James H. “Jimmy” Doolittle
Tokyo Raiders
On April 19, 1942, only four months after the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, Lt. Col. Doolittle led 16 B-25 bombers from the deck of the Hornet on an audacious one-way mission to Tokyo. All 16 planes were lost, but 14 crews survived.
At the Air Force Academy, the Association of Graduates named their building after Doolittle, and the Class of 2000 chose him as their exemplar. In 2007 The Friends sponsored a project to select photographs from albums in the Doolittle Collection.
- Tell me more about James Doolittle.
- View The Friends’ Doolittle Collection.
- Go to the James Doolittle Collection at the USAFA Library.
- Watch the film, Thirty Seconds Over Tokyo.