Original Item: One-Of-A-Kind. This is a fantastic piece of WWII history! This is a framed 50th Anniversary Commemorative print that even has James Doolittle’s signature along with Richard Cole, Henry Potter and a piece of aircraft from one of the Doolittle bombers! This print is number 436 of a total of 980 prints made. The printing plates were intentionally destroyed, so the 980 that were printed are the only ones in existence.

The Doolittle Raid, also known as the Tokyo Raid, was an air raid on 18 April 1942 by the United States on the Japanese capital Tokyo and other places on Honshu during World War II. It was the first air operation to strike the Japanese archipelago. Although the raid caused comparatively minor damage, it demonstrated that the Japanese mainland was vulnerable to American air attacks. It served as retaliation for the 7 December 1941 attack on Pearl Harbor, and provided an important boost to American morale. The raid was planned by, led by, and named after Lieutenant Colonel James Doolittle (later a Lieutenant General in the US Army Air Forces and the US Air Force Reserve).

Under the final plan, 16 B-25B Mitchell medium bombers, each with a crew of five, were launched from the US Navy aircraft carrier USS Hornet, in the Pacific Ocean, off Japan. There were no fighter escorts. After bombing the military and industrial targets, the crews were to continue westward to land in China.

On the ground the raid killed about 50 people and injured 400. Damage to Japanese military and industrial targets was slight, but the raid had major psychological effects. In the United States, it raised morale. In Japan, it raised fear and doubt about the ability of military leaders to defend the home islands, but the bombing and strafing of civilians steeled Japanese resolve to gain retribution – this was exploited for propaganda purposes. The raid also pushed forward Admiral Isoroku Yamamoto's plans to attack Midway Island in the Central Pacific – an attack that turned into a decisive defeat of the Imperial Japanese Navy (IJN) by the US Navy in the Battle of Midway. The consequences of the Doolittle Raid were most severely felt in China, where Japanese reprisals caused the deaths of 250,000 civilians and 70,000 soldiers.

Of the 16 USAAF crews involved, 14 complete crews of five returned to the United States or to US forces elsewhere – one crew was killed in action. Eight US aviators were captured by Japanese forces in Eastern China and three of these were later executed. All but one of the B-25s were destroyed in crashes, while the 16th landed at Vladivostok, in the Soviet Union.

Because the Soviet Union was not officially at war with Japan, it was required, under international law, to intern the crew during the war, and their B-25 was confiscated._ However, within a year, the crew was secretly allowed to leave the Soviet Union, under the guise of an escape – they returned to the United States, or to US units elsewhere, by way of Allied-occupied Iran and North Africa.

Doolittle initially believed that the loss of his aircraft would lead to his court-martial – instead he received the Medal of Honor and was promoted two ranks to brigadier general.

Artist Bryan Moon went to extraordinary lengths to research and then to authenticate his historical works of art. The Doolittle Raiders 50th Anniversary Commemorative print is the result of 18 months of planning and execution which began in October 1989, and ended in April 1991.

The artist first corresponded with many of the Doolittle Raiders surviving airmen. He then developed and led an Expedition to China to search for some of the lost Doolittle B-25 bombers, unseen since the famous raid on Japan in 1942. The Expedition found and retrieved the remains of three of the bombers from the mountains of Zhejiang Province. The artist was honored by the Doolittle Raiders with the assignment to paint their 50th Anniversary Commemorative print.

This historic print, restricted to a signed and limited edition of only 1,124, bears the signatures of all 44 surviving Doolittle Raiders (see cover emblem of the scanned booklet).

Each print was hand-signed by retired General "Jimmy" Doolittle, his original Co-pilot and Navigator and by the Chairman of the Doolittle Raiders Association. This print is made even more exceptional by the addition of an actual section from one of the Doolittle bombers, which was retrieved by the China Expedition.

This print was released in October 1991, and was printed using high-quality, light resistant inks and pH neutral paper which meets Archival Standards. Image size is 13 ½” x 19 ¾”. Trim size including print, crest, signatures and section of B-25 Bomber is 24 ½” x 27 ⅞” in a 33” x 32” frame.

Everything include consists of the framed print in excellent condition, a lovely frame, informative booklet on the print and expedition, original paper which held the aircraft section and the original envelope in which the paper contents were kept in.

TO AVOID ANY CONFUSION: The Certificate of Authenticity is A PART OF THE BOOKLET.

Comes more than ready for display!