j1b3h0
Line Up and Wait
Well researched account Dolittle's raid on Japan. So many thing went wrong that it's a miracle it went as well as it did. For one thing - the ship convoy was sighted by a sampan and forced the flight to leave the USS Hornet well short of their plans...some 800 east Japan. Strong headwinds, poor weather and compasses out of calibration, (after weeks sitting atop a steel vessel) and leaking fuel tanks all contributed to the navigational challenges of finding the target, and from the outset, a very uncertain conclusion. All except one aircraft were lost - it landed in Russia...the only place it had fuel to reach. It's a great read, I highly recommend it.