall into the ocean only to pullout at the last second.

These B-25s still had the Red Dot in the middle of the White Star and Blue Circle markings. This may have lead to some of the Japanese to mistaking them for friendly aircraft! Also this forced the Japanese into the Battle of Midway.

The Raiders held a reunion about 25 years ago at Travis AFB near Sacramento, Ca. I took my daughters out of school that day so we could go and meet these heroes. My wife and one of the Raiders shared the same birthday, 13 February. Ordinary men who did the impossible.

I like the 2 different coloured set lights! Would be cool to see in some of the other channels too.... I'm not quite sure about red and green together unless it's Christmas, but 2 different colours certainly spices up the background!

Midway had a great quote.... "What the hell are Army bombers doing on a carrier?"

Please do a Feature about "the greatest RAID of them all" . The RAID to destroy the doors of the Docks of Saint Nazaire.

Could you cover operation Paul Bunyan? 800 men, 27 attack helicopters, 2 lives lost and almost starting WW3 to ensure a tree got chopped down.

No one can butcher women, children and babies quite like the Japanese.

While the Doolittle Raid didn’t destroy much, it showed Japan that America was not playing around and that they were more than capable in fighting.

We always think of the Chinese as enemies. They really had our backs on this one. 😢

As a child, my father read "30 seconds over Tokyo" as bedtime reading. Perfect Father's Day memories.

This was one of the most important missions of ww2 with Yamamoto attack. The damage was minimal, but the attack posed a significant insult. I am glad that you mentioned the merciless attack on the Chinese civilians that were punished for their help. This cost 1000 times more lives than the ones they helped. But the mission caused the Government to consider Midway a viable option and that changed the war...saving millions of lives across the Great Prosperity Sphere

I enjoyed this video up to the point of the descriptions of the Japanese retaliation on Chinese civilians.

it kinda blows me away that those artillerymen set up in a wheat field and it didn't catch fire when they fired their guns.

Light carrier Ryūhō She gained the distinction of being the only major warship damaged in the Doolittle Raid on 18 April. She received one direct hit from a 500 lb (230 kg) bomb on the bow, plus several small incendiary bomb hits. On 30 November 1942, with conversion and repairs complete, Ryūhō was officially assigned to the 3rd Fleet.

My uncle's brother in law was a navigator on the Doolittle raid. Spent the entire war in a POW camp in China, assumed dead the entire time. I would like to have met him and heard any stories he was willing to tell.

I remember watching a movie about this.

While the Doolittle raid is appropriately seen as heroic, courageous, and had a tremendously outsized effect on the morale of both the Japanese and the Americans, for many years the tale has been told without telling the horrific price the Chinese paid for the assistance they gave after the attack. Understandable, I guess, considering most Americans at least would not have wanted to know the price the Chinese paid, at least not at the time. It's a measure of course of just how hard the raid hit the Japanese psychologically that they reacted with such bestial reprisals. So was the raid worth it, given the human cost? At the time if you were American, you might have said yes, if Chinese you'd probably say no. In historical hindsight, it was one of a piece of a sequence of events that helped bring the Japanese down, something that benefitted the Chinese more than most, so probably in the broad view it was a net benefit. But the _heroic_ tale of what Doolittle and his men accomplished should _never_ be told without also being utterly clear about the human cost to the Chinese. Ultimately it's their story every bit as much as it is ours. But over the years the story of what the Chinese suffered as a result usually didn't make it into the retelling until recent times. That was unfair and unjust. Bravo, Side Projects about including a blunt retelling of the cost of the raid. The story should always be told that way.

I got to participate in the final Doolittle toast at the Honors and still have 2 glasses!

Doolittle is considered the Father of the Air Force. This raid is taught in Basic Training as a lesson in perseverance and attention to detail

Personally, I regard Midway as a better revenge.

Oh god simon. Damn i cried through all the end of this one. Uggh. Mannn this one was tough.

Can you please do a video on the Operation Gunnerside during WW2? It’s a really interesting story and was important in the race for the first atomic bomb (I know this might be the wrong channel for this story)

Doolittle was such an absolute legend!

It was also dramatized in the movie PEARL HARBOR

The US wasn't gripping the possibility of facing war. We literally were salivating for it. Adm. Yamamoto's "filled him with a terrible resolve" comment was in fact a prophecy. The effect on Japan makes me think of the Spike Jones' song where he's doing a Bronx Cheer at every sentence: "when Herr Goering says, 'They'll never bomb this place!'" Meant for the Nazis, but the sentiment of invulnerability was the same.

One of the things that is never mentioned about Doolittle's raid is collateral damage. My father was supposed to be looking in on a ill relative at a hospital. His sister, my aunt went instead. She was killed during the bombing in a hospital. This is not to blame or excuse what happened and Japanese reprisals. Just a fact of war. Doolittle's raid was a spectacular effort on the part of the US. What the Japanese did in China in retaliation was far worse, and completely unequal.

great video

My high school’s mascot came from the S.S Hornet. Highland high hornets 🐝 Albuquerque NM

Another example of a raid that took massive guts, but wasn't amazingly successful. More of a moral and political boost for the US than a devastating attack on Japan. In that way, it's comparable to 'Operation Chastise' by the Royal Air Force. The film '60 seconds over Tokyo' is well worth a watch, with some awesome flying of beautiful aircraft showing what the raid was about, and the difficulties of getting back to civilisation again.

Actually the target wasn't just Tokyo, but also Yokohama, Yokosuka, Nagoya and Kobe.

You never hear about the repercussion for China after helping doolittle

you have got to be kidding me another channel

Roosevelt gave a speech, announcing the raid, where he boasted that the Army Bombers(the Air Force didn’t exist as we know it until 1947) had flown from our ‘secret’ base in Shangri-La. Shortly after, the Navy commissioned an Aircraft Carrier named ‘Shangri-La’. Did the Japanese ever figure out that those army bombers came from Naval Carriers?

Most people don’t realize how brutal the Japanese were. They made the Nazi’s look like boyscouts in comparison

"I didn't know the B-25 could do carrier operations." "They can't. Surprised the hell out of the Japanese." I wish I could remember the original source of that quote, but I can't.

So why would Dolittle get the Medal of Honor and his men only got the Distinguished Flying Cross just curious.

Sorry! Many inaccuracies within the first 4 minutes (and change)! The crew was reduced down to 5 (Pilot, Co-Pilot, Navigator, Bombardier, and Crew Chief/Top Turret Gunner. Also, they removed the useless & often Mal-functioning belly turret with two .50 caliber machineguns (when it did work it didn't rotate fast enough to engage a fighter, and the field of view was so narrow odds are you would never see the attacking fighter!)

Can you do a video about the bouncing bomb

Doolittle landed in a rice paddy fertilized with human waste. His clothes became rather tattered in the bailout and landing. The pilot who flew him out of China to India, a civilian pilot with CNAC later gave an interview about this. Ironically he'd met Doolittle in the 1930s when Doolittle had flown a demonstration flight in Shanghai for Chinese officials to convince them to buy American planes for their air force, so he recognized him right away. Doolittle was obviously surprised to be recognized by anyone in China. Based upon Doolittle's clothes, smell, and his activities in Shanghai that night, the pilot concluded that Doolittle had gotten drunk and been rolled into a gutter. It was only after the flight to India had been completed and the US consul general had greeted Doolittle there that the information was released to the world about the Doolittle raid and he found out what his passenger had done on the radio.

I don't understand why flying back to the carrier and ditching next to it wasn't an option?

No

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top again!

You missed an important point. The Doolittle Raid precipitated the Japanese attack on Midway.

Good video but, you need to tell your editor when you say you’re linking a video they should maybe do it 🤷‍♂️ it’s happened a few times on your videos dude

Barnarossa with an o as in got bot hot, not an ow as in low...

*Another* channel? Good lord, man lol

Doolittle's raid didn't do much material damage to Japan. But it certainly did fuck with the Japanese psyche and they never recovered.

oh poor yamamoto

I wonder what the British and French thought of the raid when they found out it'd happened.

Balls. Giant steel balls

Yoti> Avenue #1~

Do you launch a new channel with every video?

why didn’t the bomber pilots fly back east and ditch near the hornet?

If you operated the Raider isn’t your proper name an Operaider ?

After the raid Japan knew we could hit them.