The Doolittle Raid 70th Anniversary

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17 Comments!

  1. DougM (jackassophobe)
    Posted April 26, 2012 at 1:04 pm |

    *clank* of the first order

  2. mojo
    Posted April 26, 2012 at 1:17 pm |

    B-25 Mitchells off the deck of the Hornet (IIRC). To maybe land in China.

    Yeah. Serious clank.

    It started out as a SNAFU, but they fingered it out.

  3. Stick
    Posted April 26, 2012 at 2:36 pm |

    I got something in my eye…

    Duty, honor, country
    God bless them all.

  4. Colonel Jerry USMC
    Posted April 26, 2012 at 2:40 pm |

    One indication of the “Bootleg whiskey in a brand name bottle!” aspect of all this was: One of the B25 pilots forgot to put his fucking flaps down for the takeoff! The bomber dropped off of the bow in a near full stall, while the landing gear(high drag…) was slowly retracting. His altitude above the white caps was estimated by the copilot and the Carrier Air Boss to be a RCH, give or take!

  5. mech
    Posted April 26, 2012 at 2:41 pm |

    Remind the high school and college graduates that neither Rex Harrison or *cough* eddie murphy participated in this event.

  6. Melissa In Texas
    Posted April 26, 2012 at 2:46 pm |

    God bless them all.
    I am humbled by their sense of duty.

  7. geezerette
    Posted April 26, 2012 at 5:29 pm |

    Quit a few from our area were there. We have a big VA hospital here and the veteran organizations do a lot for the vets.

  8. Thomas M.
    Posted April 26, 2012 at 6:18 pm |

    Heroes.

  9. PatrickP
    Posted April 26, 2012 at 6:36 pm |

    GrandpaP was on the Hornet, but he wasn’t one of the raiders.

  10. TimO
    Posted April 26, 2012 at 7:09 pm |

    Can’t believe the History Channel or one of the other cable channels didn’t cover this! They had over 20 of the last surviving B-25s fly into the USAF Museum in Dayton for the ceremony.

  11. dick, not quite dead white guy
    Posted April 26, 2012 at 7:13 pm |

    Ranks are thinning fast.
    Thanks for the reminder TUA.

  12. snap-e-tom
    Posted April 26, 2012 at 7:35 pm |

    Sorry, ladies, but balls of steel. I am thankful to live in a country where brave men are everywhere and willing to risk their lives for cowards like me.

  13. The Ugly American
    Posted April 26, 2012 at 8:11 pm |

    GrandpaP was on the Hornet, but he wasn’t one of the raiders.

    Comment by PatrickP — April 26, 2012 @ 6:36 pm

    Did he manage to go up and see the museum?

    I’d actually like to go for another visit soon.

    Plus I hear it’s haunted ;-)

  14. kinlaw
    Posted April 26, 2012 at 10:06 pm |

    Where do we find such men?

  15. accipiter NW
    Posted April 26, 2012 at 11:44 pm |

    ^Kinlaw, I think the majority were from Texas. But last week I would go out of my way to let anyone who’d listen to me know that Gen. Doolittle’s bombardier, SSgt Fred Braemer, was a graduate of Ballard High School in Seattle. Doolittle’s plane was the first to drop its bombs on Tokyo, if not the entire mission.

  16. accipiter NW
    Posted April 27, 2012 at 12:06 am |

    And its late, I meant Texas represented the highest number of Raiders. Something like 12 out of the 80.

    Thanks for the post TUA.

  17. mojo
    Posted April 27, 2012 at 8:10 am |

    BTW:

    Military Judge refuses to toss charge of “aiding the enemy” in Manning case.

    “Bend over, boy.”

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