A one-way bombing raid on Tokyo was launched from planes too big to land back
In April 1942, Lt. Col. James Doolittle led sixteen Army bombers off the carrier USS Hornet to strike Tokyo, the first American attack on Japan's home islands. The B-25s were too large to land back on a carrier, so after dropping their bombs most crews flew on to China, bailing out or crash-landing when fuel ran out. The raid caused little physical damage, but it rattled Japan's high command and handed a battered America its first morale win of the Pacific war.