Ted W . Lawson Major Ted W . Lawson ( March 7 , 1917 – January 19 , 1992 ) was an American officer in the United States Army Air Forces , who is known as the author of " Thirty Seconds Over Tokyo " , a memoir of his participation in the Doolittle Raid on Tokyo in 1942 . The book was subsequently adapted into a film of the same name starring Spencer Tracy , Van Johnson and Robert Mitchum . Early life . Lawson was born in Alameda , California and attended Los Angeles City College . He joined the then - U . S . Army Air Corps in March 1940 while employed by Douglas Aircraft Company and received his pilot ' s wings and commission as a Second Lieutenant on 15 November 1940 . World War II . In early 1942 , Lawson , now a First Lieutenant , was assigned to the 17th Bomb Group ( Medium ) , flying antisubmarine patrols out of Pendleton , Oregon . The 17th was the first Army Air Corps group to receive the B - 25 Mitchell and had the most experienced pilots , so was ordered from Oregon to Lexington County Army Air Base at Columbia , South Carolina , ostensibly to fly similar patrols off the East Coast of the United States but in actuality to prepare for the mission against Japan . The group officially transferred effective 9 February to Columbia , where its combat crews were offered the opportunity to volunteer for an " extremely hazardous " but unspecified mission . On 17 February the group was detached from the Eighth Air Force . Lieutenant Lawson was accepted as a volunteer for the mission led by then - Lieutenant Colonel Jimmy Doolittle to bomb Tokyo and several other cities with 16 carrier - launched B - 25 Mitchell bombers from aboard the USS Hornet ( CV - 8 ) - the first air raid on mainland Japan during World War II following the Pearl Harbor attack . The aircraft that he flew on the raid was nicknamed " The Ruptured Duck " ( AAF serial # 40 - 2261 ) . According to Lawson in his book , the plane ' s unusual name evolved from a minor training accident where the aircraft tail scraped the ground on take - off . Soon after Lawson found someone had written " ruptured duck " in chalk on the fuselage . Inspired , he had a crewman create the now - famous caricature of Donald Duck with crutches and pilots headphones . After launching the mission 170 miles ( 275 km ) further out than planned and bombing their targets in Japan , all of the aircraft ran out of fuel short of their intended recovery airfields in non - Japanese occupied China . Lawson and his crew were forced to ditch their plane off the coast of the small island of Nantien . Lawson and his co - pilot were both thrown clear of the B - 25 , with Lawson suffering a severely lacerated left leg in the process . All five crew members survived the crash ; however all but flight engineer / gunner David J . Thatcher received serious injuries . Bombardier Robert Clever would be returned to the U . S . , only to die in another plane crash in November , 1942 . After he was transported by friendly Chinese throughout several provinces in China , Lawson ' s infected leg was amputated by the mission ' s flight surgeon , Lt Thomas R . White . The nose art of the crashed bomber , " The Ruptured Duck " , was later salvaged by the Japanese and put on display in Tokyo . Author . In January 1943 , Lawson and well - known newspaper columnist Bob Considine decided to write a book about the mission , entitled " Thirty Seconds Over Tokyo " . In four nights and two days in the Mayflower Hotel in Washington , the entire story was worked out . Through friends in the Los Angeles area , Ted made contact with MGM producer Sam Zimbalist , and the movie was launched in 1944 . The film starred Van Johnson as Lawson , alongside Spencer Tracy and Robert Mitchum . It won an Academy Award for Best Special Effects . In 2003 , Brassey ' s reprinted " Thirty Seconds Over Tokyo " with more photos and an introduction from Lawson ' s widow , Ellen . Later life . Along with the majority of the surviving Doolittle Raiders , Lawson was eventually repatriated back to the United States , and in his case , for further medical care . After leaving the hospital , Lawson was promoted to captain , and later to major . He served as Liaison Officer , U . S . Air Mission , Santiago , Chile from May 1943 until April 1944 . He was retired from the U . S . Army Air Forces for physical disability on February 2 , 1945 . His decorations include the Distinguished Flying Cross , Purple Heart , and the Chinese Army , Navy , and Air Corps Medal , Class A , 1st Grade . After the war , Lawson owned and operated a machine shop in Southern California , and also worked for Reynolds Metals as a liaison between the company and the military . He died at his home in Chico , California on January 19 , 1992 and was interred at the Chico Cemetery Mausoleum . Honors and tributes . Lawson Army Airfield at Fort Benning , Georgia is partially named for Ted W . Lawson . It was originally named only for Walter R . Lawson ( no relation to Ted ) , an Army Air Corps flyer who earned the Distinguished Service Cross in World War I . Several years later , after the Doolittle Raid in World War II , Ted W . Lawson ' s name was added to the memorial at the field . The Pacific Aviation Museum Pearl Harbor , located on Ford Island , has on display a B - 25 done in the livery of Lawson ' s aircraft from the Doolittle Raid .