1942 B-25 - The Doolittle Raids

A ONE-WAY MISSION DEEP INTO ENEMY TERRITORY
One month after Pearl Harbor, Jimmy Doolittle proposed the U.S. Navy launch bomb-loaded B-25s from an aircraft carrier. Chosen for its size, 16 of the North American Aviation built aircraft loaded onto the USS Hornet and, on April 18, 1942, attacked the Japanese mainland. Of the 81 bombers, 69 survived, and Doolittle won the Medal of Honor, with President Roosevelt saying, “With the apparent certainty of being forced to land in enemy territory or to perish at sea, Lt. Col. Doolittle personally led a squadron of Army bombers, manned by volunteer crews, in a highly destructive raid on the Japanese mainland.”