The Doolittle Raid

The Doolittle Raid, also known as the Tokyo Raid, on April 18, 1942, was the first air raid by the United States to strike the Japanese Home Islands (specifically Honshu) during World War II. By demonstrating that Japan itself was vulnerable to American air attack, it provided a vital morale boost and opportunity for U.S. retaliation after the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor on 7 December 1941. The raid was planned and led by Lieutenant Colonel James "Jimmy" Doolittle, U.S. Army Air Forces. Doolittle would later recount in his autobiography that the raid was intended to bolster American morale and to cause the Japanese to begin doubting their leadership:
 

The Japanese people had been told they were invulnerable ... An attack on the Japanese homeland would cause confusion in the minds of the Japanese people and sow doubt about the reliability of their leaders. There was a second, and equally important, psychological reason for this attack ... Americans badly needed a morale boost.[1]
 
Sixteen U.S. Army Air Forces B-25B Mitchell medium bombers were launched from the U.S. Navy's aircraft carrier USS Hornet deep in the Western Pacific Ocean. The plan called for them to bomb military targets in Japan, and to continue westward to land in China—landing a medium bomber on the Hornet was impossible. All the aircraft involved in the bombing were lost and 11 crewmen were either killed or captured—with three of the captured men executed by the Japanese Army in China. One of the B-25s landed in the Soviet Union at Vladivostok, where it was confiscated and its crew interned for more than a year. Thirteen entire crews, and all but one crewman of a 14th, returned either to the United States or to American forces.[2][3]

This tiny hand painted pewter aircraft model is painted in an authentic US Airforce livery of WWII and is mounted on a varnished wooden plinth, on which the Travel Bug tag has been attached.

For the purposes of The Great Air Race, this trackable has been allocated to Marc. 

This Travel Bug Dog Tag, is taking part in 'The Great Air Race', a family competition which started in North Yorkshire, UK on Xmas Day 2012.

The aircraft are 'racing' against 10 other similar trackable aircraft models to see which achieves the most AirMiles (£50 prize) and/or the most Geocaches visited (£25 prize) within the coming year.

And yes, it is a race.

The Finishing Line will be in a geocache in Maryland, USA, the actual location of which will be notified to finders of this Travel Bug when it arrives in the Washington DC area.

So please help it to travel fast and far, and visit as many different geocaches as possible.

Please keep it moving! Please do not steal, damage or destroy this lovely little artefact, but honour and respect the sense of fun in which it sets off on it's mission, and the sense of delight which I hope will come to those who seek to assist it in The Great Air Race as it flies on to it's final destination! If you wish to contact me, please email me at geo@no-mans-land.co.uk.

Thankyou!