After all bombs were
away, the B-25s made a hasty retreat to the safety of Allied-held territory on
the Chinese mainland. Now, it was dark, and the pilots didn’t have the advantages
of modern navigation. In fact, there was no radar aboard any of the B-25s.
Navigators and Pilots were armed with only the small metal compasses in their
pockets and the stars above. Navigation was no different than it had been 400
years earlier when Ferdinand Magellan attempted to circle the globe.
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Crewmen known as “Navigators”
used physical features such as mountains, islands, and bridges and the bearings
of their hand-held compasses to find their landing zone. Unfortunately, storm
clouds obscured the view and navigators were left to estimate their location. Sixteen
Bombers and their crews flew west, all in hopes of finding a friendly place to
land.
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Flying into the darkness and running out of fuel, many of
the crews had to bail out of their planes and parachute into a variety of
conditions. Some were caught in trees, others landed in rice paddies, and still
others landed in small villages, where Chinese farmers cared for them and got
them to safety, just as many had done for downed “Flying Tiger” Pilots of the
Chinese Air Force.
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For bravery and heroism, all 80 Doolittle Raiders were
awarded the Congressional Gold Medal.
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