The wingspan of the B25 bombers just about covered the width of the flight deck.
Posted on 04/18/2016 6:54:01 PM PDT by Retain Mike
Men like these should never be forgotten. The reference and links contain much more information.
But the environmental damage from the raid was not taken into effect...
Nice read. Just substitute morale for the instances you use moral.
The wingspan of the B25 bombers just about covered the width of the flight deck.
Read “30 Seconds Over Tokyo” about 30 times as a kid.
Met 4 of the Raiders at a DC reception about 15 years ago. Three were in wheel chairs. Not a dry in the house.
Arguably one of the most audacious missions - land/sea/air - in all of WW2. Amazing training and even more so, courage of the crews.
When you see footage taken from the starboard side of the carrier launching these, it is truly incredible how large the planes are compared to the ship. WWII carriers were much smaller than those of today, and even though these were small bombers they were still so much bigger than anything taking off carriers at the time. Back then catapults weren’t yet used; the ship had to face into the wind to help them get aloft.
To this day I’m surprised that Japan didn’t immediately seek a peaceful resolution after this attack (not necessarily surrender, but a ceasefire of sorts); while the physical damage was minimal, they were shocked that Tokyo itself could be reached like that.
I agree, though it is a shame that there was no real plan for the post-Tokyo part of the raid. Many planes simply ran out of fuel and the crews had to bail out (some in hostile territory).
For audacity it definitely ranks up there with the German airborne assault on Crete and the Japanese attack on Singapore; both took high losses for incredible gains. In Singapore the Japanese were so depleted/outnumered and their supply lines so stretched they thought the British expected them to surrender (with good reason), and were shocked that the British themselves were surrendering.
Yup. Amazing stuff. And those early carriers had an inline flight deck unlike today where the flight deck is angled. Must have been a real panic to try and clear a deck of aircraft so you could recover inbound aircraft.
He misspells Eglin a couple of times but inexplicably gets it right a couple of times too.
In November 1942, Jimmy Doolittle was in charge of the Operation Torch Air Forces when the United States entered the European War in Operation Torch. Operation Torch was headed by George S. Patton in charge of the American Troops who invaded North Africa at Casablanca on the Atlantic side. American and British Forces invaded Algeria and Oran on the Mediterranean Coast.
Unfortunately the Japs took revenge on the Chinese who helped the American fliers by murdering a couple hundred thousand
A gorgeous sight!
A few years ago got the opportunity to buy a ride on a B-25. What a thrill! The look of the plane, feel, smell and the sound. Wish I could do it every day.
It was easy to imagine those boys taking off and not a one of em scared, knowing they were off to the biggest adventure in a lifetime.
According to their website, there are now four surviving raiders. The most recent to pass on was Major Thomas Griffin, the navigator on Crew 9. He survived the mission over Japan and went on to join a bomber unit in North Africa. He was shot down on a subsequent mission and spent the rest of the war in a German POW camp.
Major Griffin rejoined his comrades on February 26th of this year.
I have many similar memories of men who worked for my parents before and after the war. One was my childhood hero who jumped into St. Mere Eglise on D Day with the 82nd Airborne.
Another jumped into a foxhole in the Pacific when under Japanese air attack and landed on another soldier.....his brother....whom he had not seen in two years. Another survived the Bataan Death March.....
The stories are unforgettable.........
Thanks
I believe you’ll find that Eisenhower was in charge of Operation Torch, with Patton and Fredendall commanding the western and center task forces respectively.
Well I was stationed at Sewart AFB, not Stewart, Or Seward.
After the creation of ZIP codes in 1965, my mail didn’t get sent to New York, or Alaska as often.
Absolutely.
I remember watching a documentary that addressed something about which I had been curious for some time; I wondered what became of the Japanese planes returning to their fleet after the battle of Midway. I couldn’t understand where all those planes for a group of carriers could land; in this documentary, footage (probably from the surviving Japanese surface ships) shows them ditching nearby (probably in hopes of at least rescuing the aircrews for future battles).
I won’t forget.
Thank you.
HLB
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