The Doolittle Raid of 18 April was the first air raid by the United States to strike the Japanese home islands during World War II. The mission was notable in that for the only time in US military history, United States Army Air Forces bombers launched into combat from a US Navy aircraft carrier. The Doolittle Raid demonstrated that the Japanese home islands were vulnerable to Allied air attack, and it provided an expedient outlet for US retaliation for Japan’s attack on Pearl Harbor on 7 December 1941

The raid was planned and led by Lieutenant Colonel Jimmy Doolittle, already a famous civilian aviator and aeronautical engineer before the war. The raid, however, had its roots in the mind of Navy Captain Francis Low, who early in the war predicted that under right conditions, twin-engine Army bombers could be successfully launched from an aircraft carrier. Subsequent calculations by Doolittle indicated that the B-25 Mitchell could be launched from a carrier. Subsequent calculations by Doolittle indicated that the B-25 Mitchell could be launched from a carrier with a reasonable bomb load, hit military targets in Japan, and fly on to land in China.