Doolittle Raid- The untold story?

Robbie Roberts · **Posted:** Sat Mar 14, 2009 5:48 pm

Guys, I just got to wondering about this. The Doolittle Raid trained about 22 crews for the raid, and so 22 aircraft were available for it. 18 were to be loaded on Hornet, but only 16 fit. A couple spare crews went along, in case somebody needed to be replaced.

So, essentially, 6 aircraft were left behind in the USA. What ever became of them? Were they lend-leased? Were they used for US forces somewhere else? Did they survive the war or were they destroyed? Did they survive the airbattoir (yep- aerial abattoir) after the war?

And what about those other crews/crew members?

It would be neat to find out if any Doolittle Raid training participant, but Raid excess aircraft still survive- They were part of the raid, though not in on the attack itself...

Any Ideas?

Robbie

RyanShort1 · **Posted:** Sat Mar 14, 2009 6:02 pm

Well, the first order of business would be to identify the serial numbers of the other aircraft involved. Then check to see if it matches the last surviving B-25B that's substantially intact.

Ryan

tom d. friedman · **Posted:** Sat Mar 14, 2009 6:05 pm

i voted no because i thought you were talking about the actual raider birds, if it was a training bird that wasn't on the actual mission, then i retract my vote & say fly her!!

Steve Nelson · **Posted:** Sat Mar 14, 2009 6:49 pm

I'm with Tom..I thought you meant the Dollittle B-25 that is often rumored to still exist in Russia.

That'll teach me to actually read the post before responding to the poll.

SN

SaxMan · **Posted:** Sat Mar 14, 2009 8:49 pm

There was also the B-25 that took part in the take-off test from Hornet in the Atlantic (Chesapeake Bay?) to see if it carrier launch was even feasible. Wonder what happened to that bird?

Nathan · **Posted:** Sat Mar 14, 2009 9:10 pm

Either or I would say fly it!

RyanShort1 · **Posted:** Sat Mar 14, 2009 9:27 pm

BTW, I have some pictures on my website that Aero Trader sent me several years back. I think they said in the email that they could restore it to flyable if the funds were there. I think 3-4 years ago the quote was something like $1 Mil. I think part of the reason being that there are some differences between the Bs and later models, and of course you'd want to restore it to B specs. If anyone wants to donate a million dollars, I'll try and get the ball rolling quick!

Ryan

TonyM · **Posted:** Sat Mar 14, 2009 9:35 pm

Two B-25s were launched off of the Hornet on February 2, 1942 about 100 miles off of the East Coast. The pilots were 1Lt. John E. Fitzgerald and 1Lt. James F. McCarthy. My guess is that it is likely that these two airplanes were retained for the mission.

Two other B-25s were involved in accidents while the crews trained for the mission--those airplanes were then struck from the operation. There are photos of these two airplanes. The crews that were not selected to go on the mission were put aboard the carrier anyways for security reasons. All of the B-25s that were involved in the mission were modified and were not off the shelf airplanes.

According to my books on the subject, the first sixteen that were deemed ready at Alameda were loaded on. So the number of sixteen ships had been agreed upon before hand. As pilots arrived at Alameda they were asked if there was anything wrong with their airplane; if a pilot admitted any malfunctioin of any equipment or powerplant, the airplane was moved to a hangar. The first sixteen airworthy B-25s were loaded aboard.

There are several good books treating this subject but the best by far is "THE DOOLITTLE RAID--America's Daring First Strike Against Japan" by Carroll V. Glines. Another good book treating the subject is "THE DOOLITTLE RAID 1942--America's First Strike Back At Japan" by Clayton K.S. Chun.

TonyM

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