After Pearl Harbor, the Pentagon mounted a daring bombing raid on Tokyo. Then-Colonel Doolittle (later promoted to General) was assigned to lead the raid. They took a bunch of B-25 Mitchell Bombers, stripped them of most of their machine guns, and loaded them down with four, 500 pound bombs, and as many gas cans as the tail section could hold. Then they taught the crews how to launch these Bombers from a carrier's flight deck: wheels chocked, and braked, engines revving at redline, then they ran to the end of the deck. Any planes that had engine trouble, were pushed overboard (at least one suffered this fate).
The Japanese had given the US President some medals, as a token of mutual friendship... These were strapped to the bombs, to be returned to Japan's Emperor. The planes made it to Tokyo, they dropped their bombs, then they made for the coast of China. Some of the crews made it, some did not.
The damage to Tokyo was mostly symbolic. It achieved little, really. However, it showed Japan that we could hit them, too.
If interested, there was one pilot on that mission who wrote a book about it. The title is, "Thirty Seconds Over Tokyo." His plane crashed as they approached the Chinese beach. He was captured, and suffered terribly, before making it back to the USA, crippled from injuries suffered in the crash. A good read.
Thanks for sharing this. The B-25 Mitchell was a work-horse in the Pacific Theater of the war. It was a critical piece of equipment in winning. I have a fondness for this plane, and its history. It is always a treat to see one still flying. Cheers!
1979 CB750K (sold, 2012, but not forgotten)
1983 Kawasaki 440 LTD Belt Drive (sold, 2011)
1993 Kawasaki Voyager XII
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It's almost cocky,but shows what our President at the time was made of - grit - FDR was a tough dude IMO