The last goblet has been turned over.

Ultradog MN · Apr 17, 2019

The Doolittle raid took place tomorrow
77 years ago.
The last of the raiders, Richard Cole,
passed away a week ago at age 103.
God bless them all.
What they did is familiar but it's a
good story and worth rereading.

Click Here

Mark Poss · Apr 17, 2019

Thanks for posting. Great piece of history

big tee · Apr 17, 2019

THANKS--Good reading!

Paul Shuler · Apr 17, 2019

Thank you for sharing.

Texasmark1 · Apr 17, 2019

Man-O-Man...............you outdid yourself on this one. Fantastic historical photo. Considering Jimmy was in the lead plane, considering the length of the flight deck being limited in the first place, then full of B-25s, looking at his available rolling distance, rotational speed required for take off, maybe 30 knots out of the Hornet, 40 knot headwind maybe, had the moisture laden, dense air,.......guy had guts no doubt! Splashed with a lot of luck and good figuring on those responsible for determining "Willie Make It".

Dean · Apr 17, 2019

The United States was once a Great country.

Dean

D beatty · Apr 17, 2019

Was't there a movie made about Doolittle ? If I remember right it was called Thirty Seconds Over Tokyo and Van Johnson played Doolittle in the movie.

RLA · Apr 17, 2019

The Greatest Generation.

jCarroll · Apr 17, 2019

I sincerely appreciate your "links" to the WW2 activities. Although none of my family served in the Pacific, I'm in awe of the sacrifice, courage, and cunning many men gave ................

jeffcat · Apr 17, 2019

Beautiful photo. It looks for real and not colorized. Terrific. Just looking at the deck of the Hornet and how short of takeoff the first couple of planes had. Ekkk. One of the planes they forgot to set the flaps. Talk about luck. Carried extra jerry cans of 1oo octane gas and pouring the stuff in during flight. Read the book when I was in grade school. Imagine getting your leg cut off in 1941 china! Also listening to a windup gramophone with nothing but Chinese records. Amazing how few of them got caught and then how many peasants were slaughtered for helping or just even being anywhere in the area. See f I can add this article. Read about the refinery. Very interesting. Reading about the engines used on the B-29 and other planes they were using 130 and finnaly 150 octane fuel. Bet that stuff was expensive.
100 OCTANE gas during WW II

jeffcat · Apr 17, 2019

Yup. Here is the trailer.
30 seconds

jeffcat · Apr 17, 2019

Another movie that is very powerful is "For Whom the Bell Tolls" what an ending.

sourgum · Apr 17, 2019

Imagine being told on pre-flight you won't have enough fuel to return to the carrier. Your on your own if you make the launch.

Dean · Apr 17, 2019

I believe that Spencer Tracy played Doolittle.

Dean

D beatty · Apr 17, 2019

Dean your right but Van Johnson,Robert Walker and Robert Mitchum also played in it.

Dean · Apr 17, 2019

Yes they did.

I saw it again on TCM a short while ago.

As movies go, it's a pretty good one.

Dean

RBoots · Apr 17, 2019

So, plane experts, here's a question for you. Would you want to take off with the plane into the wind for lift, but possible slow speed because of the headwind, or would you want to take off with the wind, pushing from behind to get up more speed for takeoff?

Ross
- Not a pilot. Going on my first commercial flight in a couple weeks to Florida to truck some equipment to MI, just wondering...

Dean · Apr 17, 2019

Always into the wind.

Dean

bass · Apr 17, 2019

I got to meet Ltc Cole a couple of years ago. A great American hero

Bass

FLOLDFORD · Apr 17, 2019

Never ever a downwind take off unless you have a bunch of runway in front of you!!!!!

Pete in MD · Apr 17, 2019

The amount of air moving over the wings from front to rear determines the amount of lift. The head wind and the plane's ground speed combined produce the greatest amount of lift.

D beatty · Apr 17, 2019

My mom was a Van Johnson fan and watched every thing with Van Johnson in it.

oldtanker · Apr 17, 2019

(quoted from post at 08:30:08 04/17/19) Imagine being told on pre-flight you won't have enough fuel to return to the carrier. Your on your own if you make the launch.

What do you mean? They couldn't return to the Hornet anyway. In those days an air craft carrier wasn't large enough to land a B25 on. They knew they had to fly onto China.

Good post Jerry.

Rick

CenTex Farmall · Apr 17, 2019

Air speed over the wings is the only thing that matters for lift. Ground speed is irrelevant. In the right conditions you can get a small plane down to Zero ground speed and still be flying just fine. I've done it and demonstrated it to students numerous times.

On takeoff, you're fighting rolling friction from the tires and any uphill grade in the runway. If runway length is tight, you carefully calculate aircraft performance. There could be situations where it would be better to take of downhill with a slight tailwind vs. uphill with a headwind. Terrain could be a factor too. Montrose, Colorado for example; we landed to the south and took off to the north.

The numbers are fuzzy now but it seems like we were good with up to around 20 knots of tailwind although it did affect aircraft performance and increased the takeoff roll distance. You just had to run the numbers and see.

Airliners and cargo planes in Part 121 service are certified under more stringent rules (part 25, transport category) than aircraft in general aviation (part 23) and must demonstrate safe performance in dire situations (such as an engine failure just as you lift off the runway at maximum weight).

shinnery · Apr 18, 2019

ALLWAYS into the wind. Some small planes, with enough headwind, will back up.
A real shame that carrier did not last any longer than she did.

Texasmark1 · Apr 18, 2019

I read the book by that title and it left Hollywood out of the script, many, many years ago.

Greg NE · Apr 18, 2019

Those were REAL men!! Read the book also when I was a kid and still have it. Hate to know how many times by now I have reread it. Thanks for sharing!!!

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