Professor Greg Jackson

Shaking the captain's hand, Jimmy rushes back to his cabin to grab his things, spreading the word as he runs.

Until the loudspeakers spread the word faster, that is.

Surprised flight crews rush to get ready.

Debt crews snap into action, spotting the B-25s into launch positions.

But wait, why are Army Air Force crews, not Navy pilots, doing the flying?

And what exactly is this mission?

Well, it'll take a bit to warm up these medium bombers.

Let me fill you in as they prepare for the mission.

Here's the deal.

Lieutenant Colonel Jimmy Doolittle is leading an aerial strike on Tokyo.

Yes, the capital of the Japanese empire.

The plan's origins go back to last December's attack on Pearl Harbor when President Franklin D. Roosevelt, seeing the need for a national morale boost, asked his top brass to find a way to hit Japan.

That need only grew over the next few months as Japan racked up victories at Wake Island, Guam, and, ugh, Bataan in the Philippines.

America badly needs a psychological win.

The plan is audacious.

It calls for Jimmy's armada of 16 B-25 Mitchell bombers to take off from the Hornet's flight deck, roughly 500 miles out from Japan.

Now, carrier aircraft can normally strike around 200 miles out and make it back safely, but they wanna push that range today.

Moreover, launching these medium twin engine bombers off a carrier is one thing, but landing these big boys on such a ship, that would be a different story.

The answer to both of these dilemmas is simple, don't come back.

Instead, these B-25s will fly over Japan, continue onto airfields in China, refuel, then rendezvous in Chongqing before heading home, maybe via India.