Doolittle Raiders tour Mountain Home AFB

  • Published
  • By Airman Samantha S. DeVries
  • 366th Fighter Wing Public Affairs
MOUNTAIN HOME AIR FORCE BASE, Idaho (ACCNS) --  They set out to settle the score ... to defend America ... to make history. On April 18, 1942, the Doolittle Raiders did just that.

More than 65 years after flying 16 bombers over Japan to conduct the first bombing mission of World War II, retired Lt. Col. Richard E. Cole, retired Maj. Thomas C. Griffin and former Sgt. Dave Thatcher and their relatives visited the Gunfighters to tour the base Aug. 10.

After a windshield tour of the base, three of the 13 surviving Raiders talked with Gunfighter aircrews followed by lunch at the Gunfighter Club with Col. Mark Kelly, 366th Fighter Wing vice commander.

Though the Raiders said they never boast how they made history and prefer to talk about the present. Their story, however, is an important one to share.

The historic mission started in early 1942 after the United States entered WWII following Imperial Japan's attack on Pearl Harbor. Aircrews arrived to Eglin Field, Fla., after volunteering to take part in President Franklin D. Roosevelt's "Special Mission No. 1" with then Lt. Col. Jimmy Doolittle.

"It was a field way out in the boondocks," said Major Griffin, a navigator with aircrew No. 9. "We had a strip out there where nobody could see what we were doing. It was all very secretive."

Their B-25 bombers, which normally required 1,200 to 1,500 feet of runway to launch, now had only 450 feet to lift off. The crews trained for three weeks using a painted runway to mark the exact length they would have on the USS Hornet -- the aircraft carrier they would launch off. Training also included bombing and navigational flights over the Gulf of Mexico.

Troops removed all non-essential equipment to reduce the plane's weight while engine and carburetors received tune-ups to increase power and fuel efficiency. Knowing the mission would likely be a one-way flight, the planes' secretive Norden bombsights were replaced with manual sights to keep them out of enemy hands.

The day of the attack, a Japanese patrol spotted the USS Hornet laden with bombers. The Raiders had no choice but to begin the mission 10 hours ahead of schedule and about 200 miles further from the planned launch area. Originally planned as a night raid, the 16 planes would now attack in broad daylight.

All 16 planes successfully launched from the carrier with Colonel Doolittle leading the pack.

"We were fortunate to have a great leader in Jimmy Doolittle," Major Griffin said. "He was quite a man. First he convinced us it could be done, and then he convinced us in the best way, by flying the first over-loaded airplane off the deck. That's what a great leader does -- he leads."

The crews flew more than 15 hours, bombing military installations, factories, oil stores, gas and electric companies, and other military assets. Due to the early start, the crews did not have enough fuel to reach their landing destination in China. Ten planes were abandoned after crews bailed out, five crash-landed, two came down in Japanese territory and one made it to Russia.

Of the 80 men who took off that day, three were killed during the mission, five were interned in Russia and eight became prisoners of war in Japan -- three of whom were executed by firing squad, while another died in captivity.

In 1947, the Raiders became one of the most elite military brotherhoods by reuniting each year. At every reunion, surviving Raiders meet privately to conduct a solemn "goblet ceremony." After a role call and a toast to the Raiders who have died since their last meeting, the remaining Raiders turn the deceased men's goblets upside down.

When only two Raiders remain, they will open a bottle of brandy from 1896, the year Doolittle was born, and toast to their fallen comrades.

Though only thirteen Raiders are alive today, all will continue on in history.