Please join us for a presentation about the Doolittle Raid at 1 pm in the Wardroom on the 2nd deck.

Less than 5 months after the attack at Pearl Harbor, the United States wanted to strike back against Japan. Japan was winning victory after victory across the Pacific and something was needed to raise morale. An idea was born-put Army Air Force bombers on an aircraft carrier, steam near enough to Japan to launch them to bomb military targets on the Japanese home islands. The bombers would fly on to China while the ships would return to Pearl Harbor.

We will talk about the raid, the role the USS Hornet CV-8 played in it (as well as the other ships) and the aftermath. If you are interested in hearing more about this historic raid that started right here from Alameda Naval Air Station in 1942, then please join us! Our speaker, Stephen Leavell, has undertaken a lot of research about the B-25 that flew on to Russia instead of to China. You will definitely learn something new if you attend this discussion! Please see his Bio below.

Normal museum admission fee gets you into this special presentation for free.

Bio of speaker Stephen Leavell:

I am a graduate of SFSU with a degree in Business Finance.

After graduation, I was hired by United Airlines as a pilot, where I also had a posting as a Flight Manager. In that capacity, I was charged with selling a pilot training program that United Airlines developed. My sales travel took me to the former USSR, where I made aviation contacts. A social acquaintance learned of my travels and thought my Russian contacts would be valuable in his quest to locate and retrieve the only B-25 that survived the Doolittle Raid when it landed near Vladivostok. He asked me to join him in the hunt for 2242  (the aircraft serial number).  I accepted the offer and challenge – that was in 1992. 

From my experience with the Russians, I realized I had to know every possible detail about the raid and 2242 – I became an amateur historian. I searched all the relevant archives in this country – National Archives, Library of Congress, USAF and USN archives, FDR Presidential Library, including the British Archives in Que Gardens, to study the source documents in preparation and execution for the raid. I discovered nuggets that others overlooked. I also found that the most recent histories on the Doolittle Raid usually explain the origin of the raid from an incorrect interpretation of the meeting in the WH on December 21, 1941.