Pacific Princess 68th Re-union of Doolittles Raiders

cooler n' hell,these pilots and planes.

Great vid, cool equipment.
The MEN who flew that mission, in that equipment to Japan.....balls you can't bust!
The old men with thick glasses and canes and walkers. That's the part of the video that sticks with me.
Thanks sam

It really didn't do all that much damage, but it sure made headlines. It proved the US could get to Japan and do damage, something that had never been done before. It was crazy to even try to fly bombers off a carrier. Our insignia was a couple of round dots at the time, not so all different from the rising sun. Pilots reported that railroaders waved at them--just before they shot the trains full of holes. The book "30 seconds over Tokyo" was written about the attack by a pilot who was second off the carrier deck, with his flaps in the wrong position. On the film (not shown here) you can see where the plane dips down just after takeoff. He made a quick correction. He actually crash landed in China and broke his leg. He was moved from village to village and couldn't understand the awful smell in each one. Turned out it was gangrene in his leg, which had to be amputated. That was the first book I ever put a "hold" on at the public library when I was a kid in the fifties. I still remember it cost me an entire dime, but it was worth it.