There’s that famous film of Plane #16 about hitting the water in front of the “USS Hornet” before powering out. Allegedly that happened because Lt. Col. Doolittle wasn’t scheduled to fly but jumped into the pilot seat of Plane #1. Plane #1’s original pilot bumped the co-pilot from Plane #16. There was a problem with 2 command pilots running the same checklist and the flap position for Plane #16 did not get properly set for the takeoff. Not good. But there was just enough margin for error and the left-seat pilot kept his cool.
“Allegedly that happened because Lt. Col. Doolittle wasn’t scheduled to fly but jumped into the pilot seat of Plane #1.”
Doolittle was an exceptional pilot.
He was so good that he was kept stateside during WW1 training pilots who went on to gain fame and notoriety in the skies of Europe.
Doolittle knew he would never get another chance to fly in battle so he jumped at the chance when Task Force 18 was approaching Japan.
Due to maintaining radio silence Task Force Commander Captain Marc Mitscher had little recourse when Doolittle announced he would be piloting the lead plane.
The rest is history.
Read James Scott’s book Target Tokyo the story of the raid and raiders.