USS Hornet Doolittle Raid Scale Model

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Experience in 3-D the impressive USS Hornet scale model of the famous Doolittle Raid and view historical news reel footage.

USS Hornet flight deck April 1942

View 1942 vintage news reel.

The B-25 first gained fame as the bomber used in the 18 April 1942 Doolittle Raid, in which 16 B-25Bs led by Lieutenant Colonel Jimmy Doolittle attacked mainland Japan, four months after the bombing of Pearl Harbor. The mission gave a much-needed lift in spirits to the Americans, and alarmed the Japanese who had believed their home islands were inviolable by enemy forces. Although the amount of actual damage done was relatively minor, it forced the Japanese to divert troops for the home defense for the remainder of the war. 

The raiders took off from the carrier USS Hornet and successfully bombed Tokyo and four other Japanese cities without loss. However, 15 B-25 bombers subsequently crash-landed en route to recovery fields in Eastern China. These losses were the result of the task force being spotted by a Japanese vessel forcing the bombers to take off 170 mi (270 km) early, fuel exhaustion, stormy nighttime conditions with zero visibility, and lack of electronic homing aids at the recovery bases. 

Only one B-25 bomber landed intact; it came down in the Soviet Union, where its five-man crew was interned and the aircraft confiscated. Of the 80 aircrew, 69 survived their historic mission and eventually made it back to American lines.

This news reel made later, shows rare color movies. It represents a more substantial effort to document the importance of the 1942 raid.

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View Doolittle's Raid Training Preparations. Alec Baldwin plays Lieutenant Colonel Jimmy Doolittle. (9 minutes)

View of Doolittle's Raid -from carrier take-off to bombing run over Japan. Ben Affleck plays one of the pilots. (9 minutes)
Our Museum has Doolittle's actual cockpit seat armor (the only one not thrown out out for weight reduction.)

 View of Doolittle Raid. B-25s land in China after raid, Ben Affleck plays pilot. (9 minutes)