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SEVENTY YEARS AND COUNTING
In their article, Countdown to Tokyo, (WWII magazine July 2011) authors, Ron Bailey and Susan Zimerman write that in March of 1942, a set of orders was issued to McClellan Field in California that a flight of B-25 bombers would be arriving soon and that base personnel were to accord them a very high priority. We now know those inbound airplanes were under the command of Lt. Colonel James Doolittle and that this squadron would come to be known as the Doolittle Tokyo Raiders.
All of us at the Champaign Aviation Museum are thrilled to announce that we have also received such orders! There are bombers inbound for Grimes Field. The Mitchells are coming…again!
Grimes Airfield and your Champaign Aviation Museum are again honored to be the staging airport for the 70th Doolittle Tokyo Raiders Reunion, which will commence in Urbana, Ohio, on April 14, 2012. The airplanes begin their arrivals Saturday, April 14. As it was in 2010, the Mitchells will be at our airfield, on display and flying, for a couple of days before flying to Dayton, Ohio and the National Museum of the United States Air Force, where the actual reunion celebration will take place. A more precise and complete schedule will be on the website soon.
This event was extremely popular when it was last held in Urbana and we expect this year’s reunion to have bigger crowds. There are commitments for even more B-25s to attend this year. If all the airplanes that are committed to attend hold to their plans, then this year’s event will easily eclipse the Gathering of B-25s in 2010. The names of those airplanes scheduled to attend will be listed as we near the actual date but if there is a particular B-25 you are curious about, you can always go to that organization’s website to check their flying schedule.
This event will give us the chance to reflect on and honor the sacrifice, not only of those eighty men, but of all veterans, active or retired, living or deceased, who sacrifice so much for our freedoms.
While actually doing very little damage from a tactical standpoint, it can be argued that the Doolittle Raid of April 18, 1942 changed the course of the war in the Pacific. It further illuminated the fact that, while devastating, Pearl Harbor was an incomplete victory for the empire. The Japanese command now knew they had to defeat the American carriers if they were to continue their conquest of the Pacific. This led to their plan to destroy the US fleet in a sea battle at Midway. But the Battle of Midway was a stunning victory for the United States Navy and from that point forward, the Japanese were fighting a shrinking, defensive war in the Pacific.
This event will give families the chance to come out to our airfield to see a squadron of airplanes that represents and honors those eighty daring, young aviators who, in 1942, gave Japan a punch in the nose in April that led to a knockout in June.
As you know, our own B-25, Champaign Gal, is flying again and it is quite compelling to see her, engines idling and ready for takeoff. Now imagine yourself in 1942, as a young sailor on the pitching, rain-fouled deck of the USS Hornet, barely four months after Pearl Harbor, and there are 16 of these airplanes idling, waiting for the command to take off. What a scene that must have been! Such sights and sounds are impossibly rare-- but you’ll have that chance to witness such a sight in April, 2012 at Grimes Airfield and at our Champaign Aviation Museum. If you care about aviation and history, this is an event you cannot miss!
Our museum is frequently honored to be visited by veterans of World War II. Certainly we expect to greet many of these valiant men and women from that era during the days that the B-25s will be at our field. And across the country, aviation and history will be prominent themes this winter. The movie Red Tails is being released in theaters in January. This George Lucas production is centered on the heroic struggles of the Tuskegee Airmen, flying fighters in Europe during the war. It will no doubt stir great interest in World War II, aviation, and veterans, among young people. The Gathering of B-25s, 2012, will be a chance for them to come out to our airfield and museum, to meet our veterans and to experience, firsthand, the type of airpower America exercised in the war. It will be an opportunity for them to sharpen their focus as to the effort and sacrifice required to defend freedom around the world.
So, we will gather again to celebrate, honor, and remember the raid, its aviators, and its effect on history. Their leader was one of our nation’s strongest military commanders and was awarded the Medal of Honor for his efforts. He inspired confidence and loyalty in all those who served under him. You can rest assured we will fulfill our orders. And though he might have passed away in 1993, for a few days in April, 2012, we will all be proud to be under the command, and responsible to, the memory of Colonel Jimmy Doolittle.
http://www.nationalmuseum.af.mil/news123194616 /story.asp?id=
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