| On April 18, 1942, sixteen American B-25 bombers launched from an aircraft carrier appeared over Japan, dropping incendiary and high explosive bombs on four Japanese cities. The daring escapade, known as the Doolittle Raid, has been the topic of a number of popularized books and articles over the past half-decade. However, the vast majority of what has been written has been anecdotal, repetitive, and generally lacking in substance. This can be at least partially attributed to the fact that much of what has been written has been produced for mass public consumption rather than for scholarly purposes.;This study provides the first modern analysis of the planning, execution, and aftermath of the Doolittle Raid based largely on primary documents. It examines where previous works on the raid have failed, and attempts to correct a number of historical inaccuracies. This thesis considers a number of new documents, and reinterprets a number of others, to provide a new perspective on the raid. Events are frequently examined from the position of government and military leaders, rather than first-person accounts from the raiders themselves. |
