Item Description
This is a collection of Doolittle Raid related models and materials. The ship is a Daron® Executive Series CV-8 USS Hornet Aircraft Carrier - 1/350th Scale which normally retails for well over $1200 as can be seen at this link. Daron's high quality replica is handcrafted from mahogany with various metal and diecast pieces; including the B-25 bombers and a wooden display stand. Length is 28 1/8" and beam is 4". Also included is a 1946 letter for the Air Force Association signed (probably by auto pen) by Jimmy Doolittle. Furthermore, there are books, replica patches, a 1/24 wood B-25 1/24 scale model aircraft, original load adjuster and more.
The Mission: On April 18, 1942, sixteen Army Air Force medium bombers took off from the deck of the Navy carrier USS Hornet. Led by Lt. Col. James H. "Jimmy" Doolittle, their mission was to bomb the industrial areas in five major cities of Japan to avenge the attack on Pearl Harbor of December 7, 1941. They succeeded but the mission was not accomplished without grave danger. They had to take off earlier than planned because the 16-ship task force had been sighted and the enemy had been alerted. After bombing their respective targets, all but one of the B-25s headed for China where they were to land at designated fields. However, since they took off farther from Japan than intended, these aircraft approached the mainland in darkness and almost out of gas. The crews either bailed out or crash-landed offshore. The sixteenth plane landed in Russia where the five-man crew was interned for 14 months before escaping into friendly territory. Of the other 75 men on the raid, two died swimming to shore and one died on the bailout. Eight men were captured by the Japanese and tortured. After a mock trial, three of them were executed by firing squad; one died of beri-beri and malnutrition. The four survivors spent nearly forty months in prison, most of the time in solitary confinement. For America and her allies the raid was a badly-needed morale booster and severe psychological blow to the enemy. This was the first offensive air action undertaken against the Japanese home islands and it was 26 months before American bombers penetrated the skies over Japan to finish the job begun by Jimmy Doolittle and his Raiders. The raid had caused the enemy to change its Pacific strategy and attempt to take Midway Island as a base for further conquest. The Japanese lost the Battle of Midway disastrously. The Doolittle Raid on Japan, therefore, marked the beginning of the end of Japanese aggression in the Pacific.
The Mission: On April 18, 1942, sixteen Army Air Force medium bombers took off from the deck of the Navy carrier USS Hornet. Led by Lt. Col. James H. "Jimmy" Doolittle, their mission was to bomb the industrial areas in five major cities of Japan to avenge the attack on Pearl Harbor of December 7, 1941. They succeeded but the mission was not accomplished without grave danger. They had to take off earlier than planned because the 16-ship task force had been sighted and the enemy had been alerted. After bombing their respective targets, all but one of the B-25s headed for China where they were to land at designated fields. However, since they took off farther from Japan than intended, these aircraft approached the mainland in darkness and almost out of gas. The crews either bailed out or crash-landed offshore. The sixteenth plane landed in Russia where the five-man crew was interned for 14 months before escaping into friendly territory. Of the other 75 men on the raid, two died swimming to shore and one died on the bailout. Eight men were captured by the Japanese and tortured. After a mock trial, three of them were executed by firing squad; one died of beri-beri and malnutrition. The four survivors spent nearly forty months in prison, most of the time in solitary confinement. For America and her allies the raid was a badly-needed morale booster and severe psychological blow to the enemy. This was the first offensive air action undertaken against the Japanese home islands and it was 26 months before American bombers penetrated the skies over Japan to finish the job begun by Jimmy Doolittle and his Raiders. The raid had caused the enemy to change its Pacific strategy and attempt to take Midway Island as a base for further conquest. The Japanese lost the Battle of Midway disastrously. The Doolittle Raid on Japan, therefore, marked the beginning of the end of Japanese aggression in the Pacific.
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