."..Doolittle and Duncan had concurred that the North American B-25--a twin-engined, high-winged medium bomber--was the only aircraft capable of meeting the mission requirements.
The five-man plane could carry a ton of bombs at close to three hundred miles per hour. It had an impressive two-thousand-mile range. Best of all, the plane was compact: 53 feet long with a wingspan a shade wider than 67 feet.
The make-or-break question was whether a B-25 could take off from an aircraft carrier.
Duncan arranged to hoist two B-25s, stripped to their lightest weights, aboard the Hornet at Norfolk. Then the big ship put to sea.

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Takeoff No.1 (BAIL OUT)
Crew from 34th Squadron, 17th Group
Pilot Lt. Col. James H. DooLittle
Co-pilot Lt. Richard E. Cole
Navigator Lt Henry A. Potter
Bombardier Sgt. Fred A. Braemer
*Gunner Sgt. Paul J. Leonard (Killed in bomb attack in Africa Jan. 5, 1943)

Takeoff No.2 (CRASH LANDING - China)
Crew from 37th Squadron, 17th Group
Pilot Lt. Travis Hoover
Co-pilot Lt. William N. Fitzhugh
Navigator Lt. Carl R. Wildner
*Bombardier Lt. Richard E. Miller (Killed in action in Africa Jan. 22, 1943)
Gunner Sgt. Douglas V. Radney

1927: Flying a Curtiss P-1B Hawk biplane, Jimmy Doolittle performs the first outside loop.

Takeoff No.3 (BAIL, OUT)
Crew from 95th Squadron, 17th Group
*Pilot Lt. Robert M. Gray (Killed in crash enroute to China from India Oct. 18, 1942)
*Co-pilot Lt. Jacob E. Manch (Killed balling out of T-33, Las Vegas, Nevada, Mar. 24, 1958)
Navigator Lt. Charles J. Ozuk
Bombardier Sgt. Aden E. Jones
*Gunner Cpl. Leland D. Faktor (Killed bailing out in China after Tokyo Raid, April 18, 1942)