Evening star., 1943-04-21

planneQ departure Glne. Inc aQQeQ
distance to be flown naturally added
greatly to the hazards of the mis-.
sion. But there was not the slightest
hesitation. Gen. Doolittle and his
men were eager to take off What
ever the chance of arriving at the
airfelds in China, they had at least
reached point where Toxic and
the other Japanese cities were
within bombing distance.
1t was agreed that if the planes
could not reach the Chinese coast,
the men would trv the dangerous
ieat of landing on the water, there
to take to their rubber boats.
IT was rough weather as Gen
Doolittle bade good-by to Admiral
Halsey and undertook the great ad-
venture. One by one the big Army
bombers roared from the aircraft
carrier. The take-offs were difficult
on a bobbing and slanting deck
Water slapped over the bow of the
carrier and planes had to take off
on the upbeat. The plane piloted by
1t. Travis Hoover was thrown in
such a way that it threatened to fall
off on a wing, but Hoover's good
plotting saved it.
Doolittle Pilots Lead Plane.
The first take-off was at 8 20 m,
ship time, with Gen. Doolittle pilot
ing the lead plane. 1t was at $40
pm. that the general was to bail out
over China, the last to leave his
plane. Much happened in the in
terval.
The planes wheeled in the sky and
headed toward Japan. It was fairly
good flying weather and the sun was
bright noon as the f1iers discerned
the coast line. They came in almost
skipping the waves, at Is or 20 feet
above sea level. The low-level flying
bore out expectations. The planes
were not spotted until they had al
most reached their targets The
japanese were taken entirely by sur
prise and the presumed warning
from the japanese patrol vessels had
not produced an inkling of the
American plan to bomb the targets
in Japan.
1t. Travis Hoover led one fight of
planes over the mol thern part of
Toxic. Capt. David M Jones led
another flight over the central part
of the city. Capt. Edward J. York
took his flight over the southern
part of the city and part of Toxic
Bay. Maj. Greening led a fourth
flight over Kenegawa, Yokohama
City, and the Yokasuka Navy Yard.
Another flight of planes went south
of Toxic and split up to bomb mill
tary installations at Nagoya, Osaka
and Kobe.
Climbed to Drop Bombs.
Gen. Doolittle has told how his
plane skinned the roof tops of
Toxic so low that he could even
see the surprised faces of japanese
on the streets. At one point a ball
game was in progress and the spec
tators scurried for cover only after
the planes had passed. The Ameri-
cans climbed to $500 feet for the
actual bombing, less the explosions
otherwise destroy their own planes
There was some attempt by Jap
anese pursuit planes to intervene
Maj. Charles R. Greening who pi-
loted one of the planes has told
of new type Japanese ships which
sought to intercept his plane near
Toxic. Maj. Greening Rugged the
ground and even flew under some
power lines in the hope that the
enemy ships would crash into them
They did not, but Maj. Greetings
plane shot down two of the Jap
planes.
The majors objective was gas
oline refinery and storage works
The dropped bombs produced sheets
of flame and terrific explosion
that banged the heads of Mai
Greening and his co-pilot against
the top of the cockpit Nearly Sc
miles away they could see flames
and smoke to the rear, rising from
the gas works.
1t. Col. John A. Hileer, leading
the raid on Nagoya, encountered in