April 18 1942 – The Doolittle Raid is Launched from the USS Hornet
Image Credit: Wikimedia Commons Six months after the attack on Pearl Harbor, the United States needed a morale boost. Lieutenant Colonel James Doolittle and his crew of pilots from the US Army Air Force provided just that with a strike on the heart of Japan on April 18, 1942. The audacious raid — launched from an aircraft carrier with land-based bombers — proved to be a tremendous psychological victory despite causing limited damage. Two weeks after the Imperial Japanese Navy surprised American forces stationed on Hawaii at Pearl Harbor, President Franklin D. Roosevelt met with the Joint Chiefs of Staff. Despite a relative lack of military capability — the US had only begun gearing up for the possibility of entry into World War II months before — the President instructed his commanders to plan a raid on the Japanese mainland. The only parameter, so far as Roosevelt was concerned, was that it happen as soon as possible. Considering the logistical challenges, pulling together such a mission would require immense creativity. Following the meeting, members from every branch of service were tasked with devising a workable scheme that maximized damage and limited risks to American pilots. Captain Francis Low, a Navy Assistant Chief of Staff, returned to the office of Admiral Ernest J. King on January 10, 1942 — just 20 days after Roosevelt issued the order — convinced a lightweight Army bomber could take off from the deck of an aircraft carrier.