... coastal China, April 18, 1942, 8:20 p.m. After 12 hours, the 02,344 - Doolittle's plane - just crossed the Chinese coast, but on board is the concern, not relief, dominates.
Radio remains desperately silent and out, it is pitch dark. In an attempt to identify, or at least find common ground on which to land, Doolittle was in 8000 feet (about 2500 meters), but after more than an hour of fruitless efforts, the tanks are dry.
must choose between the forced landing in darkness, or skydiving. At 9:20 p.m., the five 02,344 men opt for the latter solution and evacuating the aircraft, which crashed on a hill a few moments later.
This time the luck has finally turned its back on Doolittle Boys, which, in the minutes that follow, are found all face the same choice: to crash or jump.
Like those of 02,344, 02,270 men of "Whiskey Pete" choose to skip, soon imitated by those of 02282, 02283, 02303 "Whirling Dervish" 02,250 (the only one to have been damaged over Tokyo), 02,249 "Hari Kari-er" of 02,278 "Fickle Finger" 02247 of "The Avenger" , and 02297. The 02298 "The Green Hornet" itself must make a forced landing on the coast, as well as 02,261 "Ruptured Duck" and 02267 "TNT". The
02,292 for its part is trying to land in a rice field, but if the operation works fairly well, the airmen are then forced to burn their own unit, for fear it falls into hands of the Japanese. The pilot of
02268 "Bat Out of Hell" is not happiest, after ordering his crew to jump, then crashes his B-25 near Ningpo.
In the end, and within minutes, fifteen B-25 are brand new and being shipped to the paradise of scrap ...
