WW2 Bomber Flies for the First Time in 15 Years | General Jimmy Doolittle narrates the Famous Raid 

Excellent videography!

P 38 i think were amazing Planes

My former father-in-law drove landing craft during the island hopping campaign starting from Australia right into Tokyo Bay and the stories he told were truly inspiring. He always told me that the P-38 Lightning played a big role in the Pacific Campaign, describing how they could outmaneuver the Jap Zeros. Would love to see a P-38 presented the same way as this B-25. Thanks!

@@sess122 Thank you for sharing his story; the P-38 certainly holds a special place in the hierarchy of WW2 fighter aircraft. But you don't win wars without the troops on the ground to plant the flag and people like your father-in-law to get them there. I hope you have a pleasant Memorial day and thank you for watching and commenting. It's stories like those that are why we keep these warbirds flying.

@@czoom51 Thanks for your reply and interest in my father-in-law's experiences. Hope you don't mind sharing this one most intriguing experience of his. Even though he piloted the landing craft for the Navy, he was in the Army. Because he was an expert mechanic, having grown up rebuilding cars and engines he was assigned to be head of his company's motor pool when he went into the Army. When the Navy came up short for landing craft operators he received a special assignment, along with about 3,000 other GI's, to run them. After the Japanese surrender he ended up in Tokyo Harbor/Bay and one day he noticed a number of docked Jap PT Boats. Well, being the "adventurous" guy he was, he grabbed a few of his buddies, hopped on one, started it up and cruised around Tokyo Harbor for a while. Talk about the experience of a lifetime! I once asked him how he managed to get through 4 years of war and he simply said, "I stayed away from the guys who were negative/depressed because they'd drag you down and I always looked for something uplifting/positive as much as possible to do to keep my mind off the war".

Keeping them flying is the best way to preserve them. Machines are designed to be used, and maintained.

To hear the flying is the thing. Their noise is unique and lovely and loud and powerful and makes you stop and look up.

@@dbaider9467 A couple years ago I was standing outside on my acreage and heard the distinct sound of two radials overhead. I had to watch and listen until I could no longer hear the sweet sound. It was far enough away I could not tell if it was a DC-3 or a B-25, but could see it was a twin engine of the correct size.

Being aboard during flight is incredible

Riding in them is fun too!

It's shocking how very young they were. When I look at old photos I see all those young faces but the eyes are old. They've all seen things no youngster should ever have to see.

The Greatest Generation. We owe them so much.

So why are all these bombers on tour, like EAA and Collins Foundation, crewed by geezers? If they want to share history with the public, they should be crewed by kids, so the public would witness just how young our boys were back then, and still are. There are plenty of qualified pilots and mechanics coming out of flight programs and trade schools to make it so.

@@flyswryan Geezers? Maybe because they've survived this long and have paid their dues!

I'm one of those geezers who go out on tour with these old gals, and the public sees us as a bunch of retired old white men who may have paid our dues, just not our country club dues. It would have far more impact if a crew of 19 year olds emerged from the bomber and took care of her.

Been to many airshows and the National Air & Space Museum in DC. Would 100 times rather see warbirds dusty & oil streaked, smell hot metal, oil, avgas & exhaust and see & hear them in the air than pristine but never to fly again in a museum. Thanks to all the folks who work on 'em, find or make parts, fly' em and those who contribute the green stuff that keeps 'em going. And thank the Lord for letting me be born in the Texas Panhandle in 1948 & getting to learn to fly from & eventually with men of the Greatest Generation. Your faces will stay with me til I go West & see you again.

JOHN 1:1 IN THE BEGINNING WAS THE WORD AND THE WORD WAS WITH GOD AND THE WORD WAS GOD,( SOME LATER IN JOHN , BIBLE) AND THE WORD BECAME FLESH AND DWELT AMONG US,( JESUS IS THE WORD)

I need to read up on the B-25's use in the Pacific. But from what I've gathered there was some pretty creative uses of the B-25 in theater.

Das bei euch alles von Gott gesegnet sein muss !! Entweder man kann was oder man kann nichts … mit irgendeinem Gott wegen dem nur kriege geführt werden hat das nichts zu tun !!

Vor wem verteidigt ihr euch mit eurer riesigen Armee eigentlich?? Oder geht es nur um Amerikas Interessen und Öl ?? Amerika zündet überall nur … von irgendeinem Gott habt ihr nichts gelernt !! … schade ..das Sieger oft nichts lernen !

What do you mean "you couldn't believe it"?

Ich glaube nicht ! Ich sehe und verstehe !! Eure riesige Armee ist nur der lange Arm der Industrie ! Es geht um Geld Einfluss und Öl ! Merkt ihr das den nicht ?? Die Welt besteht aus anderen Meinungen und anderen Menschen die auch andere Bedürfnisse haben !! Die USA ist der größte Brandstifter seit dem 2 Weltkrieg !!! Und dieses Land soll irgendein Gott schützen ?? Eure Armee ist nichts anderes als eine riesige Gruppe Geologen auf der Suche nach billigem Öl !!

My dad had same experience..fought the entire war.

Presumably so did the others!

These midrange bombers can fly at a fair pace using both engines.

Except the Mossy was mightier !

@@robertrodway5678 Agree !

Great sentiments from another 1948 model. I spent my earliest years outside in my pram during the summer listening to these sounds. My first word was ´Izzybuzz’ rather than Mum or Dad. Prop aircraft still speak to me 74 years later!

What did it accomplish?

I got my aviator wings in April '73. Then did primary in the T-34 at Saufley Field, then basic in the T-28 at Whiting Field, then carrier qualification in the T-28 on the Lexington, then advanced at Corpus Christi in the S-2, and then went to Rosy Roads and flew the C-1 for over three years. As with you, I look back and feel privileged to have had the opportunity to fly vintage WW2 era aircraft.

Thank you that was the goal! There was no audio on the original so I had to use archive footage from an airshow.

You are welcome.

My grandfather was a pilot in a B-25H, he also survived a crash landing breaking both his ankles and becoming a prisoner of war. Luckily he escaped twice and that’s the reason I am here today.

They are out there greywolf. You just don't see them as the News and Hollywood focus on the scum of the earth. I did twenty in the USMC retiring in 2004. I served with some of the best this country can produce. I doubt the Corps has changed much since then. Hell, the guys spent two decades in Iraq and Afghanistan. They had it just as tough and maybe tougher than our WWII veterans in some areas like Fallujah. Semper fi

In Germany: “For the 650,000 men under Doolittle's command, (his Eighth Air Force was the largest aerial formation ever assembled) the February 3 bombing of Berlin was to be one of the biggest days of the war. Doolittle was to dispatch 1,437 heavy bombers and 948 fighters to attack the German city that day.” The ground was shaking and so were those Germans!

how many fit on the HORNET???

@@rsprockets7846 16

@@rsprockets7846 The plane I work with has the same engine as well but only one of them. What kind of plane is it

Great story!

Upon landing in China, and losing ALL the aircraft and quite a few of the crew... Doolittle thought he was going to be court marshaled. Instead, he was awarded the Medal of Honor. And, as usually the case, he said he didn't deserve it (most Medal of Honor don't feel they deserve it). He said he would accept it, for ALL the men on the mission... since they all deserved one. That IS the usual case. Truly a down-to-earth commander the men loved.

Do you have a link to the documentary that we hear in the background?

​@@macjim😊

There is no 'god'. Now you know.

@@kiereluurs1243 Yes, yes there is. Your eyes are open wide shut. Thanks for your comment.

@@joeretired4552 Come on Joe,don’t be silly,it’s fine if you want to believe the fairytales...but don’t expect grown adults to do the same.

Agree about accuracy. They used film cuts of US Steel factory in Gary,In as the "targets" of the mission. My Grandfather worked there, and my Uncle flew a B25 later over New Guniea. He was MIA for over 58 years till recovered and repatraited in 1998. Entire crew accounted for now rest in Arlington Cemetery.

Scott is the best. We just shot another video with him to make the follow up video to this one. Our B-25 is now restored as an Air Apaches Mitchell with an epic bare metal scheme.

It was all ATW Aviation!

I agree. When I saw that I was thinking if the lead aircraft pilot didn't know what was about to devour his tail, he probably wet his flight suit when he looked in his mirror.