The Doolitte Raid on Tokyo (1942): The US Strikes Back | Battle 360 | History

mid April 1942 sailors on the deck of USS Enterprise notice that the air is getting chillier they've been operating in the steamy South Seas for weeks and now the brisk weather is making it very obvious that they're sailing north but only the Admiral seems to know why at roughly 6:00 a.m. on the morning of April 12th the men of the Big E and her task force noticed a completely unexpected sight in the distance it's their sister carrier USS Hornet but she's carrying a mysterious cargo there was something wrong with Hornets silhouette what was wrong with it as the flight deck was half covered with these big strange-looking airplanes that were not painted navy colors and they weren't naval aircraft they finally figured out they would be 25s and they had army camouflage painted on the army b-25s are here to make a bombing run on the heart of Japan target Tokyo and other industrial centers around Japan objective takeout factories and munitions plants and demoralize the enemy by assaulting her homeland strategy attack with 16 b-25 bombers launched from USS Hornet I don't like to use the word revenge but it sure I mean there there was some revenge that that that they wanted to get some back you know they were mad and they weren't to Stanford in and we don't stand for it now no you reach out and you heard us we're coming after you and you know what during a damn flinging Dubai Army Air Corps Lieutenant Colonel James Doolittle has agreed to lead the daring mission and he's chosen the b25 as the aircraft on which to trust his life the North American Mitchell B 25 B is a twin-engined medium bomber with a range depending on bomb load of about 1,300 miles it's typically manned by a crew of five and can deliver up to 5,000 pounds of bombs while other bombers have more range in power the b-25s modest wingspan of 6 to 7 feet 7 inches will allow USS Hornet to fit more fathers the plan is for the carrier to get Doolittle's bombers within striking distance of Japan they will then launch bomb Tokyo and there are their targets and continue on to land and friendly remote Chinese territory in order to ensure that Doolittle's bombers have enough fuel to reach the designated landing area in China Hornet and Enterprise need to get the planes within 400 miles of the Japanese mainland but bad luck intervenes we ran across this little what we thought was a fishing boat turned out to be a patrol boat we didn't pick it up on our surface radar was that small so they had to launch and they had launched right then and there there was no turning back the carriers are 650 miles from the Japanese mainland it means Doolittle and his men might not have the fuel to make it out safely they choose to go anyway April 18th 1942 at 8:20 a.m. the b-25 Mitchell bombers prepare for takeoff this is the first time a b25 has attempted to take off from a carrier in combat now that aircraft wasn't designed to be taken off in an aircraft carrier so they really had to get as much wind over the deck as possible because wind over the deck translates to flying speed off the angle once the Bombers are speeding down the flight deck there's only two places they can end up with enough speed they'll be in the sky too slow and they'll be in the sea taking off in a high wind heist a environment is always tricky your number one priority right there is gonna be making sure that the aircraft is lifting off the end of the deck when the bow is high making it even more difficult the bombers have been stripped of all non-essential items to make room more fuel bombs or even heavier than usual Colonel Doolittle himself is the first to go when they got all these aircraft stacked up on the flight deck so first guys to take off at least amount of fun Doolittle's bomber struggles off the deck but manages to stay airborne for hours after launch the Bombers finally reach their targets despite enemy flak each plane drops 2,000 pounds of Hell into the heart of the Japanese homeland they then turned toward the Chinese coast and their designated landing area but as the last drops of fuel funneled from the Bombers tanks most of Doolittle's air crews have no choice but to bail out or crash land three crewmen perish in the process eight are captured by the Japanese the physical damage done to Japan has been negligible but the psychological impact is truly significant on both sides of the Pacific it was definitely a morale booster not only for our servicemen but for our whole country at a time of war when the enemy is getting nailed at the heart of their homeland it makes you feel like you know what you tried to stop us ain't happening we're coming after you it showed the Japanese that they weren't invincible that we could reach out and we can touch you

Channel: HISTORY

Views: 1,060,202

Keywords: history, history channel, history shows, history channel shows, full episodes, episodes, clips, original series, sneak peeks, Call of Duty, battle 360 midway, military history, USS Hornet, dangerous, dangerous bombing, run over mainland, The Revenge Raid on Tokyo, B-25 bombers, Season 1, The Revenge Raid, Tokyo, tokyo bombing, uss enterprise, world war, military strategy, tactics, pacificdecisive victory, battle 360, battle in japan, war fight, countries clash, war clips

Id: hWUwJQDgeHw

Length: 6min 20sec (380 seconds)

Published: Wed Dec 11 2019