Lead: Convinced America needed a boost to its flagging morale and hoping to inflict at least a little damage on the enemy, President Roosevelt encouraged his service chiefs to strike the Japanese Home Islands. They sent Jimmy Doolittle to Tokyo.

Intro. A Moment in Time with Dan Roberts.

Content: Up to the middle of 1942, the Second World War in the Pacific was largely a one-sided affair. Nearly everywhere American forces were on the defensive, reeling from repeated defeats. Lt. Colonel Doolittle, a legendary test pilot and air ace, assembled a volunteer force and they began to practice to fly B-25 Mitchell Medium Bombers off the deck of the USS Hornet. The plan was to rendezvous with Admiral William Halsey's carrier taskforce in mid-Pacific and close to within 500 miles of Japan where they would launch the two engined bombers heavily loaded with fuel for the 2000 mile trip.

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