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Tom Cleaver
930 articles

76 years ago today – the Doolittle raid

April 18, 2018 · in Aviation · · 11 · 2.5K

Newsreel reveals raiders took off from USS Hornet (CV-8)

Reader reactions:
5  Awesome

21 additional images. Click to enlarge.


11 responses

  1. Yeah! Hit 'em hard Jimmy!

    First time I read about this raid and Shangri-La I was 6. My dad gave me a Buck Danny Comic book (one of the first I could read myself) in which the story of Jimmy's daring raid was detailed.

    What amazed me was that somehow, these brave pilots knew the could start but never return and yet volunteered for this undertaking! That's patriotism at it's best!

  2. Beat me to it, Tom. Wonderful photos and video.

  3. An absolutely wonderful tribute to those brave men. I read about Col. Doolittle's raid as a youngster and went on to read more about his life. He was quite a well-known air-racing star who "did his duty" when his country needed him as did the many men who flew with him or maintained the many aircraft they used.

    Great review, Tom!

    • In 1976, General Doolittle was the Grand Marshal for the Watsonville Antique Airplane fly-In. I got introduced to him. He looked at me and said "too young and too tall," which baffled me for a moment, then I said "You're thinking of my father." My father (L. Thomas Cleaver) met him at the National Air Races in 1932 when he crewed for Roscoe Turner. I later learned that Doolittle never forgot a name or a face. A very cool guy.

      His book "I Could Never Be So Lucky Again," written with C.V. Glines, is an excellent autobiography.

  4. Nice tribute Tom to some really brave men. Remember reading the book "30 Seconds Over Tokyo" in junior high, which is responsible for my love affair with the B-25. A local vet, Tom Griffin, was a navigator on Crew #9, and recently passed away while residing in the Cincinnati area. The local Tri-State Warbird Museum did a fly over with their B-25, "Axis Nightmare" at his graveside services. RIP Tom Griffin

    1 attached image. Click to enlarge.

  5. Really nice to see this.

  6. Does anyone know if Richard Cole is still with us? I know he turned 102 last September (we have the same birthday, if not the same year) and was the last survivor after David Thatcher died two years ago.i have searched the internet and saw that he was visited by Trump recently, I'm guessing no news is good news in this case.

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