Jimmy Doolittle: a pilot and leader_美文_双语阅读-查字典英语网

Jimmy Doolittle: a pilot and leader

The plan was simple. The carrier would sail to within six hundred fifty kilometers of the Japanese coast. The planes would take off from the carrier, bomb Japan at night, and land in China in the morning.

But problems sometimes develop, with even the best made plans. At seven-thirty on the morning of April eighteenth, nineteen forty-two, Japanese patrol boats saw the carrier. It was still one thousand fifty kilometers from the Japanese coast.

The plans changed immediately. Orders were given to launch the planes. The bombing would be done during the day. The pilots started the engines.

As everyone watched, Jimmy Doolittle flew the first aircraft off the carrier deck. The winds were strong. The ship was moving up and down in the high waves. But he made it look easy.

The others followed. The carrier turned around and sped back toward the United States. Jimmy Doolittle and his air crews were alone.

Jimmy Doolittle led the way to Japan. Each of the sixteen planes had different targets. Most of them bombed targets in Tokyo. Others hit targets in Yokohama and Nagoya. All the aircraft safely left Japan. One landed in the Soviet Union. Fifteen others tried to reach the air fields in China. None did. The distance was too great. All the planes ran out of fuel. Most of the crews were forced to jump from their planes using parachutes. Most of the men returned home safely. Eight were captured.