Posted 11 years ago
Jono
(178 items)
I was fortunate enough to attend one of the reunions of the Doolittle Raiders. I received this lithograph with five of the guys autographs. The number behind their autograph is the number of the plane that they were in. Eighty men in five-man crews piloted the 16 B-25 bombers that bombed Japan on April 18, 1942. None of the bombers was shot down but all sixteen were lost:
The crews of 11 bombers bailed out over China
One crew make a wheels-up crash landing in a rice paddy
Three bombers ditched in the waters off the China coast
One bomber landed in the Soviet Union where it was confiscated
Of the 80 men who flew with Lieutenant Colonel Doolittle:
3 were killed exiting their aircraft on the night of the raid
8 were captured by the Japanese
3 POWs were executed by their captors on October 15, 1942
1 POW died of malnutrition and mistreatment while confined
4 POWs were repatriated at the end of WWII after 40 months of captivity
Following the mission most of the raiders went on to fly other combat missions. Before the war ended:
10 raiders were killed in action in Europe, North Africa, and Indo-China
4 were shot down and interred as German prisoners of war
Jono, have you been holding out on us again?
You have no idea my friend LOL
Ah, so more is stashed in the dungeons besides bones! We're waiting.
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