All 16 crashed on the shores of China…some a few hundred yards off the beach…my question is, were any of these ships salvaged or are they still there? Tried Googling but only the Lake Murray plane comes up . I just got curious about this after watching the Doolittle Raid parts 3&4 and figured one of you guys might know.
Thanks,
Len
Interesting question, one I never thought of. Somehow I doubt they recovered any of the planes though.
You know, I doubt it too. BUT…if those planes that sunk are still there Im surprised that theres no interest in raising them for historys sake. Maybe being so close to shore they were destroyed by waves/current or possibly locals that may have scrapped em. I guess thats the answer Im looking for…has anyone ever tried to find one of the sunken planes.
Not all 16 planes crashed in the sea. A few crews bailed out out over mainland China, including Dooliitle and his crew. These planes that crashed on the mainland were totally destroyed.
One of the Raiders actually managed to land their plane. Plane #8 landed in Russia and the crew was taken in by the Russians, but later took off but I forgot where they went from there…I dont have my Doolittle book at the moment
As for any of the planes being salvaged I am almost sure none of them were. North American did make a replica of Doolittle’s plane for a reunion, but I dont think any of the original planes are still in existence
Yeah, I know all didnt go in the drink...when I said they made it to the shores of China I didnt mean they actually landed at the shore…lol. Not exactly sure how many wet down in the ocean…3 or 4 ?
About the one that landed in Russia…the Soviets probably took it apart to reverse engineer it just like everything else of ours they got their hands on.
Here’s a picture taken of Captain Edward “Ski” York’s B-25B in Russia on April 19, 1942… the day after the raid
One of the Raiders actually managed to land their plane. Plane #8 landed in Russia and the crew was taken in by the Russians, but later took off but I forgot where they went from there…I dont have my Doolittle book at the moment
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I could`ve sworn I read somewhere that that interred crew actually escaped and made their way back to China. May have been in the book " 30 Seconds Over Tokyo"…have to check.
I read that in my book too…they lined up for takeoff and then a guy waved them back. They then got ready for takeoff again but were waved down again but then York just hit full throttle and blew right past him
I just remembered something else…it was either plane 6 or plane 7 or one of the ones that ditched by the shore and I remember reading that the crew had set their afire to prevent confiscation by the Japanese. I’m guessing the other crews that ditched would have done something similar, so this would have left very little left to salvage
…and it really stinks that no one knows where it is today!
According to that TV show at least 2 just sunk. One of them had the gear down which caused the plane to flip over on it`s back. The other one just ditched, taking 10 minutes to sink. That was the plane with the Flight Surgeon that doubled as a gunner. The crew was able to save a bunch of their gear and made it to a Chinese village. I would think that the planes they burned were on dry land.
If so they’d be in China’s waters. I can’t imagine they’d allow anyone to salvage the planes just because that’s how they are. I doubt they’d ever salvage them themselves either. They don’t seem to me to wax nostalgic over such things like we Americans do and probably couldn’t justify the expense. That’s just speculation on my part though.
I can’t see an american team wanting to finance such a project, especially with the logistics involved. There are plenty of easier to get to planes out there.
Don’t really mean to sound like a kill joy but the idea seems so far fetched as to nearly be comical.
Capt York’s crew was interned and held virtually as POWs for most of a year. They eventually got away and made their way overland to Turkey and back to the US. There would be no need for the Soviets to reverse engineer the B-25 as we gave them hundreds of them through the Lend Lease program.
Darwin, O.F. [aln]
If so they’d be in China’s waters. I can’t imagine they’d allow anyone to salvage the planes just because that’s how they are. I doubt they’d ever salvage them themselves either. They don’t seem to me to wax nostalgic over such things like we Americans do and probably couldn’t justify the expense. That’s just speculation on my part though.
I can’t see an american team wanting to finance such a project, especially with the logistics involved. There are plenty of easier to get to planes out there.
Don’t really mean to sound like a kill joy but the idea seems so far fetched as to nearly be comical.
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Youre right about the Chinese. Youre also right about easier aircraft to be had…one of the Great Lakes has over 400 various WWII planes on the bottom in fresh water to boot. But none were on the Doolittle mission.Theres people out there whove spent more money than Id see in 10 lifetimes to pull a totally destroyed tank out of a river and build it back into a production line Panther. So why not someone with boat loads of money trying to find the Raiders ships? Like you said, the Chinese will never let it happen anyway.
My original question was did anyone ever try to recover one of these A/C and has been answered…no. Thanks for all your input, I really appreciate it!
Len
Hmmm.
All else aside, I really don’t know the answer to the question. Has it been attempted? I have no idea so maybe I should have just kept my trap closed and looked stupid instead of… ya know…
I just watched a special on the Doolittle Raid and did some searching on the crews. While it is a shame that none of the aircraft are preserved it is much worse when it come to some of the crew members. There were a few of the crew members who were captured by the Japanese and taken prisoners of war. They were beheaded/murdered. Does anyone know if the war criminals that did this were tried for their crimes after the end of the war? If not, are they still being sought for their war crimes like Nazis are? This is terrible.
Eight Raiders were captured with three being convicted of some crime…no one knows what because all charges were read in Japanese…and sentenced to death by firing squad the next day. One other died of maltreatment and the rest were treated with the usual Japanese hospitality of the time. IMO, all Japanese soldiers of WWII were war criminals due to the beliefs instilled in them by the warpedform of bushido they were expected to abide by.Early in the war when the US forces took prisoners , they were protected by the Geneva Convention and treated well, some actually got fat during their imprisonment! And what they did to our guys was unforgivable. Read a book called Flyboys by James Bradley, son of the Iwo Jima flag raiser…It made my blood boil! Pretty much about what they did to our aircrews they captured on Chi Chi Jima. Im not sure what happened with the Raiders Japanese jailers…hopefully, they got their`s!
I am pretty sure they were tried at the war crime trials. There is even a picture I came across of a Japanese soldier forced to kneel in front of a cross like the 3 raiders that were put to death had to do. The book I have goes into great detail of this, but I dont have it on me at the moment. The book is called the Doolittle Raid by Carroll V. Glines and is an excellent book on not only the raid, but goes into detail the mission of each crew, their target, and their ordeal after the raid.
Actually the Chinese government is quite proud of the Americans who faught against the Japanese in WWII. There is a flying TIger Museum in China and Chennualt is honored there with a statue. A few years ago they found a crashed P-40 belonging to the AVG, it made the Chinese news and plans were made to recover the aircraft. I also have a book published on the 60th anniversary of WWII by the Chinese government honoring the Dolittle Raiders and the AVG.