Where did the Doolittle Raiders Bomb?
Introduction and Overview
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Contact the Author: Makoto Morimoto : send E-mail (please type in manyally) 
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Ever since then, numerous books have been published, as well as many movies filmed, documentary programs made, plenty of aviation art drawn, and thousands of websites related to the raid and raiders made public., to honor the brave men who participated in the mission, and to tell the story of how difficult the raid was. Most of the books and alike in English are based on official after-action report, with some witness story told by those who directly or in-directly participated in the raid. (i.e., USAAF and USN personnel.) Therefore, the record and story are told from an American point of view. Fact is that the brave Doolittle raiders flew over an enemy territory of Japan for the first time, which they were totally not acquainted, with a map provided based on old information, together with the fact that there were not so many landmarks to make navigation easy (all buildings and houses look drab and alike …), not to say that back in 1942 there were no such thing as GPS to obtain accurate aircraft position. So, it is no wonder that the exact target which the Doolittle raiders hit is not confirmed in English documents. Many official wartime records made by Japan were destroyed at the end of world war 2, before surrendering to the allies. However, Doolittle raid's official damage report, made just 2 weeks after the raid, miraculously survived. Together with the study of other military records and local history books, the overview of damage by Doolittle Raiders is now quite clear. A book published in 2003, written by Shibata and Hara is the first book to get an overall idea of the raid based on both Japanese and US records. Title is "日米全調査 ドーリットル空襲秘録" ISBN: 4-384-03180-7 or 978-4-384-03180-5 ASIN: B071Z7MJL3 e-book with revised content is available from Kindle and from Google Books. I am an amateur historian with my main interest in 20th century battlefields, and I enjoy visiting wartime sites all over the world. I made visits to the bombed sites, as well as potential target sites of Doolittle raid. I will post photos, maps and aerial photographs on this website, I hope this will help you understand where the Doolittle Raiders tried to bomb, and have actually bombed. Now you can judge by yourself whether the given damage, affect and effect of the raid were "small" or "big" for both Japan and for the allies. Copyright information 1940's era maps are public domain items courtesy of University of Texas Perry-Castaneda Library (PCL) Map Collection (Note: some information added by author, Makoto Morimoto) Plain view aerial photographs (Both Modern and 1940's era) are public domain items courtesy of Geospatial Information Authority of Japan (国土地理院) Wartime photographs are public domain items courtesy of the National Archives and Records Administration (NARA). All other photographs and text are Copyright of author, Makoto Morimoto. |
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P: Pilot CP: Co-Pilot N: Navigator B: Bombardier E: Flight Engineer G:Gunner Inc.: Incendiaries Bom: Bombs |
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Base map courtesy of Geospatial Information Authority of Japan. |
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Contact the Author: Makoto Morimoto : send E-mail (please type in manually)
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Copyright 2022-2024 Morimoto, Makoto : All Rights Reserved.