Planning and executing the Doolittle Raid

Roosevelt demanded an early bombing of Japan, but planners converted that political aim into a technically viable mission over several months. Francis Low proposed launching twin-engine Army bombers from a carrier after observing operations at Norfolk. A requirement for roughly 2,400 nautical miles of cruising range with a 2,000-pound bomb load drove aircraft selection and modification. Soviet neutrality ruled out the planned recovery at Vladivostok, so crews instead planned to continue to China. Detection pushed the launch about 170 nautical miles farther from Japan than intended. Fifteen aircraft were lost and one was interned in the Soviet Union. Three crewmen were killed outright and eight were captured. Four of those captured survived, three were executed, and one is thought to have died of disease.