April 15, 1942 0400 Aberdeen Scotland
The last twin engined bomber left the runway. The two dozen B-25 Mitchells were forming up in eight cells of three. Each squadron leader had an expert navigator with at least five years of experience directing bombers while the navigator of the three other section leaders for each squadron were the best seekers possible. Crews had been re-arranged as navigators were switched between aircraft and the tail gunners and guns were removed. Instead of the rear being covered by twin .50 caliber machine guns, Quaker guns were installed instead. Half the bombers had four five hundred pound bombs hanging the bomb bays, while the other bombers carried four two hundred and fifty pound bombs and almost a thousand pounds of incendiaries. The rest of the space and weight in the bomb way was taken up by a set of improvised fuel tanks that were being drained as the bombers ascended.
The first ninety minutes of the flight was straightforward as the bombers cruised at 9,000 feet in formation. As they closed the distance between Scotland and Norway, navigation lights flicked on and off three times and the bombers began a long, slow descent. A few fishing vessels and guardships were beneath them but they saw nothing despite hearing the drone of somewhat unfamiliar engines. By the time the radar at Stavanger could detect high flying bombers, the twenty four aircraft were now 1,000 feet over the sea.
They were buffeted with updrafts and sudden downdrafts as they penetrated the Skagerrak. The lead bomber with Colonel Doolittle edged slightly north of east to keep the flight over water for as long as possible. As the fjord leading to Oslo passed by on their left shoulder, a sharp bank to the south started and the bombers descended to five hundred feet and the throttles opened up to 150 knots. Twenty two bombers followed their colonel. One bomber missed the turn and eventually ended up landing in Sweden where the crew would be interned for the rest of the war.
Two hundred feet above the Danish countryside was how the bombers saw Copenhagen. A few anti-aircraft guns from a Luftwaffe training battalion fired. Eyes scanned the sky looking for fighters. As soon as the bombers entered the Baltic Sea, they swerved right for twenty miles and then zig-zagged left again. A few patrol ships may have seen them but it was not unusual for twin engine bombers and transports to be flying over the north German coast in safe waters.
As the bombers passed Borre, they split into squadron size attack groups. Colonel Doolittle led eleven other bombers to the east while the rest of the bombers headed south to directly penetrate the German coast near Stralsund. Over northern Germany, a dozen fighter bases were launching fighters in the thick, cloudy weather. Radar had detected no raiders yet, but the reports were coming in so the fighters would seek out the bombers with sharp eyed pilots.
An hour later, both bomber streams were over the forest of North Germany. The first wave was minutes from Berlin when the third section leader crashed. The pilot misjudged a wind gust and his nose went down. If he was flying at 1,000 feet, he would have had the time to adjust but since he was flying at 150 feet, the surprise killed him and the rest of the crew. They pressed on through the suburbs ascending to 2,000 feet even as German flak guns started to bang away. Another bomber was hit and went down in flames. Two men were captured within the hour a third within the afternoon. As they crossed over the center of the city, bomb bays opened and out came the explosives and incendiaries. Most did little damage except to houses and office buildings although the rail bridges over the Spee absorbed seven five hundred pounders and a small fire started near a diesel tank.
The nine surviving bombers, almost all damaged to some degree accelerated as they ran to the northwest, aiming for the coast between Lubeck and Rostock. They descended as soon as they were no longer in rifle range and the bombers split into three groups as the gunners searched for fighters.
Two groups made the coast without contact. One group was spotted by a trio of ME-110s. The combination of the defensive fire from the turreted machine guns and the very low altitude saved the bombers. One was damaged enough that the crew barely made it to Malmo before ditching while the the other two were able to continue onward.
Even as the first squadron escaped, the second squadron approached Berlin from the northeast. As the bombers crossed the outer suburbs, the city’s defenders were surprised as the sirens went off again. They had thought the harassment raid was over. Strings of tracers were late in criss-crossing the sky. Only one bomber would be claimed. The other eleven had as their aim point the Reichstag. Almost all of the bombs missed but a string of incendiaries landed on the roof. The fire brigade wore itself out to contain the damage to mainly cosmetic damage.
Those bombers turned north almost immediately and ran with their throttles open. The lead squadron had sucked up most of the fighter pursuit so the trail squadron had an easier run back to the Baltic. They cut back over Jutland north of Kiel and as they passed by Horne’s Reef, the colonel led them skywards to an easier and far more efficient cruising altitude of 10,000 feet.
Eleven hours after take-off the last bomber landed near Norwich. It touched down with four gallons of gasoline left.
