From a Carrier Deck to Tokyo: How the Doolittle Raiders Took the War to Japan

Headline Wednesday: Doolittle Raid, Second World War (Pacific Theater) traces the first American air strike on Japan’s home islands, from a crowded carrier deck in the western Pacific to the smoke drifting over Tokyo. This episode follows James Doolittle and his volunteer crews as they train B-25 medium bombers for a mission no manual had ever imagined, then ride Hornet and her escorts into waters thick with Japanese patrols. You will hear how an early contact with picket boats forces a risky long-range launch, how each bomber threads its way toward Tokyo and other cities, and how the raid’s physical damage pales beside its shock value. Headline Wednesday is the Wednesday feature of Dispatch: U.S. Military History Magazine, developed by Trackpads.com.