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Doolittle's Raiders Reunion

Fog

Fog

Old RIOs never die: They just can't fast-erect
None
Contributor
God bless them all. What guts! When they left the Hornet (much sooner than planned), most certainly knew they would likely die or be captured before it was over. Given the one-way nature of this raid, these men were heroes beyond belief.
 
Redux

Redux

Well-Known Member
Love this kind of stuff, SSGT David Thatcher of the "Ruptured Duck" of 30 Seconds Over Tokyo is still around. North American hit a grand slam with the Mitchell.
 
Mumbles

Mumbles

Registered User
pilot
Contributor
My favorite Jimmy Doolittle story is when Martin was developing the Marauder...B-26. It had lots of teething problems, and tended to kill a lot of young aircrew in accidents. So, being the old barnstormer that he was, Doolittle went up to the Martin plant in Baltimore and took a B-26 for a spin. Since it didn't have the 2 rudder yaw authority of the Mitchell, AND little stubby wings, AND big motors, it had bad asymmetric yaw qualities. Doolittle tells the other rider, "watch this"....and shut down one of the motors....and then does a full loop in that beast. He then developed the B-26 "NATOPS" syllabus, if you will.
 
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