The Doolittle Raid was America’s revenge for Pearl Harbor. On April 18, 1942, about four months after Japan’s attack on Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, Lt. Col. Jimmy Doolittle and Navy Captain Francis Low came up with a clever plan to retaliate against Japan. The idea was to launch medium-sized bombers (B-25 Mitchells) from an aircraft carrier 400 miles away from Japan, bomb several cities in Japan, and then land in China. It was incredibly risky for two main reasons: B-25 bombers were designed to take off on a long runway and had to take off on the short runway (467 feet) of an aircraft carrier instead. Also, the bombers were too big and heavy to land on the aircraft carrier -- it was a one-way trip. The 79 men who flew this operation were all volunteers and incredibly brave to attempt an almost suicidal mission. The crews had to land in China and hope to be rescued. As it turned out, the planes were able to lift off the runway in time, however, they had to take off 624 miles away instead the planned 400 because they were spotted by Japanese patrol boats. All 16 of the bomber crews made it to Japan and were able to release their bombs.

The next dangerous part of the mission was landing in China. It was dark and stormy, and the pilots had to land blindly. Four of the crews attempted crash landings while eleven crews bailed out of their planes with parachutes. One crew had to land in Russia. Three men died that night from either parachute failure or because their plane broke up. Eight crewmen were captured and tortured as P.O.W.’s. The rest were rescued, but the Chinese paid a heavy price. Over 225,000 Chinese who lived in the areas the crew landed were killed by the Japanese.

Even though the damage to the Japanese cities was minor, the attack was a huge morale booster for America and made the Japanese scared of America’s military capabilities. As a result, Japan pulled some of their forces back from the field. This made their forces weaker in battles such as the Battle of Midway and some other major Pacific conflicts.

Resources:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Doolittle_Raid

World War II Remembered. 1942: Into the Battle by United Postal Service