On 18, April 1942, American Morale soared with the news that a flight of B-25 Mitchell bombers had attacked Tokyo in a spectacular daylight raid. Considering the staggering succession of catastrophes which had befallen the Allied nations since the outbreak of the war, the psychological value of the strike was incalculable. Briefly, this is the story behind the daring mission: Early in 1942 King and his operations officer, Captain Francis J. Low, decided upon a blow against Japan designed to uplift the spirits of the American citizen. With the cooperation of General H. H. "Hap" Arnold, Commanding General of the Army, their plan envisioned sixteen B-25 Mitchells embarked in a United States Navy task force to a point several hundred miles from the enemy's mainland. From there the bombers were to hit Tokyo. However, as the planes would not be able to return to the carrier, they were to fly to friendly China and land there. The mission was extremely dangerous for all concerned, but particularly for the Navy, as Japanese search planes and patrol boats were vectored out to seven hundred miles from the mainland.
But accepting the risks (subsequent arrangements were made with General Chiang Kai Shek) sixteen bombers, aggregating two hundred officers and men under the command of Brigadier General James A. Doolittle were given a month's training at Elgin Field, Florida where practice takeoffs were conducted from a carrier "flight deck" marked out on the airfield. Then the planes were equipped with special launching gear and flown to San Francisco to await the arrival of the USS Hornet. So secret was the mission that not even Captain Marc A. Mitscher, her commanding officer, knew anything about the precious cargo until a few days before loading. On 2 April, Mitscher joined up with Halsey in Enterprise, the flagship and cruisers Nashville and Vincennes, four destroyers and a fleet oiler, and the task force got underway–Enterprise providing the combat air patrol.
"Cheers from every section of the ship greeted the announcement," stated Mitscher's Actio Report, "and morale reached a new high, there to remain until after the attack was launched and the ship was well clear of the combat areas."
With the persistent memory of the sunken Prince of Wales disturbing his sea voyage, a wary Halsey led his Task Force 16 through rough seas to a launching point considerably farther out than he wished, because of the presence of Japanese patrol boats–six hundred and sixty-eight miles from the heart of Tokyo. On the morning of 18, April, a gray and windy day, Halsey launched the planes. The psychological effects of the Doolittle Raid were minimized by the fact that Tokyo was conducting a mock air raid the same day, and when the planes arrived over the city at noon Japanese citizens assumed they were part of the show.
Thirteen bombers singled out the enemy capital and the other three continued to blast targets im the Osaka-Nagoya area. An account of the extraordinary mission is now told by Lt. Col. Carroll V. Glines, USAF, an aviation writer of note and a highly-rated combat pilot. He presents the tense drama at sea before launching.
--S. E. Smith
From: The United States Navy in World War II
Preface to Part III: Chapter I: LAUNCH PLANES!
No comments:
Post a Comment