In honor and celebration of the Doolittle Raid of April 18, 1942- 75 years ago- today’s Cowardly Leadership will focus on Courageous Leadership instead. Sometimes, comparing, contrasting, and juxtaposition are just as relevant and informative as sticking to the message.
The Doolittle Raid
If you aren’t a World War II historian, then take a few minutes and watch the clip from the movie Pearl Harbor. You know, that love triangle story that had some shooting in it. The one where Alec Baldwin plays Lt Col James Doolittle who led the raid on Tokyo four months after Pearl Harbor.
The Real Story
The movie is true as far as it goes. We had Army Air Force B-25 Bombers on board a U.S. Navy Carrier loaded to bomb Tokyo. It was a one-way mission for two reasons. First, there was no way to have enough fuel for the bombers to take off, make a bomb run on Tokyo, then return. Second, they were Air Force bombers, not designed to land on a carrier. So even if they had been able to carry enough fuel, it wouldn’t have mattered. They weren’t going to land on a carrier.
They were to bomb, then (hopefully) crash land in China which was our ally against Japan and (hopefully) survive, and (hopefully) be picked up by friendly Chinese. Of course, crash landing in a strange country with no airfields while running out of fuel is not the ideal scenario.
Sixteen bombers took off (more on that in a moment). Fifteen crashed on or around the coast of China, one crash landed close to Vladivostok, Russia, and the crew was interned by the Russians for a year before being repatriated. Seven crewmen died while ditching, and eight were captured by the Japanese. Three of those were executed and one starved to death.
The Rest of the Story
As stated earlier, there were sixteen planes. Although all the pilots had been trained in short take offs, no one knew the objective until they were well underway. All had volunteered for a very dangerous mission which they might not return from. And that was the extent of what they knew until several days at sea.
No one had ever flown an Air Force bomber from a carrier before. So none of the pilots on board the U.S.S. Hornet had ever launched from a carrier at sea. The sixteenth plane was to be a test plane to be flown shortly after the carrier left San Francisco just to show all the air crews that it could be done. But Lt Col Doolittle decided to hold that plane in reserve and fly all 16 on the mission. In other words, every single one of the planes, their pilots and their crews would fly from an aircraft carrier for the first time ever when it counted. During the actual raid on Tokyo.
Doolittle was not supposed to fly the mission. He was to stay on board the carrier and direct the mission from the Combat Air Center. Instead, he kept the sixteenth plane, flew it himself, and led the mission.
And that is what a courageous leader does. He lived, was rescued and returned to the U.S., and received the Congressional Medal of Honor for leading the mission. Every crew member received the Distinguished Flying Cross.
II-30
