WI Doolittle killed over Tokyo ?

[Melvin Loh]

How would WWII have been affected, esp the US air campaigns, had Jimmy Doolittle been killed during the raid on Tokyo in April 1942- say, if his B25 had been hit and he, according to his pre-launch statement, did a kamikaze against a significant Jap military target ? Would his loss have significant negative effects on the USAAF's strategic bombing campaign ? How would the American public have reacted to the loss of 1 of their most popular heroes of that moment ?

[Chris]

Well, i've got two possible answers:

1) Dolittle was not particularly important in and of himself. Therefore, no real changes in the timeline.

2) Dolittle manages to do big :D and hits somewhere really important with his kamikarsi attack. For example, he might hit the palace (which was a forbidden target IIRC) or the imperical command staff. If the top branches of the japanese command were wiped out, the japanese war effort might fragment as commanders everywhere tried to do their own thing. If he killed the emperor, the japanese would probabuly go mad with revenge. Kill all euro prisioners, stronger Midway campaign, more fantical attacks.... Japan does not surrender as OTL, but needs to be wiped out.

This could get nasty.

Chris