“The Doolittle raid was the first kamikaze attack of WW2. They were expected to die.”
Wrong wrong wrong. They were expected to make it to friendly Chinese territory. They had to launch further away from Japan than planned because they were spotted. But most did make it to Friendly Chnese territory.
A bit of both: the Doolittle Raid was always a high-risk, shoestring operation. They would risk the last few capital ships in the Pacific after Pearl Harbor, the B-25s had very small margins for error in takeoff from a shortened flight deck, and even from the planned launch point, gas reserves were tight. The crews went in knowing that they could all die from the moment they signed on.
The fact that some of them made it to friendly Chinese regions was a combination of careful airmanship and pure luck.
It wasn’t quite Kamikaze, but close enough.