The Doolittle Raid: How Important?
Handgrenade of the Month*
September 2019
John T. Kuehn
In March and April of 1942 Admiral Ernest King, the brilliant but acerbic Commander in Chief of the US Navy (COMINCH) during World War II (as well as the CNO) ,put into execution a plan to use the carrier USS Hornet, newly arrived from the Atlantic Fleet, to launch 16 North American B-25 bombers on a one way trip to bomb Japan in retaliation for Pearl Harbor. Famed aviation pioneer and US Army Air Force Lt. Colonel Jimmy Doolittle commanded the air component. The overall naval commander for