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Posted on 04/18/2003 12:09:46 AM PDT by SAMWolf
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 are acknowledged, affirmed and commemorated.
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April 18, 1942 In the wake of shock and anger following Pearl Harbor, President Roosevelt pressed his military planners for a strike against Tokyo. Intended as revenge for Pearl Harbor, and an act of defiance in the face of a triumphant Japanese military, such a raid presented acute problems in execution. No working Allied air base was close enough to Japan. A carrier would have to approach within three hundred miles of the home islands for its planes to reach. Sending surface ships so close to Japan at that time would practically assure their destruction, if not from Japan's own surface forces, then from her ground-based planes or submarine forces.  The first piece of the puzzle fell into place in the second week of January 1942. Captain Francis Lowe, attached to the Admiral Ernest King's staff in Washington, paid a visit to Norfolk, Virginia, to inspect the new carrier USS Hornet CV-8. There, on a nearby airfield, was painted the outline of a carrier, inspiring Lowe to pursue the possibility of launching ground-based bombers - large planes, with far greater range than carrier-based bombers - from the deck of an aircraft carrier. By January 16, Lowe's air operations officer, Captain Donald Duncan, had developed a proposal: North American B-25 medium bombers, with capacity for a ton of bombs and capable of flying 2000 miles with additional fuel tanks, could take off in the short distance of a carrier deck, attack Japanese cities, and continue on to land on friendly airfields in mainland China. Under a heavy veil of secrecy, Duncan and Captain Marc Mitscher, Hornet's commanding officer, tested the concept off the Virginia coast in early February, discovering the B-25s could be airborne in as little as 500 feet of deck space. The plan now began to develop into action. On April 8, 1942, the same day that the Americans and Filipinos defending Bataan Peninsula surrendered, Enterprise steamed slowly out of Pearl Harbor. With her escorts - the cruisers Salt Lake City and Northampton, four destroyers and a tanker - she turned northwest and set course for a point in the north Pacific, well north of Midway, and squarely on the International Date Line.  Six days earlier, Enterprise's sister ship Hornet had sailed from San Francisco, also accompanied by a cruiser and destroyer screen. Ploughing westwards, Hornet carried a somewhat unusual cargo. Arrayed across her aft flight deck, in two parallel rows, sat 16 Mitchell B-25 bombers: Army Air Force medium bombers. By all appearances, the bombers were too large to possibly take off from a carrier deck. Certainly, this is what the men in Enterprise's task force thought when Hornet and her escorts hove into view early April 12. Rumors spread about the force's mission: some thought the bombers were being delivered to a base in the Aleutians, while others speculated they were destined for a Russian airfield on the Kamchatka peninsula. When the Task Force Commander, Vice Admiral William F. Halsey, announced "This force is bound for Tokyo" Enterprise rang with a roar of enthusiasm and disbelief. The plan was more daring than most could imagine. After refueling on April 17, Hornet, Enterprise - the force's Flagship - and four cruisers would leave the destroyers and tankers behind, to make a high speed dash west, towards the Japanese home islands. The next afternoon, Lieutenant Colonel James "Jimmy" Doolittle and his crew would take off alone, arrive over Tokyo at dusk, and drop incendiary bombs, setting fires to guide the remaining bombers to their targets. Three hours behind Doolittle, the remaining fifteen B-25s would be launched, just 500 miles from Tokyo. Navigating in darkness over open ocean, they'd be guided in by Doolittle's blazing incendiaries, and bomb selected military and industrial targets in Tokyo, as well as Osaka, Nagoya and Kobe.  Though the bombers could take off from a carrier deck, they couldn't land on a carrier. Instead of returning to Hornet, they'd escape to the southwest, flying over the Yellow Sea, then some 600 miles into China, to land at the friendly airfield at Chuchow (Zhuzhou). If all went well, the bombers would have a reserve of perhaps 20 minutes of fuel. Success depended on the carriers being able to approach within 500 miles of Japan undetected, and survival on the airmens' ability to evade the formidable air defenses expected near the target areas. Things went according to plan until early April 18. Shortly after 0300, Enterprise's radar made two surface contacts, just ten miles from the task force. As the force went to general quarters, Halsey turned his ships north to evade the contacts, resuming the course west an hour later. Then, a little past 0600, LT Osborne B. Wiseman of Bombing Six flew low over Enterprise's deck, his radioman dropping a weighted message: a Japanese picket ship had been spotted 42 miles ahead, and Wiseman suspected his own plane had been sighted. Halsey, however, forged ahead, the carriers and cruisers slamming through heavy seas at 23 knots. Still nearly two hundred miles short of the planned launching point, Halsey strove to give the Army pilots every possible advantage by carrying them as close to Tokyo as he dared.  Ninety minutes later, however, the gig was up. At 0738, Hornet lookouts spotted the masts of another Japanese picket. At the same time, radio operators intercepted broadcasts from the picket reporting the task force's presence. Halsey ordered the cruiser Nashville to dispose of the picket, and launched Doolittle's bombers into the air: GOOD LUCK AND GOD BLESS YOU - HALSEY
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BTW, slightly off topic, but I read pncce that post WW II..the Navy conducted experiments involving LANDING a B-25 on the deck of a carrier. I was actually done once, and there's a video somewhere...Now that souinds hairy.....If anyone has any info, or links.......regards
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Safe and in Our hands Again
 Former U.S. POWs Sgt. James Riley, Pfc Patrick Miller, Chief Warrant Officer Ronald Young, Spc Shoshana Johnson, Chief Warrant Officer David Williams, Spc Edgar Hernandez and Spc Joseph Hudson, from left, wave from a balcony at Landstuhl Regional Medical Center, southern Germany, Friday, April 18, 2003. They were rescued Sunday, April 13, in Iraq and taken to Landstuhl two days ago. (AP Photo/Michael Probst)     
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I'll go along with that. Nice, cushy system they set up for themselves.
The B-25 pictured at the top of my Air Power post is "the heavenly body"
Look what I found:
B-25J Mitchell Bomber "Heavenly Body" 
In April 1992, "Heavenly Body" was the first B-25 in fifty years to fly from the deck of
an aircraft carrier, the U.S.S. Ranger (CV-61) in San Diego Bay.
Go here for more information about this plane.
The Heavenly Body http://www.b25.net/b25carrier.jpg
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It's the Event and schedule for it on Friday and Saturday April 18th and 19th. Just in case anyone from the Sacramento/Bay area is interested.
Vets
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The Raiders Are Coming...To San Francisco Bay!
...and you're invited too!
"You saw the Movie Pearl Harbor. Now hear the real story from the heroes that lived it."
America's heroes are now returning to California for their 61st reunion. Hollywood celebrities, area residents and Travis Air Force Base will greet them. Join us! This Bay Area reunion features a cavalcade of exciting events featuring the Jimmy Doolittle Raiders at: autograph sessions, "meet & greet events," a family BBQ spotlighting a Flight Festival with vintage aircraft on display, an authentic 1940s' Salute to the Raiders theme show, parades, fly-overs, and a star-studded elegant gala at the fabulous Hilton. There will be 1940s' bands, dancing, entertainment and much more over a 4-day period. Fun for everyone and a visit with history you will remember for the rest of your life. Order tickets early as sales are limited. Fly into Sacramento - it's a short drive to Fairfield and Vacaville, the sponsoring cities
Gala Speaker:
Friday April 18th
8:00 am - 11:00 pm
Sales in the Doolittle Memorabilia Store at the Hilton’s “Hickam Room” - Several items offered in all price ranges, are adaptable to Raider autographs.
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3:00 pm - 5:00 pm
“Meet the Raiders” in the Hilton Ballroom - Raiders sign autographs on items purchased in the “Hickam Room”
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7:00 pm to 10:00 pm
Gala Evening that includes a formal dinner with the Raiders and guest speaker Cliff Robertson. Entertainment by: Don Treco and the Moonlight Swing Living-History Big Band. 1940s' attire welcome!
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Saturday April 19th
8:00 am - 12:00 noon
Sales in the Doolittle Memorabilia Store at the Hilton’s “Hickam Room” - Several items offered in all price ranges, are adaptable to Raider autographs.
Departures
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