The Most Daring Mission of WWII - The Doolittle Raid on Tokyo

Imagine from going as insane as Japan use to be, to being one of the coolest places on earth.... and Nintendo.

As always, a truly superb telling of an important historical event!
Nitpicking begins: The photograph of "Lt Col Doolittle" was actually Major General Doolittle from later in the war.
An interesting side note worthy of mention is that Doolittle was one of a very few soldiers in American history who was allowed to skip a rank and was promoted to Brigadier General a day after the raid, skipping the rank of Full Colonel altogether.

The Doolittle Raid has no strategic significance in the wider pacific conflict.
It's main purpose is to ignite the will of the American People including it's allies to fight and instill fear on the Japanese Public and Military High Command.
This is the reason why the Americans cannot risk the Carriers.
The result was the these raiders became the first men in history to attack the Japanese Mainland in over a Thousand Years.

Edit: I forgot, thousands of Chinese died in retribution of this attack.

The new B-21 stealth bomber of the USAF is called the Raider named in honor after the Doolittle Tokyo Raiders.👍. Great video 👍🎥. I'm retired USAF.🪖

No fighter escort? Probably didn’t have the range

The original Enterprise

I don’t think they planned on landing in China I think they ran out of fuel and had no choice

Dolittle did a lot

W china bro, ong. Too bad they don’t have the same relationship with us anymore

We need more transgenders to fly fighter planes to hit enemy territories

An earlier launch wasn't Mitscher's and Doolittle's decision but a personal decision of Adm. Halsey on the USS Enterprise. Halsey was a commander for the entire operation and the joint Task Force 16. Edit: An interesting fact is that there was no doubt that the B-25 could take off from the carrier because it was exercised off the coast of Virginia; when 2 B-25 tested launch from the deck of Hornet with both - full bomb load and half bomb load, with bags of sand serving as a weight equivalent.

General Doolittle my brother in Freemasonry /G\

I would have been truly an honor to have been in the company of any of these men. A time in our nation when bravery and honor were admired, respected and valued.

Wonderful post. Thank you.

Very brave men indeed.

2 months after 15 Japanese, striped out, "Betty" bombers only able to carry and drop marker flares "phantom raided" Los Angeles causing panic on the west coast

You don't know where is the east china sea

I can’t for the life of me understand why the emporers palace was not hit

Excellent video! Just heard about the Doolittle Raid yesterday and wanted to learn about it. After several attempts to find a video that it explained it well, I found yours! Thank you!

The Tambor class submarines, Trout and Thresher had different outcomes in the War. The Trout was sunk in April 1944, and Thresher survived the war and was decommissioned in 1947, she received 15 battle stars and a Navy Unit Commendation.

A quarter million Chinese people got killed for helping the boys escape? That is absolutely nuts

And what did they fight for? To have commie cash sponging lying sloths like Schumer, AOC, Biden, et al, protected by a lying Mainstream Media, taking over this beloved nation...

I don't understand why this channel doesn't have at least a million subscribers.

Chinese got severly brutalised for facilitating this.

They were brave and courageous men America's finest I wish they they dropped a bomb right on the emperor head

Americas message after the raid: “I’m coming for you and will reap a vengeance the world has never seen and never will see again”

There should be tanker planes for mid air refueling

One of the crew was from Gentry, MO.

A marvelous documentary on the amazing Doolittle Raid on Tokyo.

My father was a bombardier in Europe. His first mission was on D-Day and his 24th mission was at the Battle of the Bulge on 12/24/1944. His plane was shot down that day; only 3 of the crew survived. I would love to see a documentary on what each position on the B-17 did. When I learned where the bombardier sat I was totally flabbergasted!!

This documentary showed a lot of views I had never seen. Thanks

Absolute rubbish. The UK's St Nazaire operation is far more dangerous and risky in all ways than the Doolittle raid. There's a big difference between worrying about where you'll parachute out of your plane in comparison with the UK naval operation.

Superb doc. Thank you

Be accurate, they hit other cities besides Tokyo, though only with one or two planes.

These men were incredibly brave knowing it was probably a suicide mission. Just amazing.

This was a really daring raid, using aircraft that had not been designed for what they did, but they managed to do their mission, and to thrust back the Japanese's military greatest boast, that Toyo would never be bombed.

The japanese were guilty of war crimes for the execution of the American fliers.

The ole Hornet

It was a suicide mission. True suicide mission. They did it anyway.

Most heroic thing maybe in history

U.S.S.HORNET CV-8 Not ownly Aircraft Carrier Doolittle Raid U.S.S.Enterprise CV-6 was Serport Ship Raid On 80th Anniversary Doolittle Raid Navy Honor Raid Naming Navy Aircraft Carrier U.S.S.James Doolittle

Too bad America doesn’t have the same backbone anymore

That was so cool. Thanknu

This was an amazing accomplishment, but I think it's a huge stretch to call it the most daring raid of WWII.

Hey man! Congrats on the videos! Can you share the name of the song? ,🙏

This is great content

This raid led to the battle of Midway, June 4th 1942, which really should be a national holiday in our country.

Great research, concise content. Info not in any movie on this subject.
William (bull) Halsey pronounced HALL ZEE.

Hero’s

I have met over 30 of the Raiders and widows.
A friend found out what hotel they were staying at, before their yearly reunion. We were able to meet many and get dozens of signatures on art work and in our books. I have also met many of the Raiders in different venues where I was the only one talking with them, for hours.
It is incredible that so many people do not know of them or what heros they are.

I was fortunate enough to actually see Gen. Doolittle back in ‘86. I was 24 and knew his place in history.
The Legend himself.

I have met Carroll Glines, who was the official historian of
The Doolittle Raiders. He wrote one of the definitive accounts of the raid.

A few corrections...as you can see by the video of the planes launching,
This is them taking off on the actual raid. The sea is very rough and had spray coming over the deck of the Hornet. Doolittle lifted off and flew a quick circle, flew parallel with the Hornet to check his compass, then headed to Tokyo. As you stated, to launch all the aircraft, took about an hour. Because of the fuel issue and being forced to launch so early, all the crews, were told to head directly to their assigned targets, not to loiter or form up. They did not form up in groups. It was a long line of B25's to Japan. They were spread out over a 50 mile front, to give the appearance of having more planes.
Tokyo was not the only target, as told by the wartime video. There were 5 total, Tokyo, Yokohama, Kobe, Nagoya, and Osaka.
The planes were initially equipped with the Norden bombsight but since it was a top secret device and they bombed at low altitude, a cheap replacement was designed by one of the pilots, Ross Greening, i have met his widow, Dot.
The widows of the Raiders were invited to the yearly reunions of the Raiders.
It was daylight when they hit their targets but nighttime in a terrible storm when they crossed the China Sea. Doolittle had his crew bail out over land at night. Ted Lawson's plane and another ditched at night but his leg was injured and amputated later.
Ted wrote...30 Seconds Over Tokyo. I have met his widow Ellen.

This is the most important operation of the war. It forced the attack on Midway and that was the turning point in the Pacific.
Afterwards, Japan was on the defensive with no more victories.
Except for The Battle of Savo Island.