TheIronDiaries
Recruit
- 9
- Oct 23, 2026
April 18, 1942. Sixteen B-25 bombers had to get off the deck of the USS Hornet in 467 feet, in heavy seas, 650 nautical miles from Japan, ten hours earlier than planned because a picket boat had spotted the task force.
I put together a short documentary on the raid and what it cost. Every one of the sixteen planes was lost, fifteen crews came down over China, one was interned at Vladivostok, and 69 of the 80 men eventually made it home. Roosevelt would only say the planes had launched from Shangri-La.
Video here:
View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3yPAlVqkhN8
The part I keep coming back to is the morning routine on that deck, not the bombing itself. Getting sixteen bombers airborne in under an hour, in those seas, was the raid before the raid. Happy to be corrected on any detail. Sources are in the description.
I put together a short documentary on the raid and what it cost. Every one of the sixteen planes was lost, fifteen crews came down over China, one was interned at Vladivostok, and 69 of the 80 men eventually made it home. Roosevelt would only say the planes had launched from Shangri-La.
Video here:
View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3yPAlVqkhN8
The part I keep coming back to is the morning routine on that deck, not the bombing itself. Getting sixteen bombers airborne in under an hour, in those seas, was the raid before the raid. Happy to be corrected on any detail. Sources are in the description.
