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{{Short description|American bombing of Japan on April 18, 1942}}
{{redirect|Tokyo Raid|the later air raid sometimes known as Great Tokyo Air Raid|Bombing of Tokyo (10 March 1945)}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=November 2019}}
{{Use American English|date = March 2019}}
<!--Note to editors: the US Army Air Corps was reorganized into the US Army Air Forces a little over a month prior to the raid. This means that the training was accomplished under the USAAC, but the operation took place under the USAAF.--><!--Discuss this on the talk page if there is an issue. The information here is in error. The AAF was formed in June 1941, with the AC under it, and the US Army was reorganized a month before, with the AC ceasing to be an organization. It was incorporated into the AAF in June 1941. All of the mission took place "under" AAF.-->
{{Infobox military conflict
| conflict          = Doolittle Raid
| partof            = [[Air raids on Japan]] during the [[Pacific War]] of World War II
| image             = B-25 bomber by James Doolittle took off from the USS Hornet for Doolittle Raid in 1942.jpg
| image_size        = 300px
| caption           = [[Jimmy Doolittle]] and his [[North American B-25 Mitchell|B-25 Mitchell]] prior to taking off from the {{USS|Hornet|CV-8|6}} for the raid
| date              = 18 April 1942
| place             = [[Greater Tokyo Area]] and other Japanese cities
| combatant1        = {{indented plainlist|
* {{flag|United States|1912}}
* {{flagcountry|Republic of China (1912–1949)}}{{sfn|Doolittle|Glines|1991|pp=3, 541}}{{sfn|Scott|2015}}
}}
| combatant2        = {{flagcountry|Empire of Japan}}
| commander1        = [[Jimmy Doolittle|James H. Doolittle]]
| commander2        = [[Prince Naruhiko Higashikuni]]
| strength1         = {{indented plainlist|
* 16 [[North American B-25 Mitchell|B-25 Mitchell medium bombers]]
* 80 airmen (52 officers, 28 enlisted)
* 2 aircraft carriers
* 4 cruisers
* 8 destroyers
}}
| strength2         = Unknown number of [[Kawasaki Ki-61]] Hien fighters and anti-aircraft artillery{{sfn|Chun|2006|p=60}}
| casualties1       = {{indented plainlist|
* 16 B-25s lost (15 destroyed, 1 interned in the Soviet Union)
* 3 killed
* 8 captured (4 lived to be rescued and 4 died in captivity: 3 executed, 1 by disease)
}}
| casualties2       = {{indented plainlist|
*  50 killed
*  400 injured (including civilians){{citation needed|reason=Bix "Hirohito and the Making of Modern Japan", p. 457 says the bombing "killed about 50 civilians", which implies that the number of deaths quoted here is ALL civilians, which it might well have been.|date=October 2021}}
* 5 sailors captured
* 5 patrol boats sunk
* [[Japanese aircraft carrier Ryūhō|One nearly converted aircraft carrier damaged]]
}}
| campaignbox       = {{Campaignbox Second Sino-Japanese War}}
{{Campaignbox Pacific War}}
{{Japanese colonial campaigns}}
{{Campaignbox World War II}}
}}

The '''Doolittle Raid''', also known as '''Doolittle's Raid''', as well as the '''Tokyo Raid''', was an air raid on 18 April 1942 by the United States on the Japanese capital [[Tokyo City|Tokyo]] and other places on [[Honshu]] during [[World War II]]. It was the first American 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 an initial retaliation for the December 7, 1941, [[attack on Pearl Harbor]], and provided an important boost to American morale. The raid was named after Lieutenant Colonel [[Jimmy Doolittle|James Doolittle]], who planned and led the attack.  It was [[American carrier raids of 1942|one of six American carrier raids against Japan and Japanese-held territories]] conducted in the first half of 1942.

Under the final plan, 16 [[North American B-25 Mitchell|B-25B Mitchell]] medium bombers, each with a crew of five, were launched from the US Navy aircraft carrier {{USS|Hornet|CV-8|6}}, in the Pacific Ocean. There were no [[fighter escort]]s. After bombing the military and industrial targets, the crews were to continue westward to land in China.

On the ground, the raid killed around 50 people and injured 400. Damage to Japanese military and industrial targets was minimal, 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 created a desire for retribution—this was exploited for propaganda purposes.<ref name="hist reex">{{Cite web|url = http://www.historynet.com/aftermath-doolittle-raid-reexamined.htm|title = Aftermath: How the Doolittle Raid Shook Japan|date = 27 July 2015|access-date = 19 April 2018|archive-date = 19 April 2018|archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20180419184041/http://www.historynet.com/aftermath-doolittle-raid-reexamined.htm|url-status = live}}</ref> The raid also pushed forward Admiral [[Isoroku Yamamoto]]'s plans to attack [[Midway Atoll|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: in reprisal for the raid, the Japanese launched the [[Zhejiang-Jiangxi campaign]], killing 250,000 civilians and 70,000 soldiers.<ref name="hist reex" />{{sfn|Scott|2015}}

Of the 16 crews involved, 14 returned to the United States or reached the safety of American forces, though one man was killed while bailing out.<ref name="bravemen" />{{sfn|Glines|1988|pp=166–168}} Eight men were captured by Japanese forces in eastern China (the other two crew members having drowned in the sea), and three of them were later executed. All but one of the 16 B-25s were destroyed in crashes, while one of the planes landed at [[Vladivostok]] in the [[Soviet Union]].

Because the Soviet Union was not officially at war with Japan, it was required, [[Hague Conventions of 1899 and 1907#Hague Convention of 1907|under international law]], to intern the crew for the duration of the war. The crew's B-25 was also 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 American units elsewhere by way of [[Anglo-Soviet invasion of Iran|Allied-occupied Iran]] and North Africa.

Doolittle initially believed that he would be [[court-martial]]ed for missing his primary targets<ref name="James H. Doolittle">{{Cite web|url = https://www.history.com/topics/world-war-ii/james-h-doolittle|title = James H. Doolittle|date = 9 November 2009|access-date = 31 July 2022|archive-date = 24 March 2022|archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20220324015051/https://www.history.com/topics/world-war-ii/james-h-doolittle|url-status = live}}</ref>—instead he received the [[Medal of Honor]] and was promoted two ranks to [[brigadier general]].

==Background==
[[File:Map showing Doolittle Raid targets and landing fields.jpg|thumb|left|Doolittle Raid targets and landing fields]]
President [[Franklin D. Roosevelt]] spoke to the [[Joint Chiefs of Staff]] in a meeting at the [[White House]] on 21 December 1941 and said that Japan should be bombed as soon as possible to boost public morale after Pearl Harbor.{{sfn|Glines|1988|p=10}} Doolittle recounted in his autobiography that the raid was intended to bolster American morale and to cause the Japanese to begin doubting their leadership: "An attack on the Japanese homeland would cause confusion in the minds of the Japanese people and sow doubt about the reliability of their leaders.&nbsp;... Americans badly needed a morale boost."{{sfn|Doolittle|Glines|1991|pp=1–2}}

The concept for the attack came from Navy Captain [[Francis S. Low]], Assistant Chief of Staff for antisubmarine warfare. He reported to Admiral [[Ernest J. King]] on 10 January 1942 that he thought that twin-engined Army bombers could be launched from an aircraft carrier, after observing several at [[Naval Station Norfolk Chambers Field]] in [[Norfolk, Virginia|Norfolk]], where the runway was painted with the outline of a carrier deck for landing practice.{{sfn|Glines|1988|p=13}} Doolittle, a famous military test pilot, civilian aviator, and aeronautical engineer before the war, was assigned to Army Air Forces Headquarters to plan the raid. The aircraft to be used would need a cruising range of {{convert|2400|nmi|km}} with a {{convert|2000|lb|kg|adj=on}} bomb load, so Doolittle selected the B-25B Mitchell to carry out the mission. The range of the Mitchell was about 1,300 miles, so the bombers had to be modified to hold nearly twice the normal fuel reserves. Doolittle also considered the [[Martin B-26 Marauder]], [[Douglas B-18 Bolo]], and [[Douglas B-23 Dragon]],{{sfn|Glines|1988|p=19}} but the B-26 had questionable takeoff characteristics from a carrier deck and the B-23's wingspan was nearly 50 percent greater than the B-25's, reducing the number that could be taken aboard a carrier and posing risks to the ship's superstructure. The B-18 was one of the final two types that Doolittle considered, and he rejected it for the same reason.{{sfn|Glines|1988|pp=19–20}} The B-25 had yet to see combat,{{refn|group=note |The first bombing mission by B-25s preceded the Doolittle Raid by only 12 days. On 6 April 1942, six Mitchells bombed [[Gasmata]], [[New Britain]]. This was followed on 12 and 13 April by two days of attacks against [[Cebu City]] and [[Davao City|Davao]] in the Philippines. All of these were conducted by the [[3d Operations Group|3rd Bomb Group]], which staged 10 Mitchells through [[Darwin, Australia]] to [[Mindanao]].}}{{sfn|Martin|Stephenson|2008|pp=174, 182–183}} but tests indicated that it could fulfill the mission's requirements.

Doolittle's first report on the plan suggested that the bombers might land in [[Vladivostok]], shortening the flight by {{convert|600|nmi|km}} on the basis of turning over the B-25s as [[Lend-Lease]].{{sfn|Glines|1988|p=27}} Negotiations with the Soviet Union were fruitless for permission to land because it had signed a [[Soviet–Japanese Neutrality Pact|neutrality pact with Japan]] in April 1941.{{sfn|Doolittle|1942}} China's [[Chiang Kai-shek]] agreed to the landing sites in China despite the concern of Japanese reprisals. Five possible airfields were selected. These sites would serve as refueling stops, allowing the crews to fly to [[Chongqing]].{{sfn|Chun|2006|p=32}} Bombers attacking defended targets often relied on a fighter escort to defend them from enemy fighters, but accompanying fighters were not possible.{{why|date=June 2025}}

==Preparation==
[[File:James H Doolittle medal bomb.jpg|thumb|upright|Lieutenant Colonel Doolittle wires a Japanese friendship medal to a bomb, for "return" to its originators.]]
When planning indicated that the B-25 was the aircraft that best met all of the requirements of the mission, two were loaded aboard the aircraft carrier {{USS|Hornet|CV-8|6}} at Norfolk and were flown off the deck without difficulty on 3 February 1942.{{sfn|Glines|1988|p=22}} The raid was immediately approved and the [[17th Bombardment Group]] (Medium) was chosen to provide the pool of crews from which volunteers would be recruited. The 17th BG had been the first group to receive B-25s, with all four of its squadrons equipped with the bomber by September 1941. The 17th not only was the first medium bomb group of the Army Air Corps, but in early 1942, also had the most experienced B-25 crews. Its first assignment following the entry of the United States into the war was to the U.S. [[Eighth Air Force]].{{sfn|Craven|Cate|1983|p=439}}

The 17th BG, then flying antisubmarine patrols from [[Pendleton, Oregon]], was immediately moved cross-country to [[Columbia Army Air Base]] at [[West Columbia, South Carolina]], ostensibly to fly similar patrols off the East Coast of the United States, but in actuality to prepare for the mission against Japan. The group officially transferred effective 9 February 1942 to Columbia, where its combat crews were offered the opportunity to volunteer for an "extremely hazardous", but unspecified mission. On 19 February, the group was detached from the Eighth Air Force and officially assigned to [[III Bomber Command]].{{sfn|Craven|Cate|1983|p=614}}

Initial planning called for 20 aircraft to fly the mission,{{sfn|Craven|Cate|1983|p=440}} and 24 of the group's B-25B Mitchell bombers were diverted to the [[Mid-Continent Airlines]] modification center in [[Minneapolis]], Minnesota. With support provided by two senior airline managers, [[Minneapolis–Saint Paul International Airport|Wold-Chamberlain Field's]] maintenance hangar was the first modification center to become operational. From nearby [[Fort Snelling]], the 710th Military Police Battalion provided tight security around this hangar. B-25B aircraft modifications included the following:
* Removal of the lower gun turret.
* Installation of [[de-ice]]rs and [[Antifreeze|anti-icers]].
* Mounting of steel blast plates on the fuselage around the upper turret.
* Removal of the liaison radio set to save weight.
* Installation of a {{convert|160|USgal|adj=on}} collapsible neoprene auxiliary fuel tank, fixed to the top of the bomb bay, and installation of support mounts for additional fuel cells in the bomb bay, crawlway, and lower turret area, to increase fuel capacity from 646 to 1,141 [[U.S. gallon]]s (538 to 950 [[Gallon#Imperial gallon|imperial gallons]], or 2,445 to 4,319 L).
* Installation of broomsticks as mock gun barrels in the tail cone.
* Replacement of the [[Norden bombsight]] with a makeshift aiming sight devised by pilot Capt. [[Charles Ross Greening|C. Ross Greening]] that was dubbed the "Mark Twain". The materials for this bombsight cost only 20 cents.{{sfn|Craven|Cate|1983|p=439}}

Two bombers also had cameras mounted to record the results of the bombing.{{sfn|Doolittle|1942}}

The 24 crews were selected and picked up the modified bombers in Minneapolis and flew them to [[Eglin Air Force Base|Eglin Field]], Florida, beginning 1 March 1942. There, the crews received concentrated training for three weeks in simulated carrier deck takeoffs, low-level and night flying, low-altitude bombing, and over-water navigation, operating primarily out of [[Wagner Field|Eglin Auxiliary Field #1]], a more secluded site. [[Lieutenant (navy)|Lieutenant]] Henry L. Miller, a [[U.S. Navy]] flight instructor from nearby [[Naval Air Station Pensacola]], supervised their takeoff training and accompanied the crews to the launch. For his efforts, Miller is considered an honorary member of the Raider group.<ref name="Joyce">[http://www.doolittleraider.com/ "Memorial site of Richard O. Joyce"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171130181901/http://doolittleraider.com/ |date=30 November 2017 }}. Doolittle Tokyo Raiders. Retrieved 23 October 2010.</ref>

Doolittle stated in his after-action report that the crews reached a "safely operational" level of training, despite several days when flying was not possible because of rain and fog. One aircraft was written off in a landing accident on 10 March<ref name="aviationarchaeology.com">{{cite web|url=http://www.aviationarchaeology.com/src/AARmonthly/Mar1942.htm|publisher=aviationarchaeology.com|title=March 1942 USAAF Accident Reports|access-date=16 October 2016|archive-date=16 September 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160916210344/http://www.aviationarchaeology.com/src/AARmonthly/Mar1942.htm|url-status=live}}</ref><ref name="joebaugher.com">{{cite web|url=http://www.joebaugher.com/usaf_serials/1940.html|publisher=joebaugher.com|title=1940 USAAC Serial Numbers|access-date=16 October 2016|archive-date=23 September 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160923111033/http://www.joebaugher.com/usaf_serials/1940.html|url-status=live}}</ref> and another was heavily damaged in a takeoff accident on 23 March,<ref name="aviationarchaeology.com" /><ref name="joebaugher.com" /> while a third was removed from the mission because of a nose wheel shimmy that could not be repaired in time.{{sfn|Doolittle|1942}}

On 25 March 1942, the remaining 22 B-25s took off from Eglin for [[McClellan Air Force Base|McClellan Field]], California. They arrived two days later at the Sacramento Air Depot for inspection and final modifications. According to notes written at the time, five crews did additional training on March 30 and 31 at the [[Willows-Glenn County Airport]].<ref>{{cite web |title=National Historic Place form |url=https://www.tedtalkshistory.com/willows-glenn-county-airport-national-historic-district/ |website=tedtalkshistory.com|date=4 April 2024 }}</ref> A total of 16 B-25s were flown to [[Naval Air Station Alameda]] on 31 March. Fifteen made up the mission force and the 16th, by last-minute agreement with the Navy, was loaded so that it could be launched shortly after departure from San Francisco to demonstrate to the Army pilots that there was sufficient deck space for a safe takeoff. Instead, that bomber was made part of the mission force.{{refn|group=note |1st Lt. Richard Joyce was to have flown this aircraft back to the mainland with Navy Lieut. Miller as his copilot. Instead, he flew the tenth bomber off ''Hornet'' and Miller remained aboard until the task force returned to port when Doolittle decided to increase the attacking force to all 16 aircraft.{{sfn|Glines|1988|pp=47, 51}} }}{{sfn|Glines|1988|p=47}}

==Participating aircraft==
<gallery mode="packed" |heights="200px">
File:Army B-25 (Doolittle Raid).jpg|A B-25 Mitchell taking off from {{USS|Hornet|CV-8|6}} for the raid
File:April 18 1942 USS Hornet CV8 Doolittle.jpg|B-25 Mitchells aboard USS ''Hornet''
File:USS Hornet (CV-8) with USS Gwin (DD-433) during Doolittle Raid 1942.jpg|Aft flight deck of USS ''Hornet''
File:B-25 40-2242 Doolittle Raider.jpg|B-25 piloted by Capt. York after emergency landing in the Soviet Union
File:208-PU-53A-14 (34027835380).jpg|Nose art of ''Hari Kari-er''
</gallery>
In order of launching, the 16 aircraft were:<ref name="Joyce" />

{| class="wikitable"
|- 
!  align=center|AAF serial number || align=center|Nickname || align=center|Sqdn || align=center|Target || align=center|Pilot || align=center|Disposition
|-
|align=center|40-2344|| || || Tokyo|| Lt. Col. [[Jimmy Doolittle|James H. Doolittle]]|| crashed N [[Quzhou]], China
|- 
|align=center|40-2292|| || [[37th Bomb Squadron|37th BS]] || Tokyo|| 1st Lt. Travis Hoover|| crashed [[Ningbo]], China
|-
|align=center|40-2270|| ''Whiskey Pete''|| [[95th Reconnaissance Squadron|95th BS]]|| Tokyo|| 1st Lt. Robert M. Gray|| crashed SE Quzhou, China
|- 
|align=center|40-2282|| || 95th BS|| Tokyo|| 1st Lt. [[Everett W. Holstrom]]|| crashed SE [[Shangrao]], China
|-
|align=center|40-2283|| || 95th BS|| Tokyo|| Capt. [[David M. Jones]]|| crashed SW Quzhou, China
|- 
|align=center|40-2298|| ''The Green Hornet''|| 95th BS|| Tokyo|| 1st Lt. Dean E. Hallmark|| ditched at sea [[Wenzhou]], China
|-
|align=center|40-2261||''The Ruptured Duck''|| 95th BS|| Tokyo|| 1st Lt. [[Ted W. Lawson]]|| ditched at sea [[Changshu]], China
|- 
|align=center|40-2242|| || 95th BS|| Tokyo|| Capt. [[Edward J. York]]{{refn|group=note |York was born Edward Joseph Cichowski and was known as "Ski". He legally changed his name to York in early 1942 before the raid.}}|| interned [[Primorsky Krai]], [[USSR]]
|-
|align=center|40-2303|| ''Whirling Dervish''|| [[34th Bomb Squadron|34th BS]] || Tokyo|| 1st Lt. Harold F. Watson|| crashed S [[Nanchang]], China
|- 
|align=center|40-2250|| || [[432d Attack Squadron|89th RS]]|| Tokyo|| 1st Lt. Richard O. Joyce|| crashed NE Quzhou, China
|-
|align=center|40-2249|| ''Hari Kari-er''|| 89th RS|| Yokohama|| Capt. [[Charles Ross Greening|C. Ross Greening]] || crashed NE Quzhou, China
|- 
|align=center|40-2278|| ''Fickle Finger of Fate''|| [[37th Bomb Squadron|37th BS]] || Yokohama|| 1st Lt. [[Bill Bower|William M. Bower]]|| crashed NE Quzhou, China
|-
|align=center|40-2247|| ''The Avenger'' || [[37th Bomb Squadron|37th BS]] || Yokosuka|| 1st Lt. Edgar E. McElroy|| crashed N Nanchang, China
|- 
|align=center|40-2297|| || 89th RS|| Nagoya|| Maj. [[John A. Hilger]]|| crashed SE Shangrao, China
|-
|align=center|40-2267|| ''TNT'' || 89th RS|| Kobe|| 1st Lt. Donald G. Smith|| ditched at sea Changshu, China
|- 
|align=center|40-2268|| ''Bat Out of Hell''|| [[34th Bomb Squadron|34th BS]] || Nagoya|| 1st Lt. [[William G. Farrow]]|| crashed S Ningbo, China
|}

== Mission ==
[[File:USS Hornet flight deck April 1942.jpg|thumb|B-25Bs on USS ''Hornet'' en route to Japan]]
On 1 April 1942, the 16 modified bombers, their five-man crews, and Army maintenance personnel, totaling 71 officers and 130 enlisted men,{{refn|group=note |Doolittle took along all 22 flight crews, both to provide spare flight personnel and as an additional security measure.{{sfn|Glines|1988|p=45}} Lawson wrote that the copilot of one crew (Farrow's) was replaced on 17 April, the day before the mission, by one of the spare pilots.{{sfn|Lawson|2002|pp=58, 208}}}}{{sfn|Craven|Cate|1983|p=440}}{{sfn|Glines|1988|p=45}} were loaded onto ''Hornet'' at Naval Air Station Alameda in [[California]]. Each aircraft carried four specially constructed 500-pound (225&nbsp;kg) bombs. Three of these were high-explosive munitions and one was a bundle of incendiaries. The incendiaries were long tubes, wrapped together to be carried in the [[bomb bay]], but designed to separate and scatter over a wide area after release. Five bombs had Japanese "friendship" medals wired to them—medals awarded by the Japanese government to U.S. servicemen before the war.{{sfn|Coletta|1993|pp=73–86}}

The bombers' armament was reduced to increase range by decreasing weight. Each bomber launched with two [[.50-caliber machine gun|.50-caliber (12.7 mm) machine guns]] in an upper turret and a [[Light machine gun|.30-caliber (7.62 mm) machine gun]] in the nose. The aircraft were clustered closely and tied down on ''Hornet''{{'}}s flight deck in the order of launch.

''Hornet'' and Task Force 18 got underway from San Francisco Bay at 08:48 on 2 April with the 16 bombers in clear view.{{sfn|Glines|1988|p=50}} At noon the next day, parts to complete modifications that had not been finished at McClellan were lowered to the forward deck of ''Hornet'' by [[L-class blimp|Navy blimp ''L-8'']].{{sfn|Glines|1988|p=52}} A few days later, the carrier met with [[Task Force 16]], commanded by [[Vice Admiral (United States)|Vice Admiral]] [[William Halsey Jr.]]—the carrier {{USS|Enterprise|CV-6|6}} and her escort of [[cruiser]]s and [[destroyer]]s in the mid-Pacific Ocean north of Hawaii. ''Enterprise''{{'}}s fighters and scout planes provided protection for the entire task force in the event of a Japanese air attack, since ''Hornet''{{'}}s fighters were stowed below decks to allow the B-25s to use the flight deck.

The combined force was two carriers (''Hornet'' and ''Enterprise''), three heavy cruisers ({{USS|Salt Lake City|CA-25|2}}, {{USS|Northampton|CA-26|2}}, {{USS|Vincennes|CA-44|2}}), one light cruiser ({{USS|Nashville|CL-43|2}}), eight destroyers ({{USS|Balch|DD-363|2}}, {{USS|Fanning|DD-385|2}}, {{USS|Benham|DD-397|2}}, {{USS|Ellet|DD-398|2}}, {{USS|Gwin|DD-433|2}}, {{USS|Meredith|DD-434|2}}, {{USS|Grayson|DD-435|2}}, {{USS|Monssen|DD-436|2}}), and two fleet oilers ({{USS|Cimarron|AO-22|2}} and {{USS|Sabine|AO-25|2}}). The ships proceeded in radio silence. On the afternoon of 17 April, the slow oilers refueled the task force, then withdrew with the destroyers to the east while the carriers and cruisers dashed west at {{convert|20|kn|lk=in|abbr=out}} toward their intended launch point in enemy-controlled waters east of Japan.{{sfn|Glines|1988|p=63}}
[[File:Marc A. Mitscher and James Doolittle.jpg|left|thumb|Orders in hand, Navy Captain [[Marc Mitscher]], skipper of USS ''Hornet'', chats with Lt. Col. James Doolittle.]]

At 07:38 on the morning of 18 April, while the task force was still about {{convert|650|nmi|sigfig=2}} from Japan (around {{coord|35|N|154|E}}), it was sighted by the Japanese [[picket boat]] No. 23'' Nittō Maru'', a 70-ton patrol craft, which radioed an attack warning to Japan.{{sfn|Chun|2006|p=45}} The boat was sunk by gunfire from ''Nashville''.{{refn|group=note |The order to ''Nashville'' did not go out until 07:52. Heavy seas made hitting the picket boat difficult even with rapid fire, and it was not sunk until 08:23.{{sfn|Glines|1988|p=7013}}}} The chief petty officer who captained the boat killed himself rather than be captured, but five of the 11 crew were picked up by ''Nashville''.{{sfn|Glines|1988|p=71}}

Doolittle and ''Hornet'' skipper Captain [[Marc Mitscher]] decided to launch the B-25s immediately—10 hours early and {{convert|170|nmi|sigfig=2}} farther from Japan than planned.{{refn|group=note |Doolittle, first off, was {{convert|610|nmi|sigfig=3}} from Tokyo at launch, while Farrow, last off, was {{convert|600|nmi|sigfig=3}} from landfall.{{sfn|Glines|1988|p=71}}}} After respotting to allow for engine start and runups, Doolittle's aircraft had {{convert|467|ft|m|0}} of takeoff distance.{{sfn|Craven|Cate|1983|p=442}} Although none of the B-25 pilots, including Doolittle, had ever taken off from a carrier before, all 16 aircraft launched safely between 08:20 and 09:19, though Doolittle's bomber was witnessed to have almost hit the water before pulling up at the last second. The B-25s then flew toward Japan, most in groups of two to four aircraft, before flying singly at wave-top level to avoid detection.{{sfn|Watson|1950|p=20}}

The aircraft began arriving over Japan about noon Tokyo time, six hours after launch, climbed to {{convert|1500|ft|m}} and bombed 10 military and industrial targets in Tokyo, two in [[Yokohama]], and one each in [[Yokosuka]], [[Nagoya]], [[Kobe]], and [[Osaka]]. Although some B-25s encountered light antiaircraft fire and a few enemy fighters (made up of [[Ki-45]]s and prototype [[Ki-61]]s, the latter being mistaken for [[Messerschmitt Bf 109|Bf 109]]s) over Japan, no bomber was shot down. Only the B-25 of 1st Lt. Richard O. Joyce received any battle damage, minor hits from antiaircraft fire.{{sfn|Craven|Cate|1983|p=442}} B-25 No. 4, piloted by 1st Lt. Everett W. Holstrom, jettisoned its bombs before reaching its target when it came under attack by fighters after its gun turret malfunctioned.{{sfn|Glines|1988|p=94}}

The Americans claimed to have shot down three Japanese fighters—one by the gunners of the ''Whirling Dervish'', piloted by 1st Lt. Harold Watson, and two by the gunners of the ''Hari Kari-er'', piloted by 1st Lt. Ross Greening. Many targets were strafed by the bombers' nose gunners. The subterfuge of the simulated gun barrels mounted in the tail cones was described afterwards by Doolittle as effective, in that no airplane was attacked directly from behind.{{sfn|Doolittle|1942}}

[[File:USS Hornet (CV-8) launching a B-25B Mitchell bomber during the Doolittle Raid on April 18, 1942.jpg|thumb|One of the Doolittle raiders launching, 18 April 1942]]

Fifteen of the 16 aircraft then proceeded southwest off the southeastern coast of Japan and across the [[East China Sea]] toward eastern China. One B-25, piloted by Captain Edward J. York, was extremely low on fuel, and headed instead for the Soviet Union rather than be forced to ditch in the middle of the East China Sea. Several fields in [[Zhejiang]] province were supposed to be ready to guide them in using homing beacons, then recover and refuel them for continuing on to Chongqing, the wartime [[Kuomintang]] capital.{{sfn|Craven|Cate|1983|p=440}} The primary base was at Zhuzhou, toward which all the aircraft navigated, but Halsey never sent the planned signal to alert them, apparently because of a possible threat to the task force.{{refn|group=note |The carburetors of the B-25s had been carefully adjusted and bench-marked at Eglin Field for maximum fuel efficiency in low level flight. Without Doolittle's knowledge and in violation of his orders, both carburetors on York's plane had been replaced by depot workers in Sacramento. The change was not discovered until the raiders were at sea, and the extra flying distance caused by the premature launch meant that the B-25 had no chance of reaching the Chinese coast. York, Doolittle's operations officer and the only West Pointer among the raiders, made decision in flight to divert to the closer USSR.}}{{sfn|Glines|1988|p=158}}

The raiders faced several unforeseen challenges during their flight to China: night was approaching, the aircraft were running low on fuel, and the weather was rapidly deteriorating. None would have reached China if not for a tail wind as they came off the target, which increased their ground speed by {{convert|25|kn|abbr=on}} for seven hours.{{sfn|Glines|1988|pp=81, 91}} The crews realized they would probably not be able to reach their intended bases in China, leaving them the option of either bailing out over eastern China or crash-landing along the Chinese coast.{{refn|group=note |Doolittle's after-action report stated that some B-25s were heard overflying the bases, but because the Chinese had not been alerted to the attack, they assumed it was a Japanese air raid.}}{{sfn|Doolittle|1942}}

All 15 aircraft reached the Chinese coast after 13 hours of flight and crash-landed or the crews [[Parachute|bailed out]]. One crewman, 20-year-old [[Corporal]] Leland D. Faktor, flight engineer/gunner with 1st Lt. Robert M. Gray, was killed during his bailout attempt over China, the only man in that crew to be lost. Two crews (10 men) were missing.

The 16th aircraft, commanded by Capt. Edward York (eighth off – AC #40-2242) flew to the Soviet Union and landed {{convert|40|mi|km}} beyond Vladivostok at [[Vozdvizhenka (air base)|Vozdvizhenka]]. As the USSR was not at war with Japan, and the [[Soviet–Japanese Neutrality Pact]] was officially in force, the Soviet government was officially unable to immediately repatriate any Allied personnel involved in hostilities who entered Soviet territory. Furthermore, at the time, the [[Soviet Far East]] was vulnerable to military action by Japanese forces. Consequently, in accordance with international law, the crew members were interned, despite official US requests for their release, and the B-25 was impounded. York would later report that he and his crew had been treated well by the Soviet authorities. Several months later, they were relocated to [[Ashgabat]] (Ashkhabad), in what was then the [[Turkmen Soviet Socialist Republic]], {{convert|20|mi|km}} from the Soviet-Iranian border. In mid-1943, they were allowed to cross the border into [[Anglo-Soviet invasion of Iran|Allied-occupied Iran]]. The Americans presented themselves to a British consulate on 11 May 1943.<ref name="bravemen" />{{sfn|Glines|1988|pp=166–168}} A cover story was concocted that York had bribed a smuggler to assist them in escaping from Soviet custody. The fact that the "smuggling" had been staged by the [[NKVD]] was later confirmed by declassified Soviet archives.<ref>{{cite web |last=Roshchupkin |first=Vladimir |script-title=ru:Секретная миссия подполковника Дулиттла |language=ru |trans-title=Lt. Colonel Doolittle's Secret Mission |date=12 December 2005 |website=Media portal Keeper |url=http://union.psj.ru/saver_magazins/detail.php?ID=5266 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170920092601/http://union.psj.ru/saver_magazins/detail.php?ID=5266 |archive-date=20 September 2017}}</ref>

Doolittle and his crew, after parachuting into China, received assistance from Chinese soldiers and civilians, as well as [[John Birch (missionary)|John Birch]], an American [[missionary]] in China. As did the others who participated in the mission, Doolittle had to bail out, but he landed in a heap of dung (saving a previously injured ankle from breaking) in a paddy in China near [[Quzhou]]. The mission was the longest ever flown in combat by the B-25 Mitchell medium bomber, averaging about {{convert|2250|nmi|km|sigfig=3}}.

==Aftermath==
{{more citations needed section|date=April 2017}}

===Fate of the missing crewmen===
[[File:DoolittleRaiders China h97502.jpg|thumb|Lt. Col. Doolittle with members of his flight crew and Chinese officials in China after the attack. From left to right: Staff Sgt. Fred A. Braemer, bombardier; Staff Sgt. Paul J. Leonard, flight engineer/gunner; Chao Foo Ki, secretary of the Western Chekiang Province Branch Government. 1st Lt. Richard E. Cole, copilot; Doolittle; Henry H. Shen, bank manager; Lt. Henry A. Potter, navigator; General Ho, director of the Branch Government of Western Chekiang Province.]]
Following the Doolittle Raid, most of the B-25 crews who had reached China eventually found safety with the help of Chinese civilians and soldiers.
Of the 16 planes and 80 airmen who participated in the raid, all either crash-landed, were ditched, or crashed after their crews bailed out, with the single exception of Capt. York and his crew, who landed in the Soviet Union. Despite the loss of these 15 aircraft, 69 airmen escaped capture or death, with only three [[killed in action]]. When the Chinese helped the Americans escape, the grateful Americans, in turn, gave them whatever they had on hand.{{Clarify|reason=Who gave, the American pilots or USA the nation? What was given?|date=April 2022}} The people who helped them paid dearly for sheltering the Americans. Most of them were tortured and executed for giving aid. During the search an estimated 250,000 Chinese lives were taken by the Japanese Imperial Army. Eight Raiders were [[Prisoner of war|captured]].
Some of the men who crashed were aided by [[Patrick Cleary]], the Irish [[Roman Catholic Diocese of Nancheng|Bishop of Nancheng]]. The Japanese troops retaliated by burning down the city.<ref name="Aided Doolittle's Raiders">{{cite news |url=https://www.newspapers.com/image/179480087/?terms=Bishop%2BPatrick%2BCleary |title=Columban Bishop Who Aided Doolittle's Raiders Dies |date=5 November 1970 |newspaper=The Catholic Advance |location=Wichita, Kansas |page=2 |via=newspapers.com |access-date=9 November 2020 |archive-date=8 October 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201008142741/https://www.newspapers.com/image/179480087/?terms=Bishop%2BPatrick%2BCleary |url-status=live }}</ref>

The crews of two aircraft (10 men in total) were unaccounted for: those of 1st Lt. Dean E. Hallmark (sixth off) and 1st Lt. William G. Farrow (last off). On 15 August 1942, the United States learned from the Swiss Consulate General in Shanghai that eight of the missing crew members were prisoners of the Japanese at the city's police headquarters. Two of the missing crewmen, bombardier [[staff sergeant|S/Sgt.]] [[William John Dieter|William J. Dieter]] and flight engineer Sgt. Donald E. Fitzmaurice of Hallmark's crew, were found to have drowned when their B-25 crashed into the sea. Both of their remains were recovered after the war and were buried with military honors at [[Golden Gate National Cemetery]].

The other eight were captured: 1st Lt. Dean E. Hallmark, 1st Lt. William G. Farrow, 1st Lt. [[Robert J. Meder]], 1st Lt. [[Chase Nielsen]], 1st Lt. [[1st Lt Robert L. Hite|Robert L. Hite]], 2nd Lt. George Barr, Cpl. Harold A. Spatz, and Cpl. [[Jake DeShazer|Jacob DeShazer]]. All eight captured in Jiangxi were tried and sentenced to death at a military trial in China, and then transported to Tokyo. There the Army Ministry reviewed their case, with five of the sentences being commuted and the other three being executed.<ref>Bix, "Hirohito and the Making of Modern Japan", p. 457</ref> Out of the 80 crewmen, three were killed in action, eight were captured, and three were killed in captivity by the Japanese.

The surviving captured airmen remained in military confinement on a starvation diet, their health rapidly deteriorating. In April 1943, they were moved to [[Nanjing]], where Meder died on 1 December 1943. The remaining men—Nielsen, Hite, Barr and DeShazer—eventually began receiving slightly better treatment and were given a copy of the Bible and a few other books. They were freed by American troops in August 1945. Four Japanese officers were tried for war crimes against the captured Doolittle Raiders, found guilty, and sentenced to hard labor, three for five years and one for nine years. Barr had been near death when liberated and remained in China recuperating until October, by which time he had begun to experience severe emotional problems. Untreated after transfer to [[Letterman Army Hospital]] and a military hospital in [[Clinton, Iowa]], Barr became suicidal and was held virtually incommunicado until November, when Doolittle's personal intervention resulted in treatment that led to his recovery.{{sfn|Glines|1988|pp=202–204}} DeShazer graduated from Seattle Pacific University in 1948 and returned to Japan as a missionary, where he served for over 30 years.<ref>DeShazer Dixon, Carol Aiko. [http://www.jacobdeshazer.com/ "Return of the Raider: A Doolittle Raider's Story of War and Forgiveness"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120622075719/http://www.jacobdeshazer.com/ |date=22 June 2012 }}. jacobdeshazer.com, 2010.</ref>

When their remains were recovered after the war, Farrow, Hallmark, and Meder were buried with full military honors at [[Arlington National Cemetery]]. Spatz was buried with military honors at [[National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific]]. Of the surviving prisoners, Barr died of heart failure in 1967, Nielsen in 2007, DeShazer on 15 March 2008, and the last, Hite, died 29 March 2015.

===Service of the returning crewmen===
[[File:208-PU-52-LL-12 (34371208606).jpg|thumb|Doolittle receiving the Medal of Honor in 1942 from President Roosevelt in a ceremony attended by (standing, L–R) Lt. Gen. H. H. Arnold, Josephine Doolittle, and Gen. George C. Marshall]]
Immediately following the raid, Doolittle told his crew that he believed the loss of all 16 aircraft, coupled with the relatively minor damage to targets, had rendered the attack a failure, and that he expected a [[court-martial]] upon his return to the United States.{{sfn|Doolittle|Glines|1991|p=12}} Instead, the raid bolstered American morale. Doolittle was promoted two grades to [[Brigadier general (United States)|brigadier general]] on 28 April while still in China, skipping the rank of colonel, and was presented with the [[Medal of Honor]] by Roosevelt upon his return to the United States in June. When General Doolittle toured the growing [[Eglin Field]] facility in July 1942 with commanding officer Col. [[Grandison Gardner]], the local paper of record (the ''Okaloosa News-Journal'', [[Crestview, Florida]]), while reporting his presence, made no mention of his still-secret recent training at Eglin. He went on to command the [[Twelfth Air Force]] in North Africa, the [[Fifteenth Air Force]] in the Mediterranean, and the Eighth Air Force in England during the next three years.

[[File:111-SC-21321AC (34281999011).jpg|thumb|An injured pilot<!--Who?--> receiving the Distinguished Flying Cross at Walter Reed Hospital from Maj. Gen. [[Millard Harmon|Millard F. Harmon]] in 1942]]
All 80 Raiders were awarded the [[Distinguished Flying Cross (United States)|Distinguished Flying Cross]], and those who were killed or wounded during the raid were awarded the [[Purple Heart]]. Every Doolittle Raider was also decorated by the Chinese government. In addition, Corporal David J. Thatcher (a flight engineer/gunner on Lawson's crew) and 1st Lt. Thomas R. White (flight surgeon/gunner with Smith) were awarded the [[Silver Star]] for helping the wounded crew members of Lt. Lawson's crew to evade Japanese troops in China. Finally, as Doolittle noted in his autobiography, he successfully insisted that all of the Raiders receive a promotion.{{full citation needed|date=September 2019}}

Twenty-eight of the crewmen remained in the [[China Burma India Theater of World War II|China Burma India theater]], including the entire crews of planes 4, 10, and 13, flying missions, most for more than a year; five were killed in action.{{refn|group=note |27 of the 28 flew B-25 combat missions with the 7th and 341st Bomb Groups. Three died on 3 June 1942 when their B-25s collided with a mountain in poor weather after bombing Lashio airfield in Burma, and two others on 18 October in the takeoff crash of their B-25 from Dinjan, India, on a bombing mission. 2nd Lt. Richard E. Cole, Doolittle's co-pilot, volunteered to fly air transport missions over [[the Hump]], which he did until May 1943, earning a second DFC.}}{{sfn|Okerstrom|2015|pp=140–141}} Nineteen crew members flew combat missions in the [[Mediterranean Theater of Operations|Mediterranean theater]] after returning to the United States, four of whom were killed in action and four becoming prisoners of war.{{refn|group=note |Jones, pilot of plane 5, flew missions in both the CBI and the Mediterranean, and was one of the four POWs.}} Nine crew members served in the [[European Theater of Operations]]; one was killed in action, and one, [[David M. Jones|David M. "Davy" Jones]], was shot down and became a POW in [[Stalag Luft III]] at Sagan, where he played a part in [[Stalag Luft III escape|The Great Escape]].<ref>{{cite book |last=Brickhill |first=Paul |author-link=Paul Brickhill |title=[[The Great Escape (book)|The Great Escape]] |location=New York |publisher=W.W. Norton & Co. |date=1950}}</ref> Altogether, 12 of the survivors died in air crashes within 15 months of the raid. Two survivors were separated from the USAAF in 1944 due to the severity of their injuries.<ref name="bravemen">Joyce, Todd. [http://www.doolittleraider.com/80_brave_men.htm "80 Brave Men: The Doolittle Tokyo Raiders Roster"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110520133800/http://doolittleraider.com/80_brave_men.htm |date=20 May 2011 }}. The Doolittle Tokyo Raiders, 10 December 2008. Retrieved 12 May 2009.</ref>

The 17th Bomb Group, from which the Doolittle Raiders had been recruited, received replacement crews and transferred to [[Barksdale Air Force Base|Barksdale Army Air Field]] in June 1942, where it converted to Martin B-26 Marauder medium bombers. In November 1942, it deployed overseas to North Africa, where it operated in the Mediterranean Theater of Operations with the Twelfth Air Force for the remainder of the war.

===Zhejiang-Jiangxi campaign===
{{main|Zhejiang-Jiangxi campaign}}
After the raid, the Japanese Imperial Army began the [[Zhejiang-Jiangxi campaign]] (also known as Operation Sei-go) to prevent these eastern coastal provinces of China from being used again for an attack on Japan and to take revenge on the Chinese people. An area of some {{convert|20000|sqmi|km2|abbr=on|sigfig=1}} was laid waste. "Like a swarm of locusts, they left behind nothing but destruction and chaos", eyewitness Father Wendelin Dunker wrote.{{sfn|Scott|2015}} The Japanese killed an estimated 10,000 Chinese civilians during their search for Doolittle's men.{{sfn|Yamamoto|2000|p=166}} People who aided the airmen were tortured before they were killed. Father Dunker wrote of the destruction of the town of Ihwang: "They shot any man, woman, child, cow, hog, or just about anything that moved, They raped any woman from the ages of 10–65, and before burning the town they thoroughly looted it&nbsp;... None of the humans shot were buried either".{{sfn|Scott|2015}} The Japanese entered [[Nancheng County|Nancheng]] ([[Jiangxi]]), population 50,000 on June 11, "beginning a reign of terror so horrendous that missionaries would later dub it 'the Rape of Nancheng{{'"}}, evoking memories of the infamous [[Nanjing Massacre|Rape of Nanjing]] five years before. Less than a month later, the Japanese forces put what remained of the city to the torch. "This planned burning was carried on for three days," one Chinese newspaper reported, "and the city of Nancheng became charred earth."{{sfn|Scott|2015}}

When Japanese troops moved out of the Zhejiang and Jiangxi areas in mid-August, they left behind a trail of devastation. Chinese estimates put the civilian death toll at 250,000. The Imperial Japanese Army had also spread [[cholera]], [[typhoid]], [[Plague (disease)|plague]] infected fleas and [[dysentery]] pathogens. The Japanese biological warfare [[Unit 731]] brought almost 300 pounds of [[paratyphoid]] and [[anthrax]] to be left in contaminated food and contaminated wells with the withdrawal of the army from areas around Yushan, Kinhwa and Futsin. Around 1,700 Japanese troops died out of a total 10,000 Japanese soldiers who fell ill with disease when their biological weapons attack rebounded on their own forces.<ref>[https://books.google.com/books?id=lILltXBTo8oC&dq=10%2C000+summer+1942+biological+weapons+chekiang&pg=PA19 Chevrier & Chomiczewski & Garrigue 2004], p. 19.</ref><ref>[https://books.google.com/books?id=ZzlNgS70OHAC&dq=10%2C000+summer+1942+biological+weapons&pg=PA171 Croddy & Wirtz 2005], p. 171.</ref>

[[Shunroku Hata]], the commander of Japanese forces involved in the massacre of the 250,000 Chinese civilians, was sentenced in 1948 in part due to his "failure to prevent atrocities". He was given a life sentence but was paroled in 1954.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://lib.law.virginia.edu/imtfe/person/144 |title=The Tokyo War Crimes Trial: Field Marshal Shunroku Hata |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130320123147/http://lib.law.virginia.edu/imtfe/person/144 |archive-date=March 20, 2013 }}</ref>

=== Battle of the Coral Sea ===
{{Main|Battle of the Coral Sea}}
Admiral Nimitz attempted to commit ''Enterprise'' and ''Hornet'' to support {{USS|Lexington|CV-2|6}} and {{USS|Yorktown|CV-5|6}} against Japanese forces involved in [[Operation Mo]]. However, the close timing between the Doolittle Raid and the eventual Battle of the Coral Sea prevented ''Enterprise'' and ''Hornet'' from being able to take part in the battle in early May 1942.<ref>{{cite book |last=Cox |first=Samuel |date=2017 |title=The Battle of the Coral Sea / Naval History and Heritage Command, U.S. Navy. |url=https://www.history.navy.mil/content/dam/nhhc/browse-by-topic/War%20and%20Conflict/WWII-Pacific-Battles/Coral%20Sea%2017504.pdf|publisher=Naval History and Heritage Command |location=Washington Navy Yard, Washington, D.C. |page=foreword |isbn=978-1-943604-06-7}}</ref>

=== Additional perspectives ===
Doolittle recounted in his autobiography that at the time he thought the mission was a failure and he would be demoted upon return to the US.{{sfn|Doolittle|Glines|1991|pp=7, 10, 267}}

This mission showed that a B-25 takeoff from a carrier was easier than previously thought, and night operations could be possible in the future. [[Shuttle bombing]] runs (taking off and landing at different air bases) were shown to be an effective carrier task force tactic since there was no need for the ships to wait for the returning aircraft.{{sfn|Doolittle|Glines|1991|pp=7, 10, 267}}

The American pilots, instead of landing as planned, were forced to bail out due to a lack of ground lighting to provide guidance. Chinese airfield crews recounted that due to the unexpected early arrival of the B-25s, homing beacon and runway torch lights were not on for fear of possible Japanese airstrikes (as had happened previously). If [[Claire Lee Chennault]] had been informed of the mission specifics, the outcome might have been very much better for the Americans: Chennault had built an effective air surveillance net in China that would have been able to provide updated arrival information about the raiders to the airfield crews, and could have confirmed that there was no risk of Japanese airstrikes, allowing the landing lights to be lit at the time necessary to allow safe landings.{{sfn|Doolittle|Glines|1991|pp=7, 10, 267}}

Chiang Kai-Shek awarded the raiders China's highest military decorations,{{sfn|Doolittle|Glines|1991|p=281}} and predicted (in his diary) that Japan would alter its goals and strategy as a result of the disgrace.{{refn|group=note |The diaries are in the Hoover Institute of Stanford University.}} Indeed, the raid was a shock to staff at Japanese Imperial General Headquarters. As a direct consequence, Japan attacked territories in China to prevent similar shuttle bombing runs. High command withdrew substantial air force resources from supporting offensive operations in order to defend the home islands. The [[Aleutian Islands campaign]] was launched to prevent the US from using the islands as bomber bases to attack Japan—this required two carriers that otherwise would have been used for the [[Battle of Midway]]. Thus, the raid's most significant strategic accomplishment was that it compelled the Japanese high command into ordering a very inefficient disposition of their forces, and poor decision-making due to fear of attack, for the rest of the war.<ref>{{cite magazine |title=War in the Pacific: View from Japan |trans-magazine=[[Bungeishunjū (magazine)|Bungeishunjū]] |script-magazine=ja:文藝春秋 |language=ja |date=1994}}</ref>

[[Mitsuo Fuchida]] and [[Shigeyoshi Miwa]] considered the "one-way" raid "excellent strategy", with the bombers evading Army fighters by flying "much lower than anticipated". Kuroshima said the raid "passed like a shiver over Japan" and Miwa criticized the Army for claiming to have shot down nine aircraft rather than "not even one".{{sfn|Prange|Goldstein|Dillon|1982|p=25}}

== Effect ==
[[File:Doolittle Raid Over Tokyo.ogv|thumb|1943 U.S. [[newsreel]] about the raid]]
Compared with the future devastating [[Boeing B-29 Superfortress]] [[Air raids on Japan|attacks against Japan]], the Doolittle raid did little material damage, and all of it was easily repaired. Preliminary reports stated 12 were killed and more than 100 were wounded.{{sfn|Scott|2016|loc=ch. 18}} Eight primary and five secondary targets were struck. In Tokyo, the targets included an oil tank farm, a steel mill, and several power plants. In Yokosuka, at least one bomb from the B-25 piloted by 1st Lt. Edgar E. McElroy struck the nearly completed [[Light aircraft carrier|light carrier]] {{Ship|Japanese aircraft carrier|Ryūhō||2}},{{sfn|Craven|Cate|1983|p=442}} delaying her launch until November. Six schools and an army hospital were also hit. Japanese officials reported the two aircraft whose crews were captured had struck their targets.<ref>Shepherd, Joel. [http://www.cv6.org/1942/doolittle/doolittle_2.htm "USS Enterprise CV-6: The most decorated ship of the Second World War"]. {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100920172237/http://cv6.org/1942/doolittle/doolittle_2.htm |date=20 September 2010 }}. ''cv6.org''. Retrieved 19 April 2010.</ref>

[[File:Letter of Gratitude to the Doolittle Raiders.jpg|thumb|Letter of Gratitude to the Doolittle Raiders by the Government of the Republic of China and signed by [[Soong Mei-ling]] (1942)]]
Allied ambassadors and staff in Tokyo were still interned until agreement was reached about their repatriation via the neutral port of [[Lourenço Marques]] in Portuguese East Africa in June–July 1942. When [[Joseph Grew]] (US) realized the low-flying planes overhead were American (not Japanese planes on maneuvers) he thought they may have flown from the [[Aleutian Islands]]. The Japanese press claimed that nine had been shot down, but there were no pictures of crashed planes. Embassy staff were "very happy and proud" and the British said that they "drank toasts all day to the American flyers".{{sfn|Grew|1944|pp=526–527}} Sir [[Robert Craigie (diplomat)|Robert Craigie]], the interned [[British Ambassador to Japan]] who was under house arrest in Tokyo at the time, said that Japanese staff had been amused at the embassy's air raid precautions as the idea of an attack on Tokyo was "laughable" with the Allies in retreat, but the guards now showed "considerable excitement and perturbation". Several false alarms followed, and in poorer districts people rushed into the streets shouting and gesticulating, losing their normal "iron control" over their emotions and showing a "tendency to panic". The police guards on Allied and neutral missions were doubled to foil reprisal attacks; and the guard on the German mission was tripled.{{sfn|Craigie|1945|pp=146–147}}

Despite the minimal damage inflicted, American morale, still reeling from the attack on Pearl Harbor and Japan's subsequent territorial gains, soared when news of the raid was released.{{sfn|Glines|1988|p=219}} The Japanese press was told to describe the attack as a cruel, indiscriminate bombing against civilians, including women and children. After the war, the casualty count was 87 dead, 151 serious injuries, and more than 311 minor injuries; children were among those killed, and newspapers asked their parents to share their opinion on how the captured raiders should be treated.{{sfn|Scott|2016|loc=ch. 18}}

The Japanese Navy attempted to locate and pursue the American task force. The [[2nd Fleet (Imperial Japanese Navy)|Second Fleet]], its main striking force, was near [[Formosa]], returning from the [[Indian Ocean Raid]] to refit and replace its air losses. Spearheaded by five aircraft carriers and its best naval aircraft and aircrews, the Second Fleet was immediately ordered to locate and destroy the U.S. carrier force, but failed to do so, due to the American fleet choosing to head back to Hawaii (had they stayed after all, they would've found themselves attacked by the carriers ''Akagi'', {{ship|Japanese aircraft carrier|Sōryū||2}} and {{ship|Japanese aircraft carrier|Hiryū||2}}).{{sfn|Glines|1988|pp=75–76}}{{sfn|Craven|Cate|1983|p=441}} Nagumo and his staff on ''Akagi'' heard that an American force was near Japan but expected an attack on the next day.

The Imperial Japanese Navy also bore a special responsibility for allowing an American aircraft carrier force to approach the Japanese Home Islands in a manner similar to the IJN fleet to Hawaii in 1941, and permitting it to escape undamaged.{{refn|group=note |The Japanese, through a small amount of intercepted radio traffic between Halsey and Mitscher, were aware that an American carrier force was at large in the [[Western Pacific Ocean]] and could possibly attack Japan.{{sfn|Glines|1988|pp=60–62}}}} The fact that medium, normally land-based bombers carried out the attack confused the IJN's high command. This confusion and the knowledge that Japan was now vulnerable to air attack strengthened [[Isoroku Yamamoto|Yamamoto's]] resolve to destroy the American carrier fleet, which was not present in the [[Pearl Harbor Attack]], resulting in a decisive Japanese defeat several weeks later at the [[Battle of Midway]].{{sfnm|Glines|1988|1p=218|2a1=Prange|2a2=Goldstein|2a3=Dillon|2y=1982|2pp=22–26|Gill|1968|3p=24}}

{{blockquote|It was hoped that the damage done would be both material and psychological. Material damage was to be the destruction of specific targets with ensuing confusion and retardation of production. The psychological results, it was hoped, would be the recalling of combat equipment from other theaters for home defense thus effecting relief in those theaters, the development of a fear complex in Japan, improved relationships with our Allies, and a favorable reaction on the American people.|General James H. Doolittle, 9 July 1942.{{sfnm|Doolittle|1942|Glines|1988|2pp=215–216}}}}

After the raid the Americans were worried in April about the "still very badly undermanned west coast" and Chief of Staff [[George Marshall]] discussed a "possible attack by the Japanese upon our plants in San Diego and then a flight by those Japs down into Mexico after they have made their attack". So Secretary Stimson asked State to "touch base with their people south of the border", and Marshall flew to the West Coast on 22 May.{{sfn|Prange|Goldstein|Dillon|1982|p=66}}

An unusual consequence of the raid came after when—in the interests of secrecy—President Roosevelt answered a reporter's question by saying that the raid had been launched from "[[Shangri-La]]",<ref>{{Cite magazine|date=Winter 2008|volume=40|number=4|title=Camp David|url=https://www.archives.gov/publications/prologue/2008/winter/camp-david.html|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200503010745/https://www.archives.gov/publications/prologue/2008/winter/camp-david.html|archive-date=2020-05-03|access-date=2020-09-03|magazine=National Archives - Prologue Magazine|language=en|quote=Officially a U.S. Navy installation, the facility was originally built by the Works Progress Administration as a camp for government employees, opening in 1938. President Franklin D. Roosevelt took it over in a few years and named it 'Shangri-La', for the mountain kingdom in Lost Horizon, the 1933 novel by James Hilton. It was renamed in 1953 by President Dwight D. Eisenhower in honor of his then-five-year-old grandson, Dwight David Eisenhower II. }}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|date=1943-04-20|title=One year later, Tokyo raid story told|url=https://www.upi.com/Archives/1943/04/20/One-year-later-Tokyo-raid-story-told/8761134802538/|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200831134921/https://www.upi.com/Archives/1943/04/20/One-year-later-Tokyo-raid-story-told/8761134802538/|archive-date=2020-08-31|access-date=2020-09-04|website=UPI|language=en|quote=The aircraft carrier ''Hornet'' was the 'Shangri-La' from which 16 American bombers under Maj. Gen. James H. (Jimmy) Doolittle bombed Japan a year ago and all but one of the planes was wrecked on or off the China Coast after carrying out their mission 'with complete success', the first official story of the memorable raid revealed Tuesday night. A detailed War Department account of the raid said the only plane which came through unscathed was one which made a forced landing on Russian territory where its crew was interned.}}</ref> the fictional faraway land of the [[James Hilton (novelist)|James Hilton]] novel ''[[Lost Horizon]]''. The true details of the raid were revealed to the public one year later, in April 1943.<ref>[https://www.upi.com/Archives/1943/04/20/One-year-later-Tokyo-raid-story-told/8761134802538/ "One year later, Tokyo raid story told"]. {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170924184856/https://www.upi.com/Archives/1943/04/20/One-year-later-Tokyo-raid-story-told/8761134802538/ |date=24 September 2017 }}. ''UPI'', 20 April 1943.</ref> The Navy, in 1944, commissioned the {{sclass|Essex|aircraft carrier|1}} {{USS|Shangri-La|CV-38|6}}, with Doolittle's wife Josephine as the sponsor.

== After the war ==
[[File:Doolittle Raider reunion - Ft. Walton (1957).jpg|thumb|Members of the Doolittle Raid at the 15th anniversary reunion at [[Fort Walton Beach, Florida]], in 1957]]
[[File:McCalpin and Cole 66th anniversary.jpg|thumb|WWII Army veteran George A. McCalpin (right) talking to Lt. Col. [[Richard E. Cole]] (seated) about McCalpin's cousin, raider [[William John Dieter|Sgt. William 'Billy Jack' Dieter]], at the 66th anniversary reunion at the University of Texas at Dallas in April 2008]]
{{external media| float = right| width=230px | video1 = [https://www.c-span.org/video/?195338-2/doolittle-raiders Panel discussion with William Bower, Richard E. Cole, Thomas Griffin, Edwin Horton, and C. V. Glines, 10 November 2006], [[C-SPAN]]}}

The Doolittle Raiders held an annual reunion almost every year from the late 1940s to 2013. The high point of each reunion was a solemn, private ceremony in which the surviving Raiders performed a roll call, then [[Toast (honor)|toasted]] their fellow Raiders who had died during the previous year. Specially engraved silver [[Chalice|goblets]], one for each of the 80 Raiders, were used for this toast; the goblets of those who had died were inverted. Each Raider's name was engraved on his goblet both right side up and upside down. The Raiders drank a toast using a bottle of [[cognac (drink)|cognac]] that accompanied the goblets to each Raider reunion.<ref>Rightmyer, Don. [http://stories.usafa73.org/1rightmyer.html "A Gut Check of Sorts: The Doolittle Brandy"]. {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140222204801/http://stories.usafa73.org/1rightmyer.html |date=22 February 2014 }} USAFA Class of 1973. Retrieved 27 January 2015.</ref> In 2013, the remaining Raiders decided to hold their last public reunion at [[Fort Walton Beach, Florida]], not far from Eglin Air Force Base, where they trained for the original mission. The bottle and the goblets had been maintained by the [[United States Air Force Academy]] on display in [[Hap Arnold|Arnold]] Hall, the cadet social center, until 2006. On 19 April 2006, these [[memorabilia]] were transferred to the [[National Museum of the United States Air Force]] at [[Wright-Patterson AFB]], Ohio.<ref>[http://www.defenselink.mil/news/newsarticle.aspx?id=15406 " 'Doolittle Goblets' Find New Home"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070414002417/http://www.defenselink.mil/news/newsarticle.aspx?id=15406 |date=14 April 2007 }}. ''Department of Defense News''. Retrieved 24 April 2010.</ref>

On 18 April 2013, a final reunion for the surviving Raiders was held at Eglin Air Force Base, with Robert Hite the only survivor unable to attend.<ref>Nelson-Gabriel, Melissa. [http://www.military.com/daily-news/2013/04/18/doolittle-raiders-hold-final-reunion.html "Doolittle Raiders hold final reunion"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130708125850/http://www.military.com/daily-news/2013/04/18/doolittle-raiders-hold-final-reunion.html |date=8 July 2013 }}. Military.com, 15 February 2014.</ref>

The "final toast to fallen comrades" by the surviving raiders took place at the NMUSAF on 9 November 2013, preceded by a B-25 flyover, and was attended by Richard Cole, Edward Saylor, and David Thatcher.<ref>Kenney, Jerry. [https://www.npr.org/2013/11/11/244452597/doolittle-raiders-dwindle-in-numbers "Doolittle Raiders Offer Final Toast To 71-Year-Old Mission"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170924225101/http://www.npr.org/2013/11/11/244452597/doolittle-raiders-dwindle-in-numbers |date=24 September 2017 }}. NPR. Retrieved 21 November 2013.</ref>

Seven other men, including Lt. Miller and raider historian Col. Carroll V. Glines, are considered honorary Raiders for their efforts for the mission.<ref name="bravemen" />

The Children of the Doolittle Raiders organization was founded on 18 April 2006, authorized by the Doolittle Raiders organization and the surviving members at the time. Descendants of the Doolittle Raiders organize fundraisers for a scholarship fund and continue to organize the Doolittle Raiders reunions. The 2019 reunion was held at Lt. Col. [[Richard E. Cole]]'s memorial service.<ref name="nwfdailynews">{{cite web |last=Parker |first=Kaylin |date=18 April 2019 |title=Family members, guests toast Doolittle Raiders at Air Force Armament Museum |work=Northwest Florida Daily News |url=https://www.nwfdailynews.com/news/20190418/family-members-guests-toast-doolittle-raiders-at-air-force-armament-museum |access-date=5 October 2020 |archive-date=30 July 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200730011854/https://www.nwfdailynews.com/news/20190418/family-members-guests-toast-doolittle-raiders-at-air-force-armament-museum |url-status=live }}</ref>

===Last surviving airmen===
Col. [[Bill Bower]], the last surviving Doolittle raider aircraft commander, died on 10 January 2011 at age 93 in [[Boulder, Colorado]].<ref name=camera>{{cite news |author=<!-- staff writer; no by-line.--> |title=Col. William Marsh 'Bill' Bower, February 13, 1917 – January 10, 2011 |department=Obituaries |date=12 January 2011 |work=[[Boulder Daily Camera]] |url=https://www.dailycamera.com/2011/01/10/col-william-marsh-bill-bower/ |access-date=5 October 2020 |archive-date=10 October 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181010095353/http://www.dailycamera.com/obits/ci_17057961?source=most_emailed |url-status=live }}</ref><ref name=wp>Rees Shapiro, T. [https://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2011/01/13/AR2011011306740.html "Bill Bower, last surviving bomber pilot of WWII Doolittle Raid, dies at 93"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190110003640/http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2011/01/13/AR2011011306740.html |date=10 January 2019 }}. ''[[The Washington Post]]'', 15 January 2011. Retrieved 30 January 2011.</ref>

Lt. Col. [[Edward Saylor]], the then-enlisted engineer/gunner of aircraft No. 15 during the raid, died 28 January 2015 of natural causes at his home in [[Sumner, Washington]], at the age of 94.<ref name=latimes>Chawkins, Steve. [http://www.latimes.com/local/obituaries/la-me-edward-saylor-20150203-story.html "Edward Saylor dies at 94; Doolittle Raider who flew risky WWII raid"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150210233155/http://www.latimes.com/local/obituaries/la-me-edward-saylor-20150203-story.html |date=10 February 2015 }}. ''[[Los Angeles Times]]'', 2 February 2015. Retrieved 22 February 2015.</ref>

Lt. Col. Robert L. Hite, co-pilot of aircraft No. 16, died at a nursing home in [[Nashville, Tennessee]], at the age of 95 on 29 March 2015.<ref name="Times-Hite obit">{{cite news |title=Robert Hite, 95, Survivor of Doolittle Raid and Japanese Imprisonment, Dies |last=Roberts |first=Sam |date=30 March 2015 |newspaper=The New York Times |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2015/03/31/us/robert-l-hite-survivor-of-doolittle-raid-and-japanese-imprisonment-dies-at-95.html |access-date=5 October 2020 |archive-date=5 November 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201105235031/http://www.nytimes.com/2015/03/31/us/robert-l-hite-survivor-of-doolittle-raid-and-japanese-imprisonment-dies-at-95.html |url-status=live }}</ref><ref name=foxnews>[http://www.foxnews.com/us/2015/03/30/lt-col-robert-hite-doolittle-tokyo-raiders-dies-at-5/?intcmp=latestnews "Lt. Col. Robert Hite, of 'Doolittle Tokyo Raiders,' dead at 95"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150331052023/http://www.foxnews.com/us/2015/03/30/lt-col-robert-hite-doolittle-tokyo-raiders-dies-at-5/?intcmp=latestnews |date=31 March 2015 }}. Fox News, 30 March 2015.</ref> Hite was the last living prisoner of the Doolittle Raid.

S/Sgt. David J. Thatcher, gunner of aircraft No. 7, died on 22 June 2016 in [[Missoula, Montana]], at the age of 94.

Lt Col. [[Richard E. Cole]], Doolittle's copilot in aircraft No. 1, was the last surviving Doolittle Raider<ref>Joyce, Todd. [http://www.doolittleraider.com/raiders/cole.htm "Richard E. Cole, 0-421602, Colonel, Co-Pilot Crew 1"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121009120546/http://www.doolittleraider.com/raiders/cole.htm |date=9 October 2012 }}. Doolittle Tokyo Raiders, 2012. Retrieved 11 October 2012.</ref> and the only one to live to an older age than Doolittle, who died in 1993 at age 96.{{refn|group=note |Frank Kappeler and Thomas Griffin also lived to age 96, but did not live as many months as Doolittle.}} Cole was the only Raider still alive when the wreckage of ''Hornet'' was found in late January 2019 by the [[research vessel]] {{RV|Petrel||2}} at a depth of more than {{convert|17000|ft}} off the Solomon Islands.<ref>{{cite news|title=Wreckage of World War II aircraft carrier USS ''Hornet'' discovered|url=https://www.cbsnews.com/news/uss-hornet-wreckage-world-war-two-warship-discovered/|website=CBS News|date=12 February 2019|access-date=12 February 2019|archive-date=26 October 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191026145829/https://www.cbsnews.com/news/uss-hornet-wreckage-world-war-two-warship-discovered/|url-status=live}}</ref> Cole died 9 April 2019, at the age of 103.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.af.mil/News/Article-Display/Article/1809760/lt-col-dick-cole-last-surviving-doolittle-raider-passes-away-at-age-103/|title=Lt Col Dick Cole, last surviving Doolittle Raider, passes away at age 103|last=Stephens|first=Andrew|date=9 April 2019|work=Af.mil|publisher=United Air Force|access-date=10 April 2019|archive-date=10 April 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190410112945/https://www.af.mil/News/Article-Display/Article/1809760/lt-col-dick-cole-last-surviving-doolittle-raider-passes-away-at-age-103/|url-status=live}}</ref>

===Doolittle Raid exhibits===
The most extensive display of Doolittle Raid memorabilia is at the [[National Museum of the United States Air Force]] (on Wright-Patterson Air Force Base) in [[Dayton, Ohio]]. The centerpiece is a like-new B-25, which is painted and marked as Doolittle's aircraft, ''40-2344'', (rebuilt by [[North American Aviation]] to B-25B configuration from an F-10D photo reconnaissance version of the B-25D). The bomber, which North American Aviation presented to the Raiders in 1958, rests on a reproduction of ''Hornet''{{'}}s flight deck. Several authentically dressed mannequins surround the aircraft, including representations of Doolittle, ''Hornet'' Captain [[Marc Mitscher]], and groups of Army and Navy men loading the bomber's bombs and ammunition. Also exhibited are the silver goblets used by the Raiders at each of their annual reunions, pieces of flight clothing and personal equipment, a parachute used by one of the Raiders in his bailout over China, and group photographs of all 16 crews, and other items.

The last B-25 to be retired from the U.S. Air Force inventory is displayed at the [[Air Force Armament Museum]] at Eglin AFB, also in the markings of Gen. Doolittle's aircraft.<ref>{{cite news |department=Special |title=B-25 Makes Last Flight During Ceremony at Eglin |newspaper=Playground Daily News |location=Fort Walton Beach, Florida |date=26 May 1960 |volume=15 |number=17 (actually No. 18) |page=2}}</ref>

A fragment of the wreckage of one of the aircraft, and the medals awarded to Doolittle, are on display at the [[Smithsonian Institution|Smithsonian]] [[National Air and Space Museum]] in Washington, DC.

The 2006 [[Pacific Aviation Museum Pearl Harbor]] on [[Ford Island]], [[Oahu|Oʻahu]], Hawaii, also has a 1942 exhibit in which the centerpiece is a restored B-25 in the markings of ''The Ruptured Duck'' used on the Doolittle Raid.<ref>[http://www.pacificaviationmuseum.org/exhibits/aircrafts.html "B-25 Mitchell"] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20101103043045/http://pacificaviationmuseum.org/exhibits/aircrafts.html |date=3 November 2010 }}. Pacific Aviation Museum Pearl Harbor. Retrieved 14 November 2010.</ref>

The [[San Marcos, Texas]], chapter of the [[Commemorative Air Force]] has in its museum the [[armor plate]] from the pilot seat of the B-25 Doolittle flew in the raid.

The interchange of Edmund Highway (South Carolina 302) and [[Interstate 26 in South Carolina|Interstate 26]] nearest the former [[Columbia Army Air Base]] is designated the Doolittle Raiders Interchange.

In [[China]], a memorial hall honoring the Doolittle Raiders and the Chinese who provided them with assistance in aftermath of the raid is located at the city of [[Jiangshan]] in [[Quzhou, Zhejiang]].<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.arkansasonline.com/news/2018/nov/11/china-the-second-time-around-20181111/|title=China, the second time around|first=Jeff|last=Thatcher|newspaper=Arkansas Democrat Gazette|date=2018-11-11|access-date=2022-12-16}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://zhejiang.chinadaily.com.cn/equzhou/2018-10/26/c_300997.htm|title=Airman's daughter thankful to museum|first=Zhenhuan|last=Ma|newspaper=China Daily|date=2018-10-26|access-date=2022-12-16}}</ref>
[[File:Doolittle exhibit at Hornet Museum.jpg|thumb|Doolittle Exhibit aboard USS ''Hornet'' Museum - August, 2015]]
A small exhibit about the Doolittle Raid exists (or used to?) at the [https://uss-hornet.org/ USS ''Hornet'' Museum] in Alameda, California.

=== Doolittle Raiders re-enactment ===
[[File:USS Ranger (CV-61) B-25 Mitchell Doolittle reenactment.jpg|thumb|The restored World War II B-25 ''Heavenly Body'' taking off from the deck of {{USS|Ranger|CV-61|2}}]]
On 21 April 1992, in conjunction with other Department of Defense World War II 50th-Anniversary Commemorative Events, two B-25 Mitchell bombers, B-25J ''Heavenly Body'' and B-25J ''In The Mood'', were hoisted aboard {{USS|Ranger|CV-61|6}}. The bombers participated in a commemorative re-enactment of the Doolittle Raid on Tokyo, taking off from ''Ranger''{{'}}s flight deck before more than 1,500 guests.<ref name="USS Ranger Legacy">{{cite web |url= http://www.navy.mil/navydata/nav_legacy.asp?id=66 |title= USS Ranger (CVA-61) |publisher= US Navy Legacy |date= 15 June 2009 |access-date= 20 September 2016 |archive-date= 11 December 2016 |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20161211205515/http://www.navy.mil/navydata/nav_legacy.asp?id=66 |url-status= dead }}</ref> The launch took place off the coast of San Diego.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://usnhistory.navylive.dodlive.mil/2017/04/07/in-1992-doolittle-raid-revisited/|title=The Sextant – 'In 1992, Doolittle Raid revisited'|access-date=9 February 2020|archive-date=29 July 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200729234308/https://usnhistory.navylive.dodlive.mil/2017/04/07/in-1992-doolittle-raid-revisited/|url-status=live}}</ref> Four B-25s were approved by the US Navy for the reenactment with two selected. The other two participants were B-25J ''Executive Sweet'' and B-25J ''Pacific Princess''. Following the launch, eight B-25s flew up the coast where General Doolittle and his son John P. Doolittle watched as each B-25 came in for a low pass, dropping 250 red, white, and blue carnations into the surf, concluding the event.

=== Congressional Gold Medal ===
[[File:Doolittle Raiders Congressional Gold Medal.jpg|thumb|Doolittle Raiders Lt. Col. Richard Cole, co-pilot of Crew No. 1 (right), and Staff Sgt. David Thatcher, engineer-gunner of Crew No. 7, with the Congressional Gold Medal (2015)]]
On 19 May 2014, the [[United States House of Representatives]] passed {{USBill|113|H.R.|1209}}, to award the Doolittle Raiders a [[Congressional Gold Medal]] for "outstanding heroism, valor, skill, and service to the United States in conducting the bombings of Tokyo."<ref name=1209sum>[http://beta.congress.gov/bill/113th-congress/house-bill/1209 "H.R. 1209 – Summary"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140521031215/http://beta.congress.gov/bill/113th-congress/house-bill/1209 |date=21 May 2014 }}. United States Congress. Retrieved 20 May 2014.</ref><ref>{{cite web |last=Marcos |first=Cristina |title=House votes to award medals to 'Monuments Men,' Jack Nicklaus |date=19 May 2014 |work=The Hill |url=https://thehill.com/blogs/floor-action/house/206578-house-votes-to-award-medals-to-monuments-men-jack-nicklaus/ |access-date=20 May 2014 |archive-date=20 May 2014 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140520065531/http://thehill.com/blogs/floor-action/house/206578-house-votes-to-award-medals-to-monuments-men-jack-nicklaus |url-status=live }}</ref> The award ceremony took place at the Capitol Building on 15 April 2015 with retired Air Force Lieutenant General John Hudson, the Director of the National Museum of the Air Force, accepting the award on behalf of the Doolittle Raiders.<ref>{{cite web |last=Ingalsbe |first=Torri |title=Doolittle Tokyo Raiders receive Congressional Gold Medal |date=16 April 2015 |publisher=U.S. Air Force |url=https://www.af.mil/News/Article-Display/Article/585303/doolittle-tokyo-raiders-receive-congressional-gold-medal/ |access-date=5 October 2020 |quote=... Lt. Gen. John 'Jack' Hudson, the National Museum of the U.S. Air Force director, accepted the medal on behalf of the Raiders. 'If here, the Raiders would tell you that they just wanted to help out with our nation's war effort,' Hudson said. 'The Doolittle Raiders' service model of excellence&nbsp;... is an inspiration for all of today's military.' |archive-date=10 October 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201010225017/https://www.af.mil/News/Article-Display/Article/585303/doolittle-tokyo-raiders-receive-congressional-gold-medal/ |url-status=live }}</ref>

=== Northrop Grumman B-21 Raider ===
In September 2016, the [[Northrop Grumman B-21]] was formally named "Raider" in honor of the Doolittle Raiders.<ref>{{cite web |last=Martin |first=Mike |title=The B-21 has a name: Raider |date=19 September 2020 |url=https://www.af.mil/News/Article-Display/Article/948366/the-b-21-has-a-name-raider/ |publisher=U.S. Air Force |access-date=5 October 2020 |archive-date=18 January 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170118224327/http://www.af.mil/News/ArticleDisplay/tabid/223/Article/948366/the-b-21-has-a-name-raider.aspx |url-status=live }}</ref> The last surviving Doolittle Raider, retired Lt Col Richard E. Cole, was present at the naming ceremony at the [[Air Force Association]] conference.<ref name="flightglobal">{{cite web|url=https://www.flightglobal.com/news/articles/last-surviving-doolittle-raider-rises-to-name-northr-429496/|publisher=flightglobal.com|title=Last surviving Doolittle Raider rises to name Northrop B-21|access-date=16 October 2016|date=20 September 2016|archive-date=18 February 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180218212303/https://www.flightglobal.com/news/articles/last-surviving-doolittle-raider-rises-to-name-northr-429496/|url-status=live}}</ref> The name is fitting since the Doolittle Raiders flew such a long distance and the B-21 Raider is also intended to have an extremely long range. This is because it is designed for the Indo-Pacific theater, where ranges are very long.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Remarks by Secretary of Defense Lloyd J. Austin III at the Unveiling of the B-21 Bomber (A |url=https://www.defense.gov/News/Speeches/Speech/Article/3235260/remarks-by-secretary-of-defense-lloyd-j-austin-iii-at-the-unveiling-of-the-b-21/https://www.defense.gov/News/Speeches/Speech/Article/3235260/remarks-by-secretary-of-defense-lloyd-j-austin-iii-at-the-unveiling-of-the-b-21/ |access-date=2023-11-11 |website=U.S. Department of Defense |language=en-US}}{{dead link|date=April 2025|bot=medic}}{{cbignore|bot=medic}}</ref>

==In popular culture==
{{In popular culture|section|date=April 2024}}

===Books===
Many books have been written about the Doolittle Raid:
* ''Thirty Seconds Over Tokyo'' (1943), by Captain [[Ted W. Lawson]] – a pilot who participated in the raid, focuses on the experiences of himself and his crew. A popular film based on the book was released in 1944. Written while the war was still in progress, Lawson disguised the identities of the persons in China assisting the raiders and did not publish the story until after the USAAF had released an official communique on 20 April 1943 detailing most aspects of the mission, including the identities of the raiders and their fates.
* ''Doolittle's Tokyo Raiders'', by C. V. Glines (1964) – tells the complete story of the raid, including the unique experiences of each B-25 crew. He followed this with a second account, ''The Doolittle Raid: America's daring first strike against Japan'' (1988), incorporating information from first-hand accounts of the Raiders and from Japanese sources.{{sfn|Glines|1988|p=226}}
* ''Target Tokyo: Jimmy Doolittle and the Raid That Avenged Pearl Harbor'', by James M. Scott (2015) – based on scores of never-before-published records drawn from archives across four continents as well as new interviews with survivors.
* ''Last Mission to Tokyo'', by [[Michel Paradis]] (2020) – revealed the story of the two crews who were captured by the Japanese and the war crimes trials that followed based upon newly discovered records in the United States and Japan.
* ''Raid of No Return'', by [[Nathan Hale (author)|Nathan Hale]] (2017) – a fictionalized account of the raid, presented in graphic novel format for early readers; the book is a part of the Nathan Hale's ''Hazardous Tales'' series.
* ''The First Heroes: The Extraordinary Story of the Doolittle Raid – America's First World War II Victory'', by Craig Nelson (2003)

===Films===
The raid inspired several films.

A highly fictionalized film in 1943, ''[[Destination Tokyo]]'' starring [[Cary Grant]], tangentially involved the raid, concentrating on the fictional submarine {{USS|Copperfin}}. The submarine's mission is to enter [[Tokyo Bay]] undetected and place a landing party ashore to obtain weather information vital to the upcoming Doolittle raid. The film suggests the raid did not launch until up-to-the-minute data were received. All the after-action reports indicated the raid launched without time for weather briefings because of the encounter with the picket ship.{{sfn|Doolittle|1942}}

A 1944 film, ''[[The Purple Heart]]'', was a highly fictionalized account of the torture and execution of Doolittle Raid prisoners.

The Doolittle Raid was the subject of another 1944 feature film, ''[[Thirty Seconds Over Tokyo]]'', based on the book of the same title by Ted Lawson, who was seriously injured in a crash landing off the coast of China. [[Spencer Tracy]] played Doolittle and [[Van Johnson]] portrayed Lawson. Footage from the film was later used for the opening scenes of ''[[Midway (1976 film)|Midway]]'' and in the TV miniseries ''[[War and Remembrance (miniseries)|War and Remembrance]]''.

The 2001 film ''[[Pearl Harbor (film)|Pearl Harbor]]'' (with [[Alec Baldwin]] playing Doolittle) presented a heavily fictionalized version of the raid. The film used the retired World War II aircraft carrier {{USS|Lexington|CV-16|6}} in [[Corpus Christi, Texas]], to stand in for a Japanese carrier, while the aircraft were launched from {{USS|Constellation|CV-64|6}}, standing in for ''Hornet'' from which the Doolittle Raid was launched. The film's portrayal of the planning of the raid, the air raid itself, and the raid's aftermath, is not historically accurate.<ref>Gutthman, Edward. [http://www.mysanantonio.com/performance/article/Pearl-Hyped-Yet-Promising-Movie-to-honor-3302399.php {{"'}}Pearl' – Hyped, yet promising / Movie to honor vets, nation's wartime spirit"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150403011700/http://www.mysanantonio.com/performance/article/Pearl-Hyped-Yet-Promising-Movie-to-honor-3302399.php |date=3 April 2015 }}. ''MyUSA'', 7 December 2000.</ref><ref>Heines, Vivienne. [http://www.military.com/Content/MoreContent/?file=NL_pearlharbor_heines "Bringing 'Pearl Harbor' To Corpus Christi"]. {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141012005647/http://www.military.com/Content/MoreContent/?file=NL_pearlharbor_heines |date=12 October 2014 }}. ''Military.com'', 1 August 2000.</ref>

The [[VHS video]] ''DeShazer'', including film footage of Doolittle and the flight preparations, along with the B-25s launching, is the story of missionary Sergeant [[Jake DeShazer]] of B-25 No. 16 (the last to launch from ''Hornet''). The video is based on ''The Amazing Story of Sergeant Jacob De Shazer: The Doolittle Raider Who Turned Missionary'' by C. Hoyt Watson. At the end of both the video and the book, DeShazer after the war meets [[Mitsuo Fuchida]], the commander and lead pilot of the Pearl Harbor attack.

''Doolittle's Raiders: A Final Toast'', a documentary by Tim Gray and the World War II Foundation, released in 2015, has interviews with the few surviving members of the raid.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.wwiifoundation.org/2015/05/02/doolittles-raiders-a-final-toast-documentary-to-premiere-at-the-gi-film-festival-in-washington-dc/ |title=Doolittle's Raiders: A Final Toast Documentary to Premiere at the Capitol in Washington, DC |publisher=WWII Foundation |date=6 November 2015 |access-date=6 November 2015 |archive-date=27 December 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151227034737/http://www.wwiifoundation.org/2015/05/02/doolittles-raiders-a-final-toast-documentary-to-premiere-at-the-gi-film-festival-in-washington-dc/ |url-status=live }}</ref>

The 2018 film ''[[The Chinese Widow]]'' (aka ''The Hidden Soldier'' and ''In Harm's Way'') presented a heavily fictionalized version of the raid with [[Emile Hirsch]] playing a fictional Captain Jack Turner who was hidden from the Japanese in China by a Chinese widow and her daughter, after he parachutes from his B-25 near her village. [[Vincent Riotta]] played Jimmy Doolittle.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.imdb.com/title/tt5759434/reference|title = In Harm's Way (2017)|work=IMDb}}</ref>{{bsn|reason=IMDb is [[WP:RS/P|not a reliable source]]|date=July 2024}}

The raid is depicted in the 2019 film ''[[Midway (2019 film)|Midway]]'', with actor [[Aaron Eckhart]] portraying Jimmy Doolittle. Emperor [[Hirohito]] is seen being told to go to a shelter during this scene.

=== Television ===
The character of Harry Broderick in the 1979 television series ''[[Salvage 1]]'' (played by [[Andy Griffith]]), was a fictional veteran of the raid.

== Notes ==
{{reflist|group=note}}

== References ==
=== Citations ===
{{reflist}}

=== Sources ===
{{refbegin}}
* {{cite book |last=Chun |first=Clayton K. S. |title=The Doolittle Raid 1942: America's First Strike Back at Japan |series=Campaign |volume=156 |others=Illustrated by Howard Gerrard |location=Botley, Oxford |publisher=Osprey |date=2006 |isbn=978-1841769189 |oclc=1148923535 |ol=8922817M |url=https://archive.org/details/doolittleraid19400chun |url-access=registration }}
* {{cite journal |last=Coletta |first=Paolo |title=Launching the Doolittle Raid on Japan, April 18, 1942 |journal=[[The Pacific Historical Review]] |volume=62 |number=1 |date=February 1993 |pages=73–86 |doi=10.2307/3640523 |jstor=3640523}}
* {{cite book |last=Craigie |first=Robert |title=Behind the Japanese Mask |year=1945 |publisher=Hutchinson & Co |location=London|lccn=46003739}}
* {{cite book |editor-last1=Craven |editor-first1=Wesley Frank |editor-last2=Cate |editor-first2=James Lea |editor-link2=James Lea Cate |title=Plans and Early Operations, January 1939 to August 1942 |chapter=Chapter 12: Drawing the Battle Line in the Pacific |series=Army Air Forces in World War II |volume=One |url=https://media.defense.gov/2010/Nov/05/2001329898/-1/-1/0/AFD-101105-005.pdf |access-date=4 October 2020 |location=Washington, D.C. |publisher=Office of Air Force History |date=1983 |orig-year=First published in 1948 |edition=Air Force Historical Studies Office internet |archive-date=8 October 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201008052807/https://media.defense.gov/2010/Nov/05/2001329898/-1/-1/0/AFD-101105-005.pdf |url-status=dead }}
* {{cite web |last=Doolittle |first=James H. |title=General Doolittle's Report on Japanese Raid |date=9 July 1942 |url=http://www.ibiblio.org/hyperwar/AAF/rep/Doolittle/Report.html |website=HyperWar |access-date=5 October 2020 |archive-date=27 February 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210227121148/http://www.ibiblio.org/hyperwar/AAF/rep/Doolittle/Report.html |url-status=live }}
* {{cite book |last1=Doolittle |first1=James H. |last2=Glines |first2=Carroll V. |title=I Could Never Be So Lucky Again: An Autobiography |location=New York |publisher=Bantam Books |date=1991 |isbn=0553584642}}
* {{cite book |last=Gill |first=G. Hermon. |author-link=G. Hermon Gill |title=Volume II – Royal Australian Navy, 1942–1945 |series=[[Australia in the War of 1939–1945]]. Series 2 – Navy |url=https://www.awm.gov.au/collection/C1417314 |access-date=4 October 2020 |location=Canberra |publisher=[[Australian War Memorial]] |date=1968 |archive-date=9 October 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201009002721/https://www.awm.gov.au/collection/C1417314 |url-status=live }}
* {{cite book |last=Glines |first=Carroll V. |title=The Doolittle Raid: America's Daring First Strike Against Japan |location=New York |publisher=Orion Books |date=1988 |isbn=0517567482 |ol=2526629M |oclc=17548701 |url=https://archive.org/details/doolittleraidame00glin |url-access=registration }}
* {{cite book |last=Grew |first=Joseph C |title=Ten Years in Japan |year=1944 |publisher=Simon and Schuster |location=New York |url=https://archive.org/details/tenyearsinjapanc0000grew |url-access=registration }}
* {{cite book |last=Lawson |first=Ted W. |author-link=Ted W. Lawson |editor-last=Considine |editor-first=Robert |orig-year=First published 1943 |date=2002 |title=Thirty Seconds Over Tokyo |location=New York |publisher=Simon & Schuster (Pocket Star Books) |isbn=978-0743474337}}
* {{cite book |last1=Martin |first1=Adrian R. |last2=Stephenson |first2=Larry W. |title=Operation Plum: The Ill-fated 27th Bombardment Group and the Fight For the Western Pacific |location=College Station, Texas |publisher=Texas A&M University Press |date=2008 |isbn=978-1603440196}}
* {{cite book |last=Okerstrom |first=Dennis K. |year=2015 |title=Dick Cole's War: Doolittle Raider, Hump Pilot, Air Commando |publisher=University of Missouri Press |isbn=978-0826220660 |url-access=registration |url=https://archive.org/details/dickcoleswardool00oker }}
* {{cite book |last1=Prange |first1=Gordon W. |last2=Goldstein |first2=Donald M. |last3=Dillon |first3=Katherine V. |title=Miracle at Midway |location=New York |publisher=McGraw-Hill |date=1982 |isbn=0070506728}}
* {{cite web |last=Scott |first=James M. |date=2015 |title=The Untold Story of the Vengeful Japanese Attack After the Doolittle Raid |url=https://www.smithsonianmag.com/history/untold-story-vengeful-japanese-attack-doolittle-raid-180955001/ |website=Smithsonian Magazine |language=en |access-date=2020-02-15 |archive-date=22 March 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210322045050/https://www.smithsonianmag.com/history/untold-story-vengeful-japanese-attack-doolittle-raid-180955001/ |url-status=live }}
* {{cite book |last=Scott |first=James M. |author-mask=3 |title=Target Tokyo: Jimmy Doolittle and the Raid That Avenged Pearl Harbor |year=2016 |publisher=W.W. Norton |location=New York|isbn=978-0393089622}}
* {{cite book |last=Watson |first=Charles Hoyt |title=DeShazer: The Doolittle Raider Who Turned Missionary |location=Winona Lake, Indiana |publisher=The Light and Life Press |date=1950}}
* {{cite book |last=Yamamoto |first=Masahiro |title=Nanking: Anatomy of an Atrocity |location=Westport, Connecticut |publisher=Praeger |date=2000 |isbn=978-0275969042}}
{{refend}}

=== Further reading ===
{{refbegin}}
* {{cite book |last=Chang |first=Iris |author-link=Chang, Iris |title=The Rape of Nanking: The Forgotten Holocaust of World War II |publisher=BasicBooks |location=New York |date=1997 |isbn=0465068359 |oclc=776994797 |ol=677812M |url=https://archive.org/details/rapeofnankingfor00chan |url-access=registration}}
* {{cite book |last=Craig |first=John S. |url={{GBurl|xNMVVsHEm5cC}} |title=Peculiar Liaisons: In War, Espionage, and Terrorism in the Twentieth Century |location=New York |publisher=Algora Publishing |date=2004 |isbn=978-0875863313}}
* {{cite book |last=Culbertson |first=Charles |title=Forgotten Hero: The Story of Jack Manch, 30 Seconds Over Tokyo and the Self-Sacrifice of An American Warrior |location=Staunton, Virginia |publisher=Clarion Publishing |date=2013 |isbn=978-1493501847}}
* {{cite book |last=Emmens |first=Robert G. |author-link=Robert G. Emmens |title=Guests of the Kremlin |location=San Rafael, California |publisher=Ishi Press International |date=2007 |isbn=978-0923891817}}
* {{cite book |last=Glines |first=Carroll V. |title=Doolittle's Tokyo Raiders |location=New York |publisher=Van Nostrand Reinhold |date=1981 |orig-year=1964 |isbn=978-0442219253 |oclc=8357662}}
* {{cite book |last=Glines |first=Carroll V. |title=Four Came Home: The Gripping Story of the Survivors of Jimmy Doolittle's Two Lost Crews |location=New York; Missoula, Montana |publisher=Pictorial Histories Pub. Co, Van Nostrad Reinhold |year=1995 |orig-year=1966 |isbn=978-1575100074}}
* {{cite news |last=Glover |first=Charles E. |title=Jimmy Doolittle's One Moment in Time |periodical=[[The Palm Beach Post]] |date=18 April 1992}}
* {{cite book |last=Nelson |first=Craig |title=The First Heroes: The Extraordinary Story of the Doolittle Raid&nbsp;– America's First World War II Victory |location=London |publisher=Penguin Press |date=2002 |isbn=978-0142003411}}
* {{cite magazine|last=Oxford |first=Edward |title=Against All Odds: B-25 Bombers Strike Japan in 1942 |periodical=American History Illustrated |date=March–April 1992}}
* {{cite book |last=Tillman |first=Barrett |title=Enterprise: America's Fightingest Ship and the Men Who Helped win World War II |location=New York |publisher=Simon and Schuster |date=2012 |isbn=978-1439190876}}
* {{cite book |last=Toll |first=Ian W. |author-link=Ian W. Toll |title=[[Pacific Crucible: War at Sea in the Pacific, 1941–1942]] |location=New York |publisher=W. W. Norton |date=2011}}
{{refend}}

== External links ==
{{Spoken Wikipedia|En-Doolittle Raid-article.ogg|date=2016-06-23}}
{{Commons}}
* [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YLrn4at4uuA&t=1636s&ab/ Complete documentary about the Doolittle Raid, and interviews]
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20170124053707/http://www.doolittleraider.com/ Official Doolittle Raiders website] (archived)
* [https://www.history.navy.mil/browse-by-topic/wars-conflicts-and-operations/world-war-ii/1942/halsey-doolittle-raid.html Doolittle Raid]. Naval History and Heritage Command
* [http://www.childrenofthedoolittleraiders.com/ Children of the Doolittle Raiders website]
* [http://feeds.radioamerica.org/rd-bin/rdfeed.mp3?Veterans&cast_id=1002 Official historian of the Doolittle raid, Carroll V. Glines talks about the raid]. {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160310144424/http://feeds.radioamerica.org/rd-bin/rdfeed.mp3?Veterans&cast_id=1002 |date=10 March 2016 }}.
* {{Internet Archive short film | gov.fdr.227 | Newsreel of the Doolittle Raid }}
* [https://www.pbs.org/video/unsettled-history-8Ll0en/ Unsettled History: America, China, and the Doolittle Tokyo Raid] – PBS documentary video (57 minutes)
* [https://www.unsettledhistory.tv/ UnsettledHistory.tv] – web site about the PBS documentary above.
<!-- * [ POW], ''Nippon News'', No. 125. in the official website of [[NHK]] NO URL provided-->

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