B-25 bombers to fly over Ohio to honour historic World War II raid

DAYTON (Ohio) — Seventeen World War II-era B-25 bombers will fly over the National Museum of the US Air Force in Ohio next month to mark the 75th anniversary of an air raid by the United States on Japan.

The Dayton Daily News reported that the bombers are scheduled to rumble over the Dayton area on April 18.

On that date 75 years ago, 80 airmen, known as the Doolittle Tokyo Raiders, took off from the deck of the aircraft carrier USS Hornet to launch a critical strike on Tokyo.

The attack, which would later be known as the Doolittle Raid, inflicted limited damage on the Japanese capital, but gave a huge boost to American morale after the attacks on Pearl Harbor several months earlier.

The sixteen aircraft that took part in the raid, each carrying three 500-pound high-explosive bombs and one incendiary bomb, were unable to land back on the USS Hornet, and instead flew westward after the attack, hoping to land in a friendly area in China.

Most of the crew members made it to China, either crash landing, or bailing out over land, with Chinese villagers helping the airmen. However, Japanese retaliation was brutal, with entire villages destroyed by the Japanese Imperial Army in the months following.

The sole remaining member of that squadron, 101-year-old Lt Col Richard Cole, plans to mark the anniversary during a ceremony at the Ohio museum.

Organisers say two B-1B Lancer bombers from Ellsworth Air Force Base in South Dakota will end the flypast. AP