9781422286036

A World Ablaze

11

islands. The raid would be very small, nothing like the attack on Pearl Harbor. Instead this raid would be symbolic. It would show everyone that America was eager to fight. Doolittle Raid In April 1942, the aircraft carrier USS Hornet steamed through the Pacific. Sixteen B-25 bombers sat crammed on its deck. These large planes nor- mally didn’t serve aboard an aircraft carrier, but they were on a special mission. Once Hornet took them close enough to Japan, the bombers would raid the capital city of Tokyo. An officer named Jimmy Doolittle led the bomber crews. Doolittle and his men were daring aviators, but even they worried about their secret mission. They would be flying deep into enemy territory, so the odds of being shot down were great. And while the bombers could take off from Hornet , they were far too big to land on the carrier. The raiders would need to land in China, which was also at war with Japan, and hope the Chinese could get them home.

One of sixteen B-25 bombers takes off from the deck of the USS Hornet , on its way to take part in the first U.S. air raid on Japan. Although the Doolittle raid in April 1942 did not cause much damage to Tokyo, it did boost American confidence.