Aces High Bulletin Board
General Forums => The O' Club => Topic started by: earl1937 on April 11, 2015, 02:37:18 AM
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:airplane: Approaching is the April 18th, 1942 famous B-25B raid on Japan! I would suppose that not many people who play this great game, ever heard of the "Doolittle" raid on Japan, but although it did not have a direct impact on the outcome of the war again Japan, it served two purposes: The Japanese people had been told they were invulnerable ... An attack on the Japanese homeland would cause confusion in the minds of the Japanese people and sow doubt about the reliability of their leaders. There was a second, and equally important, psychological reason for this attack ... Americans badly needed a morale boost.
This was just 4 short months after the devastating attack on Pearl Harbor by the Japanese! Jimmy Doolittle took 24 B-25B's to Eglin AFB in Florida to train the crews in short field takeoff procedures with the 25.
While many stories have been written about the raid, I don't think any really showed the bravery of the flight crews as they faced an un known fate after taking off from the USS carrier Hornet.
Hornet was the latest and most modern carrier the Navy had at the time, the takeoff was to be attempted on a runway length of 467 feet, or one and a half length of a football field. Two stripped down B-25B's were test flown off the Hornet at Norfolk, Va. on Feb 3rd, 1942 and Doolittle decided the B-25B would be used although serveral other aircraft were considered.
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. With support provided by two senior managers of Mid-Continent Airlines, World-Chamberlain Field's maintenance hangar was the first modification center to become operational. From nearby Fort Snelling, the 710th Military Police Battalion provided tight security around this hangar. 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 (a weight impediment)
Installation of a 160-gallon collapsible neoprene auxiliary fuel tank fixed to the top of the bomb bay, and support mounts for additional fuel cells in the bomb bay, crawlway and lower turret area to increase fuel capacity from 646 to 1,141 U.S. gallons (538–950 imperial gallons; 2,445–4,319 L)
Mock gun barrels installed in the tail cone, and
Replacement of their Norden bombsight with a makeshift aiming sight devised by pilot Capt. Charles Ross Greening and called the "Mark Twain". The materials for the bombsight cost only 20 cents.
While the plan was to take off at night, attack at night and therefore would be able to land in day light in China, the task force carrying the 25's were discovered by a Japanese "picket" ship and Doolittle and the Admiral in charge of the fleet deceided that they should take off immediately because now the surprise element when out the window.
At 07:38 on the morning of 18 April, while the task force was still about 650 nautical miles (1,200 km; 750 mi) from Japan (at approximately
35°N 154°E), it was sighted by the Japanese picket boat No. 23 Nittō Maru, a 70-ton patrol craft, which radioed an attack warning to Japan. The boat was sunk by gunfire from USS Nashville. The chief petty officer who captained the boat committed suicide rather than be captured, but five of the 11 crew survived when they were picked up by Nashville. Doolittle and Hornet skipper Captain Marc Mitscher decided to launch the B-25s immediately—10 hours early and 170 nautical miles (310 km; 200 mi) farther from Japan than planned. After re-spotting to allow for engine start and runups, Doolittle's aircraft had 467 feet (142 m) of takeoff distance. Although none of the B-25 pilots, including 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 surprise was compromised, Doolittle decided to use all 16 aircraft in the raid.
The aircraft flew NOE approaching Japan and while there was some light damage due to anti aircraft fire, none were lost to hostile action, although 15 or the 16 crashed on landing in China and one flew into Russia, landing safety, crew was interned but escaped in Nov 1943 and returned to service.
Most all of the crews returned to service during the war, but 4 died in captivity, 3 by execution and one to disease.
It is hard for us to realize the bravery of these men, no one shrank there duty, can you think about what it was like, knowing that you were flying into the "hornets nest" which had destroyed Pearl harbor on Dec 7th, 1941?
While the raid accomplished its two main goals, listed at the start of this post, the bravery of these men are no longer remembered while we go about our daily lives in a modern America. That is a shame!
There are a number of web sites on line to read about the raid and learn about the men in it! One of the men who flew in the raid just passed away, 12 days ago, Robert Hite!
http://www.doolittletokyoraiders.com/
:salute To all who gave the ultimate sacrifice so that the rest of us could live in a free land and play a great game like Aces High!
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Good read. Thanks for sharing. I have seen the Doolittle Raid several times on the military channel. It was a bold move indeed and had a profound effect on Japan. It was a prelude to future bombings on their homeland.
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Excellent find earl. Can't imagine for one nanosecond what went through the minds of those brave pilots and crew, except the mission objective at hand. It does suck to know that only some can remember that day when the US finally took it to the Japanese, and showed them that no matter how hard you hit us with however many planes they had at Pearl, payback's a'comin.
:salute to the men who gave their lives valiantly.
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I think everyone in game has heard about dolittle he could speak to animals :rofl
On a serious note i think everyone has heard of the Doolittle raid its a WWII fighter sim :rofl
And the UK won WWII because we were there at the beginning and at the end :old:
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I think everyone in game has heard about dolittle he could speak to animals :rofl
On a serious note i think everyone has heard of the Doolittle raid its a WWII fighter sim :rofl
And the UK won WWII because we were there at the beginning and at the end :old:
:airplane: Sorry Zack, WE won the war because we out produced them and out trained them! That is what won the war!!!!
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:airplane: Sorry Zack, WE won the war because we out produced them and out trained them! That is what won the war!!!!
The Pacific War, yes. The entire war, doubtful. No major war was ever won by one country alone. Remember, there was Britain, Russia, China, Canada, Poland, Australia, etc.
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I think everyone in game has heard about dolittle he could speak to animals :rofl
On a serious note i think everyone has heard of the Doolittle raid its a WWII fighter sim :rofl
And the UK won WWII because we were there at the beginning and at the end :old:
And us americans won over the british women :D
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:old:
:rofl
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The Pacific War, yes. The entire war, doubtful. No major war was ever won by one country alone. Remember, there was Britain, Russia, China, Canada, Poland, Australia, etc.
:airplane: You make a good point, but non of those countries had the industrial capacity to produce quickly replacement equipment that the U.S. did, but they certainly helped with the defeat of the Axis powers.
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To give the British their due, the best modern-day equivalent of this raid would be the RAF Vulcan raid at Port Stanley, the Falkland Isl. There's a great docu-drama that was produced some years back; I can't recall the title, but I'm pretty sure you can find it on YouTube. A number of operational and strategic parallels between the Doolittle Raid and the Vulcan Raid. Both truly heroic actions. :salute my British brothers in arms.
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To give the British their due, the best modern-day equivalent of this raid would be the RAF Vulcan raid at Port Stanley, the Falkland Isl. There's a great docu-drama that was produced some years back; I can't recall the title, but I'm pretty sure you can find it on YouTube. A number of operational and strategic parallels between the Doolittle Raid and the Vulcan Raid. Both truly heroic actions. :salute my British brothers in arms.
:airplane: You sir, are correct and thanks for pointing that out to us, I had forgotten about that raid also!
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zack, you're simply an arsehat.
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zack, you're simply an arsehat.
:headscratch: ??????