Doolittle Raid

Part of World War II, Pacific War

A B-25 taking off from USS Hornet (CV-8) for the raid

Date	Saturday, April 18, 1942
Location	Tokyo and other Japanese cities
Result	US propaganda victory; US morale improved, Japanese weakened No significant military effect

Belligerents

United States

Japan

Commanders and leaders

James H. Doolittle

Prince Naruhiko Higashikuni

Strength

16 B-25 Mitchell medium bombers

80 airmen (52 officers, 28 enlisted)

2 aircraft carriers
4 cruisers

8 destroyers

Unknown number of troops and homeland defense

Casualties and losses

3 dead
8 POWs (4 lived to be rescued and 4 died in captivity: 3 executed, 1 by disease)
15 B-25s

About 50 dead, 400 injured (including civilians)
5 sailors captured
5 patrol boats sunk
At least 3 aircraft shot down
One nearly converted aircraft carrier damaged

16 B-25 Mitchell medium bombers

2 aircraft carriers
4 cruisers

The Doolittle Raid, also known as the Tokyo Raid, on Saturday, April 18, 1942, was an air raid by the United States of America on the Japanese capital Tokyo and other places on the island of Honshu during World War II, the first air strike to strike the Japanese Home Islands. It demonstrated that Japan itself was vulnerable to American air attack, served as retaliation for the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor on Sunday, December 7, 1941, and provided an important boost to American morale. The raid was planned and led by Lieutenant Colonel James "Jimmy" Doolittle of the United States Army Air Forces.

Sixteen B-25B Mitchell medium bombers were launched without fighter escort from the U.S. Navy's aircraft carrier USS Hornet (CV-8) deep in the Western Pacific Ocean, each with a crew of five men. The plan called for them to bomb military targets in Japan, and to continue westward to land in China—landing a medium bomber on Hornet was impossible. Fifteen aircraft reached China, but all crashed, while the 16th landed at Vladivostok in the Soviet Union. All but three of the 80 crew members initially survived the mission. Eight airmen were captured by the Japanese Army in China; three of those were later executed. The B-25 that landed in the Soviet Union was confiscated and its crew interned for more than a year. Fourteen complete crews, except for one crewman who was killed in action, returned either to the United States or to American forces.

...
Wikipedia