The Doolittle Raid on Japan was always designed as a one way mission: from the carrier to friendly airfields in China by way of Tokyo. Due to early discovery by Japanese picket boats, Captain David Jones and the rest of Crew 5 (aircraft 02283) left the deck of the USS Hornet knowing their one-way trip was perilously shorter. They knew that their B-25 did not have the range to make those friendly airfields, and getting to the China coast or past Japanese-occupied China would take great skill and uncommon luck. At a small break in the cloud cover over Chu Chow the members of Crew 5, who could coax their aircraft no further, left the plane, trusting their parachutes, the wind and the Chinese people to lead them to safety.
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