OT: This week in history...

[dragoon500ly]

On April 18, 1942, a rather famous Lieutenant Colonel led a squadron of 16
B-25B bombers on a raid. LTC James Doolittle led his squadron, lauched from the USS Hornet, on the first bombing mission over Japan.

Loaded down with gas for the long trip from the Hornet to airbases in China, the B-25s could not carry a heavy bomb load, damage was negligible at best. None of the aircraft made it to the airbases, one ended up in Russia and was interned. Eight of the Raiders were captured by the Japanese and three were executed for "war crimes against the Japanese people.

Derided sometimes as the "Do-Nothing Raid", the attack on Japan gave the Japanese Navy the push it needed to launch Operation MO, that would end in the their crushing defeat near a small atoll called Midway.

Salute and a raised glass to the Doolittle Raiders!