Roosevelt wanted Japan bombed quickly to restore American morale after Pearl Harbor. A rushed daylight assault by ordinary carrier aircraft could have met that political demand, but it would expose several scarce carriers and their trained air groups near Japan. War Plan Orange experience had taught American planners to expect an attritional Japanese strategy that drew a charging fleet across the Pacific. They therefore refused to give Japan the headlong response its prewar planning sought. The B-25 concept became a calculated form of revenge that preserved the carriers' stand-off distance while still reaching the home islands.
Chapter · 3:00:01-3:07:28
Doolittle turns revenge into a calculated operation
The earlier raids built confidence for an attack on Japan that avoided the headlong carrier battle Japanese strategy sought.