Crew #1
Crew of 1st Aircraft - Plane # 40-2344 - Crew from 34th Squadron - (Bail Out)
Lieutenant Colonel Doolittle's bomber was the first over Japan and the first to drop its bomb load. The four incendiaries fell at 12:30 p.m. (Tokyo time) to incinerate a large factory. Doolittle then flew west to reach the coast of China after dark. By 9:30 fuel was low and unable to find an airfield in the heavy fog, Doolittle ordered his crew to bail out among the mountains of China. He then followed them into the night, his B-25 crashing on a nearby mountainside. The only injury sustained by any of the crew was a sprained ankle. Local Chinese escorted the Americans to Chuchow from where they eventually returned home safely.
Lt. Col. Doolittle's No.1 bomber crashed in Haotianguan, where Zhejiang Province meets Anhui Province. Five pilots parachuted and landed in the Tianmushan area in Lin'an County, Zhejiang Province. Lt. Col. Doolittle stayed overnight in a water-powered trip-hammer in a paddy field until he was found by several young students the next day, and escorted to the Western Zhejiang Administration. There, he was joined by his fellow crewmen who were escorted here by Zhu Xuesan, a primary school teacher who could speak some English, and certain villagers including Zhang Gengrong.
- Pilot Lt. Col. J.H. Doolittle
- Co-Pilot Lt. R.E. Cole
- Navigator Lt. H.A. Potter
- Bombardier SSgt. F.A. Braemer
- Engineer Gunner SSgt. P.J. Leonard
Braemer
Fred Anthony Braemer, 6875923, Captain
Cole
Richard E. Cole, 0-421602, Colonel
Doolittle
James Harold Doolittle, 0-271885, Lieutenant General, promoted to General in 1985
Leonard
Paul John Leonard, 6248728, Master Sergeant