RetroWARTHINK 025: Doolittle's Raiders with B-25B SeaMitchell Seaplanes

In a video on the Bermuda Triangle Flight 19 mystery, we proposed that the 5x TBF/M Avengers could have been SEAPLANES and put down intact on the water and became defacto boats signalling for rescue by a mere addition of an under-fuselage boat-shape with step addition and fold-down wing floats. I didn't express this "Semi-Seaplane" concept well lacking a drawing.

https://www.bitchute.com/video/LWTwwh0CPplt/

Here's TRY #2 (YES, Yoda there is a TRY).

Semi-Seaplane means an EMERGENCY water landing capability rendering the aircraft into a defacto life boat--NOT a full seaplane you could land and take-off by choice. IMHO ALL aircraft carrier planes should be at least semi-seaplanes with zero drag penalty PANTOBASE SKIS like the Convair SeaDart and YC-123 demonstrator demonstrated coupled with a watertight rest of the airplane.

www.combatreform.org/seaplanetransports.htm

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=678GOHdL-O0

Here is a B-25B SeaMitchell with a moderately draggy boat hull bottom and protrusions under each engine nacelle that came to mind watching the horribly titled movie "In Harm's Way" [already a superb John Wayne movie by this name] CGI depicting Colonel Doolittle's Raiders running out of gas unlike Bugs Bunny and crash-landing or parachute bailing out; then doing the escape & evasion drill resulting in Japanese reprisals upon the hapless Chinese citizens.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Doolittle_Raid

The concept for the attack came from Navy Captain Francis S. Low, Assistant Chief of Staff for antisubmarine warfare. He reported to Admiral Ernest J. King on 10 January 1942 that he thought that twin-engined Army bombers could be launched from an aircraft carrier, after observing several at Naval Station Norfolk Chambers Field in Norfolk, Virginia, where the runway was painted with the outline of a carrier deck for landing practice.[9]

Sixteen B-25B Mitchell medium bombers were launched without fighter escort from the U.S. Navy's aircraft carrier USS Hornet in the Western Pacific Ocean, each with a crew of five men. The plan was to bomb military targets in Japan and to continue westward to land in China. The bombing raid killed about 50 people, including civilians, and injured 400. Fifteen aircraft reached China, all of which crashed, while the 16th landed at Vladivostok in the Soviet Union. Of the 80 crew members, 77 survived the mission. Eight airmen were captured by Imperial Japanese Army troops in Eastern China, of whom three were later executed. The B-25 that landed in the Soviet Union was confiscated and its crew interned for more than a year before being allowed to "escape" via Anglo-Soviet-occupied Iran with the help of the NKVD. Fourteen complete crews of five returned to the United States or to American forces, except for one crewman who was killed in action.[4][5]

The raid caused little damage to Japan, but had major psychological effects. In the United States, it raised morale. In Japan, it raised doubt about the ability of military leaders to defend the home islands, but the bombing and strafing of civilians also steeled Japanese resolve to gain retribution, and this was exploited for propaganda purposes.[6] It also pushed forward Admiral Isoroku Yamamoto's plans to attack Midway Island in the Central Pacific, an attack that turned into a decisive defeat of the Imperial Japanese Navy (IJN) by the U.S. Navy in the Battle of Midway. The consequences were most severely felt in China, where Japanese reprisals caused the deaths of 250,000 civilians and 70,000 Soldiers.[6][2]

Doolittle initially believed that the loss of all his aircraft would lead to his court-martial, but he instead received the Medal of Honor and was promoted two ranks to brigadier general.

Doolittle, a famous military test pilot, civilian aviator, and aeronautical engineer before the war, was assigned to Army Air Forces Headquarters to plan the raid. The aircraft to be used would need a cruising range of 2,400 nautical miles (4,400 km) with a 2,000-pound (910 kg) bomb load, so Doolittle selected the B-25B Mitchell to carry out the mission. The range of the Mitchell was about 1,300 miles, so the bombers had to be modified to hold nearly twice the normal fuel reserves. Doolittle also considered the Martin B-26 Marauder, Douglas B-18 Bolo, and Douglas B-23 Dragon,[10] but the B-26 had questionable takeoff characteristics from a carrier deck and the B-23's wingspan was nearly 50-percent greater than the B-25's, reducing the number that could be taken aboard a carrier and posing risks to the ship's superstructure. The B-18 was one of the final two types that Doolittle considered, and he rejected it for the same reason.[11] The B-25 had yet to see combat,[note 1][12] but tests indicated that it could fulfill the mission's requirements.

Doolittle's first report on the plan suggested that the bombers might land in Vladivostok, shortening the flight by 600 nautical miles (1,100 km) on the basis of turning over the B-25s as Lend-Lease.[13] Negotiations with the Soviet Union were fruitless for permission to land because it had signed a neutrality pact with Japan in April 1941.[14] [EDITOR: DO IT ANYWAY, apologize later. Soviets could promise to punish the air crews etc. to appease the Japs] China's Chiang Kai-shek agreed to the landing sites in China despite the concern of Japanese reprisals. Five possible airfields were selected. These sites would serve as refueling stops, allowing the crews to fly to Chungking.[15] Bombers attacking defended targets often relied on a fighter escort to defend them from enemy fighters, but accompanying fighters were not possible.

If Claire Lee Chennault had been informed of the mission specifics, the outcome might have been very much better for the Americans. Chennault had built an effective air surveillance net in China that would have been extremely helpful in bringing the planes in for safe landings. The lack of visible beacons in the dark forced them to bail out.[51]

Chinese airfield crews recounted that due to the unexpectedly early arrivals of the B-25s, homing beacon and runway torch lights were not on for fear of possible Japanese airstrikes as happened before. Chiang Kai-Shek awarded the raiders China's highest military decorations,[52] and stated in his diary that Japan would alter its goal and strategy for the disgrace.[note 11]

The raid shook staff at Japanese Imperial General Headquarters.[53] Japan attacked territories in China to prevent similar shuttle bombing runs. High command withdrew substantial air force resources from supporting offensive operations in order to defend the home islands; two carriers were diverted to the Alaskan island invasion to prevent them from being used as bomber bases and could not be used in the Midway operations. Thus, the raid's most significant strategic accomplishment was that it compelled the Japanese high command into ordering a very inefficient disposition of their forces, and poor decision-making due to fear of attack, for the rest of the war.

"In Harm's Way" (2019)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ub-WFYeDWJU

The Japanese brutality was so bad, I could finish watching the movie--even with a love story.

Now 20-20 hind sight-consider what if Doolittle's Raiders had SeaMitchells....

Running low on gas, they could have put down on the water adjacent to a friendly Chinese coast and been rescued by military force putting no Chinese civilians at risk. The SeaMitchells might have been recovered from the water by small boats/cranes etc. and been a 16x medium bomber force addition to General Chennault's Flying Tigers. Perhaps they could have been refueled at sea to reach the Japanese home islands to bomb them?

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Claire_Lee_Chennault

A year before the U.S. officially entered the war, Chennault developed an ambitious plan for a sneak attack on Japanese bases. His Flying Tigers would use American bombers and American pilots, all with Chinese markings. He made the fantastic claim that a handful of fliers and planes could win the war single handed. The U.S. Army was opposed to that scheme and raised obstacles by noting that being able to reach Japan depended on Chiang's troops being able to build and protect airfields and bases close enough to Japan, which they doubted that he could do. It also had little confidence in Chennault.[23]

Despite the military advice, American civilian leaders were captivated by the idea of China winning the war with Japan swiftly with only a few American men and planes. It was adopted by top civilian officials including Treasury Secretary Morgenthau and President Roosevelt himself.[Note 2] However, the American attack never took place: The Nationalist Chinese had not built and secured any runways or bases close enough to reach Japan, just as the military had warned. The bombers and crews arrived after the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor in December 1941, and were used for the war in Burma, as they lacked the range to reach Japan from secure bases in China.[24][25][26]

Chennault's 1st American Volunteer Group (AVG) – better known as the "Flying Tigers" – began training in August 1941 and was primarily based out of Rangoon, Burma, and Kunming, Yunnan. Just weeks after the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, senior Chinese officials in Chungking released details of the first aerial attack made by the group, when the American flyers encountered 10 Japanese aircraft heading to raid Kunming and successfully shot down four of the raiders.[27][28][29][30]

Thus, Claire Chennault became America's "first military leader" to be publicly recognized for striking a blow against the Japanese military forces [Hear that lying USMC?]

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Summary/Conclusion

It's absurd to fly land-based-only aircraft over oceans and seas that are unable to gently land intact there and float as lifeboats in an emergency. It's a complete denial and disrespect for Murphy's Law and TBATE--typical of the arrogant aviator.

The semi-seaplane option by airframe modified into a minimalist flying boat or Pantobase skis & watertightness can fix this disconnect with physical, objective reality--saving lives and equipment otherwise lost to crash landings into the sea by aircraft that can't even do this safely one time. 

Semper Airborne!