Doolittle Raid The Doolittle Raid , also known as the Tokyo Raid , on 18 April 1942 , was an air raid by the United States on the Japanese capital Tokyo and other places on Honshu island during World War II , the first air raid to strike the Japanese Home Islands . It demonstrated that Japan itself was vulnerable to American air attack , was retaliation for the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor on 7 December 1941 , provided an important boost to U . S . morale , and damaged Japanese morale . The raid was planned and led by Lieutenant Colonel James " Jimmy " Doolittle , U . S . Army Air Forces . Sixteen U . S . Army Air Forces B - 25B Mitchell medium bomber s were launched without fighter escort from the U . S . Navy ' s aircraft carrier deep in the Western Pacific Ocean , each with a crew of five men . The plan called for them to bomb military targets in Japan , and to continue westward to land in China — landing a medium bomber on the " Hornet " was impossible . Fifteen of the aircraft reached China , and the other one landed in the Soviet Union . All but three of the crew survived , but all the aircraft were lost . Eight crewmen were captured by the Japanese Army in China ; three of these were executed . The B - 25 that landed in the Soviet Union at Vladivostok was confiscated and its crew interned for more than a year . Fourteen crews , except for one crewman , returned either to the United States or to American forces . An estimated 250 , 000 Chinese civilians were killed by the Japanese during their search for Doolittle ' s men . The raid caused negligible material damage to Japan , only hitting non - military targets or missing completely — Doolittle thought immediately after the raid that the loss of all his aircraft would lead to his being court - martialled , rather than honored — but it succeeded in its goal of helping American morale and casting doubt in Japan on the ability of its military leaders . It also caused Japan to withdraw its powerful aircraft carrier force from the Indian Ocean to defend their Home Islands , and the raid contributed to Admiral Isoroku Yamamoto ' s decision to attack Midway Island in the Central Pacific — an attack that turned into a decisive strategic defeat of the Imperial Japanese Navy ( IJN ) by the U . S . Navy in the Battle of Midway . Origins . The raid had its start in a desire by President Franklin D . Roosevelt , expressed to the Joint Chiefs of Staff in a meeting at the White House on 21 December 1941 , that Japan be bombed as soon as possible to boost public morale after the disaster at Pearl Harbor . Doolittle later recounted in his autobiography that the raid was intended to bolster American morale and to cause the Japanese to begin doubting their leadership , in which it succeeded : The Japanese people had been told they were invulnerable . . . An attack on the Japanese homeland would cause confusion in the minds of the Japanese people and sow doubt about the reliability of their leaders . There was a second , and equally important , psychological reason for this attack . . . Americans badly needed a morale boost . The concept for the attack came from Navy Captain Francis Low , Assistant Chief of Staff for anti - submarine warfare , who reported to Admiral Ernest J . King on 10 January 1942 that he thought twin - engine Army bombers could be launched from an aircraft carrier , after observing several at a naval airfield in Norfolk , Virginia , where the runway was painted with the outline of a carrier deck for landing practice . The attack was planned and led by Doolittle , a famous civilian aviator and aeronautical engineer before the war . Requirements that the aircraft have a cruising range of with a bomb load resulted in the selection of the B - 25B Mitchell to carry out the mission . The Martin B - 26 Marauder , Douglas B - 18 Bolo and Douglas B - 23 Dragon were also considered , but the B - 26 had questionable takeoff characteristics from a carrier deck and the B - 23 ' s wingspan was nearly 50 % greater than the B - 25 ' s , reducing the number that could be taken aboard a carrier and posing risks to the ship ' s island ( superstructure ) . The B - 18 , one of the final two types considered by Doolittle , was rejected for the same reason . The B - 25 had yet to be tested in combat , but subsequent tests with B - 25s indicated they could fulfil the mission ' s requirements . Doolittle ' s first report on the plan suggested the bombers might land in Vladivostok , shortening the flight by on the basis of turning over the B - 25s as Lend - Lease . Negotiations with the Soviet Union ( which had signed a neutrality pact with Japan in April 1941 ) for permission , were fruitless . Bombers attacking defended targets often relied on a fighter escort to defend them from enemy fighters ; not only did Doolittle ' s aircraft lack a full complement of guns to save weight , but it was not possible for fighters to accompany them . Preparation . When planning indicated that the B - 25 was the aircraft best meeting all specifications of the mission , two were loaded aboard the aircraft carrier at Norfolk , Virginia , and subsequently flown off the deck without difficulty on 3 February 1942 . The raid was immediately approved and the 17th Bomb Group ( Medium ) chosen to provide the pool of crews from which volunteers would be recruited . The 17th BG had been the first group to receive B - 25s , with all four of its squadrons equipped with the bomber by September 1941 . The 17th not only was the first medium bomb group of the Army Air Corps , but in the spring of 1942 also had the most experienced B - 25 crews . Its first assignment following the entry of the United States into the war was to the U . S . Eighth Air Force . The 17th BG , then flying antisubmarine patrols from Pendleton , Oregon , was immediately moved cross - country 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 . Initial planning called for 20 aircraft to fly the mission , and 24 of the group ' s B - 25B Mitchell bombers were diverted to the Mid - Continent Airlines modification center in Minneapolis , Minnesota . With support provided by two senior managers of Mid - Continent Airlines , Wold - Chamberlain Field ' s maintenance hangar was the first modification center to become operational . From nearby Fort Snelling , the 710th Military Police Battalion provided tight security around this hangar . Modifications included : Two bombers also had cameras mounted to record the results of bombing . The 24 crews selected picked up the modified bombers in Minneapolis and flew them to Eglin Field , Florida , beginning 1 March 1942 . There the crews received intensive training for three weeks in simulated carrier deck takeoffs , low - level and night flying , low - altitude bombing and over - water navigation , primarily out of Wagner Field , Auxiliary Field 1 . Lieutenant Henry Miller , USN , from nearby Naval Air Station Pensacola supervised their takeoff training and accompanied the crews to the launch . For his efforts , Lt . Miller is considered an honorary member of the Raider group . Doolittle stated in his after - action report that an operational level of training was reached despite several days when flying was not possible because of rain and fog . One aircraft was heavily damaged in a takeoff accident and another removed from the mission because of a nose wheel shimmy that could not be repaired in time . On 25 March 1942 , the remaining 22 B - 25s took off from Eglin for McClellan Field , California . They arrived two days later at the Sacramento Air Depot for final modifications . A total of 16 B - 25s were subsequently flown to NAS Alameda , California , on 31 March . Fifteen raiders were the mission force and a 16th aircraft , by last - minute agreement with the Navy , was squeezed onto the deck to be flown off shortly after departure from San Francisco to provide feedback to the Army pilots about takeoff characteristics . The 16th bomber was made part of the mission force instead . Participating aircraft . In order of launching , the 16 aircraft were : Mission . On 1 April 1942 , the 16 modified bombers , their five - man crews and Army maintenance personnel , totaling 71 officers and 130 enlisted men , were loaded onto the at Naval Air Station Alameda . Each aircraft carried four specially constructed 500 - pound ( 225 kg ) bombs . Three of these were high - explosive munitions and one was a bundle of incendiaries . The incendiaries were long tubes , wrapped together in order to be carried in the bomb bay , but designed to separate and scatter over a wide area after release . Five bombs had Japanese " friendship " medals wired to them — medals awarded by the Japanese government to U . S . servicemen before the war . The bombers ' armament was reduced to increase range by decreasing weight . Each bomber launched with two . 50 - caliber ( 12 . 7 mm ) machine gun s in an upper turret and a . 30 - caliber ( 7 . 62 mm ) machine gun in the nose . The simulated gun barrels mounted in the tail cones , intended to discourage Japanese air attacks from behind , were cited afterward by Doolittle as being " particularly effective " . The aircraft were clustered closely and tied down on the " Hornet " s flight deck in the order of launch . The " Hornet " and Task Force 18 left the port of Alameda at 10 : 00 on 2 April and a few days later rendezvoused with Task Force 16 , commanded by Vice Admiral William F . Halsey , Jr . — the carrier and her escort of cruiser s and destroyer s in the mid - Pacific Ocean north of Hawaii . The " Enterprise " s fighters and scout planes provided protection for the entire task force in the event of a Japanese air attack , since the " Hornet " s fighters were stowed below decks to allow the B - 25s to use the flight deck . The combined force was two carriers , three heavy cruisers , one light cruiser , eight destroyers and two fleet oilers . The escort ships — the , , , , , , , , , , , , and — then proceeded in radio silence . On the afternoon of 17 April the slow oilers refueled the task force , then withdrew with the destroyers to the east while the carriers and cruisers dashed west at 20 knots towards their intended launch point in enemy - controlled waters east of Japan . At 07 : 38 on the morning of 18 April , while the task force was still about from Japan ( at approximately ) , it was sighted by the Japanese picket boat " No . 23 Nittō Maru " , a 70 - ton patrol craft , which radioed an attack warning to Japan . The boat was sunk by gunfire from ; The chief petty officer who captained the boat committed suicide rather than be captured , but five of the eleven crew survived when they were picked up by " Nashville " . Doolittle and " Hornet " skipper Captain Marc Mitscher decided to launch the B - 25s immediately — 10 hours early and farther from Japan than planned . After respotting to allow for engine start and runups , Doolittle ' s aircraft had 467 feet ( 142 m ) of takeoff distance . Although none of the B - 25 pilots , including Doolittle , had ever taken off from a carrier before , all 16 aircraft launched safely between 08 : 20 and 09 : 19 . ( The 16th B - 25 had been included only as a reserve , intended to fly along as an observation and photographic platform , but when surprise was compromised , Doolittle decided to use all 16 aircraft in the attack . ) This was the only time that United States Army Air Forces bombers were launched from a U . S . Navy aircraft carrier on a combat mission . The B - 25s then flew towards Japan , most in groups of two to four aircraft before flying single file at wave - top level to avoid detection . The aircraft began arriving over Japan about noon Tokyo time , six hours after launch , and bombed 10 military and industrial targets in Tokyo , two in Yokohama and one each in Yokosuka , Nagoya , Kobe and Osaka . Although some B - 25s encountered light antiaircraft fire and a few enemy fighters over Japan , no bomber was shot down . Only the B - 25 of Lt . Richard O . Joyce received any battle damage , minor hits from antiaircraft fire . B - 25 No . 4 , piloted by Lt . Everett W . Holstrom , jettisoned its bombs before reaching its target when it came under attack by fighters after its gun turret malfunctioned . At least one Japanese fighter was shot down by the gunners of the " Whirling Dervish " , piloted by Lieutenant Harold Watson . Two other fighters were shot down by the gunners of the " Hari Kari - er " , piloted by Ross Greening . Many military targets were strafed by the bombers ' nose gunners . Fifteen of the sixteen aircraft then proceeded southwest along the southern coast of Japan and across the East China Sea towards eastern China , where several fields in Zhejiang province were supposed to be ready to guide them in using homing beacons , then recover and refuel them for continuing on to Chongqing , the wartime Kuomintang capital . The primary base was at Zhuzhou , toward which all the aircraft navigated , but Halsey never sent the planned signal to alert them , apparently because of a possible threat to the task force . One B - 25 , piloted by Capt . Edward J . York , was extremely low on fuel , and headed instead for the closer Soviet Union . The raiders faced several unforeseen challenges during their flight to China : night was approaching , the aircraft were running low on fuel and the weather was rapidly deteriorating . None would have reached China if not for a tail wind as they came off the target , which increased their ground speed by 25 knots for seven hours . The crews realized they would probably not be able to reach their intended bases in China , leaving them the option of either bailing out over eastern China or crash - landing along the Chinese coast . Fifteen aircraft reached the Chinese coast after thirteen hours of flight and crash - landed or the crews bailed out ; the crew who flew to the Soviet Union landed 40 miles ( 65 km ) beyond Vladivostok , where their B - 25 was confiscated and the crew interned . It was the longest combat mission ever flown by the B - 25 Mitchell medium bomber , averaging approximately . Although York and his crew were well - treated , diplomatic attempts to return them to the United States ultimately failed . Eventually they were relocated to Ashgabat , from the Iranian border , and York managed to " bribe " a smuggler , who helped them cross the border and reach a nearby British consulate on 11 May 1943 . The smuggling was actually staged by the NKVD , according to declassified Soviet archives , because the Soviet government was unable to repatriate them legally in the face of the neutrality pact with Japan . Doolittle and his crew , after parachuting into China , received assistance from Chinese soldiers and civilians as well as John Birch , an American missionary in China . As did the others who participated in the mission , Doolittle had to bail out but fortunately landed in a heap of dung ( saving a previously injured ankle from breaking ) in a paddy in China near Quzhou . Doolittle felt the raid had been a terrible failure because all the aircraft were lost , and he expected to be court - martialed on his return . He subsequently recommended Birch for intelligence work with Claire Chennault ' s Flying Tigers . One crewman , Corporal Leland D . Faktor , flight engineer / gunner with Gray , was killed during his bailout attempt over China , the only man in that crew to be lost . Two crews ( 10 men ) were missing . Aftermath . Fate of the missing crewmen . Following the Doolittle Raid , most of the B - 25 crews who had reached China eventually achieved safety with the help of Chinese civilians and soldiers . Of the 80 airmen who participated in the raid , 69 escaped capture or death . When the Chinese helped the Americans escape , the grateful Americans in turn gave them whatever they had on hand . The people who helped them paid dearly for sheltering the Americans . The Japanese military began the Zhejiang - Jiangxi Campaign to intimidate the Chinese from helping the American airmen . All airfields within a range of some in the areas where the Raiders had landed were torn up . Germ warfare was used and atrocities committed , and those found with American items were shot . The Japanese killed an estimated 250 , 000 Chinese civilians during their search for Doolittle ' s men . The crews of two aircraft ( ten men in total ) were unaccounted for : Hallmark ' s crew ( sixth off ) and Farrow ' s crew ( last off ) . On 15 August 1942 , the United States learned from the Swiss Consulate General in Shanghai that eight of the missing crew members were prisoners of the Japanese at the city ' s Police Headquarters . Two crewmen drowned after crash - landing in the ocean . On 19 October 1942 , the Japanese announced that they had tried the eight prisoners and sentenced them all to death , but said several had received commutation of their sentences to life imprisonment . No names or details were given . The story of the missing crews was revealed in February 1946 during a war crimes trial held in Shanghai to try four Japanese officers charged with mistreating the eight captured crewmen . It was learned that two of the missing crewmen , Staff Sgt . William J . Dieter and Sgt . Donald E . Fitzmaurice , drowned when their B - 25 crashed into the sea . The other eight were captured : Lieutenants Dean E . Hallmark , Robert J . Meder , Chase Nielsen , William G . Farrow , Robert L . Hite , and George Barr , and Corporals Harold A . Spatz and Jacob DeShazer . On 28 August 1942 , pilot Hallmark , pilot Farrow , and gunner Spatz faced a war crime s trial by the Japanese for allegedly strafing Japanese civilians . At 16 : 30 on 15 October 1942 they were taken by truck to Public Cemetery Number 1 , and executed by firing squad . The other captured airmen remained in military confinement on a starvation diet , their health rapidly deteriorating . In April 1943 , they were moved to Nanking , where Meder died on 1 December 1943 . The remaining men , Nielsen , Hite , Barr and DeShazer , eventually began receiving slightly better treatment and were given a copy of the Bible and a few other books . They were freed by American troops in August 1945 . Four Japanese officers were tried for war crimes against the captured Doolittle Raiders , found guilty , and sentenced to hard labor , three for five years and one for nine years . DeShazer eventually became a missionary and returned to Japan in 1948 , where he served for over 30 years . George Barr died , of heart failure , in 1967 , Chase Nielsen in 2007 , and Jacob DeShazer on 15 March 2008 . Service of the returning crewmen . Immediately following the raid , Doolittle told his crew that he believed the loss of all 16 aircraft , coupled with the relatively minor damage to targets , had rendered the attack a failure , and that he expected a court - martial upon his return to the United States . Instead , the raid bolstered American morale to such an extent that Doolittle was awarded the Medal of Honor by President Roosevelt , and was promoted two grades to brigadier general , skipping the rank of colonel . When General Doolittle toured the growing Eglin Field facility in July 1942 with commanding officer Col . Grandison Gardner , the local paper of record ( the " Okaloosa News - Journal " , Crestview , Florida ) , while reporting his presence , made no mention of his still - secret recent training at Eglin . He went on to command the Twelfth Air Force in North Africa , the Fifteenth Air Force in the Mediterranean , and the Eighth Air Force in England during the next three years . Corporal David J . Thatcher ( a flight engineer / gunner on Lawson ' s crew ) and 1st Lt . Thomas R . White ( flight surgeon / gunner with Smith ) each received the Silver Star for helping the wounded crew members of Lt . Lawson ' s crew to evade Japanese troops in China . All 80 Raiders received the Distinguished Flying Cross , and those who were killed , wounded or injured during the raid also received the Purple Heart . Every Doolittle Raider received a decoration from the Chinese government . Twenty - eight of the crewmen remained in the China Burma India theater , flying missions , most for more than a year . Five were killed in action . Nineteen crew members flew combat missions from North Africa after returning to the United States , four of whom were killed in action and four becoming prisoners of war . Nine crew members served in the European Theater of Operations ; one was killed in action . Altogether 12 of the survivors died in air crashes within 15 months of the raid . Two survivors were separated from the USAAF in 1944 due to the severity of their injuries . The 17th Bomb Group , from which the Doolittle Raiders had been recruited , received replacement crews and transferred to Barksdale Army Air Field in June 1942 , where it converted to B - 26 Marauder medium bombers . In November 1942 it deployed overseas to North Africa , where it operated in the Mediterranean Theater of Operations with the Twelfth Air Force for the remainder of the war . Impact . Compared with the future devastating Boeing B - 29 Superfortress attacks against Japan , the Doolittle raid did little material damage , readily repaired . Eight primary and five secondary targets were struck . In Tokyo , the targets included an oil tank farm , a steel mill , and several power plants . In Yokosuka , at least one bomb from the B - 25 piloted by Lt . Edgar E . McElroy struck the nearly completed IJN aircraft carrier " Ryūhō " , delaying her launch until November . Six schools and an army hospital were also hit . Japanese officials reported the two aircraft whose crews were captured had struck their targets . For years before Pearl Harbor , there had been mock air raid drills in every Japanese city , although China ' s air force was almost nonexistent ; this may have been part of the process of keeping warlike emotion at a high pitch . The Japanese press was told how to convey the news . The attack was depicted as a cruel , indiscriminate bombing targeted at civilians , women and children . Despite the minimal damage inflicted , American morale , still reeling from the attack on Pearl Harbor and Japan ' s subsequent territorial gains , soared when news of the raid was released . The Japanese Navy attempted to locate and pursue the American task force . The Second Fleet , its main striking force , was near Taiwan , returning from the Indian Ocean Raid to refit and replace its air losses . Spearheaded by five aircraft carriers and its best naval aircraft and aircrews , the Second Fleet was immediately ordered to locate and destroy the U . S . carrier force , but failed to do so . The Imperial Japanese Navy also bore a special responsibility for allowing an American aircraft carrier force to approach the Japanese Home Islands in a manner similar to the IJN fleet to Hawaii in 1941 , and permitting it to escape undamaged . The fact that large , normally land - based bombers carried out the attack confused the IJN ' s high command . This confusion and the knowledge that Japan was now vulnerable to air attack strengthened Yamamoto ' s resolve to capture Midway Island , resulting in a decisive Japanese defeat at the Battle of Midway . " It was hoped that the damage done would be both material and psychological . Material damage was to be the destruction of specific targets with ensuing confusion and retardation of production . The psychological results , it was hoped , would be the recalling of combat equipment from other theaters for home defense thus effecting relief in those theaters , the development of a fear complex in Japan , improved relationships with our Allies , and a favorable reaction on the American people . " — General James H . Doolittle , 9 July 1942 Postwar . The Doolittle Raiders have held an annual reunion almost every year since the late 1940s . The high point of each reunion is a solemn , private ceremony in which the surviving Raiders perform a roll call , then toast their fellow Raiders who died during the previous year . Specially engraved silver goblets , one for each of the 80 Raiders , are used for this toast ; the goblets of those who have died are inverted . Each Raider ' s name is engraved on his goblet both right side up and upside down . The Raiders drink a toast using a bottle of cognac that accompanies the goblets to each Raider reunion . In 2013 the remaining Raiders decided to hold their last public reunion at Fort Walton Beach , Florida , not far from Eglin Air Force Base , where they trained for the original mission . The bottle and the goblets had been maintained by the United States Air Force Academy on display in Arnold Hall , the cadet social center , until 2006 . On 19 April 2006 , these memorabilia were transferred to the National Museum of the United States Air Force at Wright - Patterson AFB , Ohio . The NMUSAF announced in September 2013 that the " final toast to fallen comrades " by the surviving raiders would take place at the museum on 9 November 2013 during an invitation - only ceremony . Surviving airmen . On April 18 , 2013 , a final reunion for the surviving Raiders was held at Eglin Air Force Base , with Robert Hite the only survivor unable to attend . Seven other men , including Lt . Miller and raider historian Col . Carroll V . Glines , are considered honorary Raiders for their efforts for the mission . Bill Bower , the last surviving Doolittle raider full pilot , died on 10 January 2011 at age 93 in Boulder , Colorado . Commemoration . The United States Navy named 1944 aircraft carrier , after the fictional place , as a reference to the Doolittle Raid . President Roosevelt had answered a reporter ' s question by saying that the raid had come from " Shangri - La " , which was the name of the mysterious place of perpetual youth in the Himalayas in the popular book and movie of the time , " Lost Horizon " . Doolittle Raiders exhibit . The most extensive display of Doolittle Raid memorabilia is at the National Museum of the United States Air Force ( on Wright - Patterson Air Force Base ) in Dayton , Ohio . The centerpiece is a like - new B - 25 , which is painted and marked as Doolittle ' s aircraft , " 40 - 2344 " , ( although built as an F - 10D photo reconnaissance version of the B - 25D ) . The bomber , which North American Aviation presented to the Raiders in 1958 , rests on a reproduction of the USS " Hornet " s flight deck . Several authentically dressed mannequins surround the aircraft , including representations of Doolittle , USS " Hornet " Captain Marc Mitscher , and groups of Army and Navy men loading the bomber ' s bombs and ammunition . Also exhibited are the silver goblets used by the Raiders at each of their annual reunions , pieces of flight clothing and personal equipment , a parachute used by one of the Raiders in his bailout over China , and group photographs of all 16 crews , and other items . A fragment of the wreckage of one of the aircraft , and the medals awarded to Doolittle , are on display at the Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum in Washington , D . C . The last B - 25 to be retired from the U . S . Air Force inventory is displayed at the Air Force Armament Museum at Eglin AFB in the markings of Gen . Doolittle ' s aircraft . The 2006 Pacific Aviation Museum Pearl Harbor on Ford Island , Oahu , Hawaii also has a 1942 exhibit in which the centerpiece is a restored B - 25 in the markings of " The Ruptured Duck " used on the Doolittle Raid . The San Marcos , Texas , chapter of the Commemorative Air Force has in its museum the armor plate from the pilot seat of the B - 25 Doolittle flew in the raid . Doolittle Raiders re - creation . On 21 April 1992 , in harmony with other World War II 50th Anniversary festivities , participated in the commemorative re - enactment of the Doolittle Raid on Tokyo , Japan , with 1 , 500 guests . Two World War II – era B - 25 bombers were craned on board and took off . Popular culture . Films . The raid inspired several films . The 1943 RKO film " Bombardier " starred Randolph Scott and Pat O ' Brien . The climax of this movie is an attack on Japan by a group of B - 17s . A highly fictionalized film in 1943 , " Destination Tokyo " starring Cary Grant , tangentially involved the raid , concentrating on the fictional submarine USS " Copperfin " . The submarine ' s mission is to enter Tokyo Bay undetected and place a landing party ashore to obtain weather information vital to the upcoming Doolittle raid . The film suggests the raid did not launch until up - to - the - minute data was received . All the after - action reports indicated the raid launched without time for weather briefings because of the encounter with the picket ships . The Doolittle Raid was the subject of the 1944 feature film , " Thirty Seconds over Tokyo " , based on a book of the same title by Doolittle Raider pilot Captain Ted W . Lawson , who was seriously injured in a crash landing off the coast of China . Spencer Tracy played Doolittle and Van Johnson portrayed Lawson . Footage from the film was later used for the opening scenes of " Midway " and in the TV miniseries " War and Remembrance " . " The Purple Heart " , made in 1944 , starring Dana Andrews , was a fictional depiction based on a Japanese murder trial of captured American airmen , from the Doolittle Raid . The 2001 film " Pearl Harbor " ( with Alec Baldwin playing Doolittle ) presented a heavily fictionalized version of the raid . The film ' s portrayal of the planning of the raid , the air raid itself , and the raid ' s aftermath , is inaccurate , portraying the bombing as a devastatingly effective strike against an entire industrial area . Additionally , the film includes a completely fictionalized shootout between Japanese soldiers in China and American airmen , resulting in the deaths of several Americans , many Japanese , and the rescue of the surviving airmen by Chinese soldiers . A VHS video with contemporary footage of Doolittle and the flight preparations , along with the B - 25s launching , is " DeShazer " , the story of missionary Sergeant Jake DeShazer of B - 25 No . 16 ( the last to launch from the " Hornet " ) . The video is based on " " The Amazing Story of Sergeant Jacob De Shazer : The Doolittle Raider Who Turned Missionary " by C . Hoyt Watson . At the end of both the video and the book , DeShazer after the war meets Mitsuo Fuchida , the commander and lead pilot of the Pearl Harbor attack . Books . Many books were written about the Doolittle Raid after the war . " Doolittle ' s Tokyo Raiders " , by C . V . Glines , tells the complete story of the raid , including the unique experiences of each B - 25 crew . " Guests of the Kremlin " , written by copilot Bob Emmens , describes his crew ' s adventures as internees in The Soviet Union after their landing in that country following the raid . " Four Came Home " , also by C . V . Glines , tells the story of Nielsen , Hite , Barr , and DeShazer , the Raiders who were held in POW camps for over three years . " The First Heroes " by Craig Nelson , goes into great detail of the events leading up to the raid and the aftermath for all the pilots and their families .