The Doolittle Raid: America's Daring First Strike Against Japan - Hardcover

Glines, Carroll V.

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0887403476 ISBN 13: 9780887403477

Publisher: Schiffer Military History, 2000

Synopsis

It was the biggest gamble of World War II, but Lt. Co. ""Jimmy"" Doolittle's legendary bombing raid on Tokyo gave America the morale boost it needed in the wake of Pearl Harbor. This is the full story as told by the Doolittle Raiders' official historian. Carroll Glines is also the author of Attack on Yamamoto.

About this title

About the Author:

Glines is curator of the Doolittle Military Aviation Library at the University of Texas.

From Publishers Weekly:

On April 18, 1942, 16 B-25s under the command of Lt. Col. Jimmy Doolittle were launched from the carrier Hornet , flew 650 miles to Japan, dropped their bombs on Tokyo and other targets, and escaped to China and neutral Soviet territory. Although a very small affair in comparison with the B-29 strikes three years later, the Doolittle raid was a severe psychological blow to Japanese military leaders and had far-reaching strategical effects. At the same time, the raid provided an electrifying boost to American morale. Glines, former editor of Professional Pilot magazine, relates this exciting story in full: the bold conception of the mission, the selection of its leader (Doolittle was known as a "master of the calculated risk"), the difficult preparations, the hair-raising "thirty seconds over Tokyo," and the ordeals of those crewmen who fell into Japanese hands in China. Glines also tells the almost unbelievable story of "the last Doolittle raider." Lt. George Barr, convinced that his liberation was an elaborate Japanese trick, was shunted around the U.S. military-medical circuit and ended up in a mental ward. Doolittle himself, by then a general, traced him, rescued him from bureaucratic oblivion, and set him firmly on the road to recovery. Photos.
Copyright 1988 Reed Business Information, Inc.

About this edition

• Publisher: Schiffer Military History
• Publication date: 2000
• ISBN 10: 0887403476
• ISBN 13: 9780887403477
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 272