The picture I posted is of three of the remaining Jimmy Doolittle Raiders. This picture was taken in 2007 at The Warhawk Museum in Nampa, Id. The Raider on the right of the picture Was a member of the B 25 crew the RUPTURED DUCK. His name is David J. Thatcher and he is the only living member of this crew left. This is the crew that the movie "30 SECONDS OVER TOKYO was based on. Of the 80 men on that raid there are only 13 left. On one of the other forums they were talking about one of the other crew members that had just passed away at 95. Bob

Bob, I embedded the photo you are talking about. If you make us go hunting for a photo in the gallery, we're gonna be a little confused.

If you hit the "EDIT" button on your first post, you'll see the syntax used for embedding a photo. Look in the How-To and Tutorial section for more help.

Thanks a lot I haven't had much luck posting a picture on the forum article. Bob

Thanks for posting the picture gents. Bob, did you meet those fellows?

gb

Yes, I did and they had a little forum type session where they all talked and we could ask questions. I thoroughly enjoyed my time there.

Wow thats cool. I would have loved to hear those men talk.

Yeah really! These are men of iron will and plenty of skill.

I was equally thrilled during an open forum visit of three Tuskegee Airmen...right here at work a few years ago. You could tell who amongst the crowd really understood what it took for these guys to do what they did. We welcomed them as if they were rock stars.

I had an old friend who has since passed on that was shot down in a B-24 over Germany on his first mission. He was the co-pilot. Spent 3 years as a POW. When you could get him to talk about it, the stories were incredible. Every day after his captivity he felt was a bonus, and he lived his life that way. I miss that old timer...

Thanks again.

gb

Crew photo of the above gentleman here.

http://www.doolittleraider.com/80_brave ... m#Thatcher

Truly remarkable citizens these men were. I was fortunate to be part of a group called the "Kansas City Warbirds" back in the early 90's. I was on patrol one day when I ran across them working on a B-25 called the "Fairfax Ghost" in Joplin, Mo.

I stopped the patrol car and hoped they might give a deputy a chance to crawl thru their "bird". Such a great group of folks that I "joined" the restoration group. One of the members was Travis Hoover the Pilot of crew number 2.

I was fortunate to fly to one airshow that summer with the aircraft and was able to meet several of the then surviving members. All were very decent men and were very inspiring.

That particular B-25J model is now the "Red Bull" B-25 I do believe.

Thanks for posting this. Very good memories of some great people.

Coincidentally today...

Loss Leaves 11 Survivors Of Legendary Mission

Another member of the famed Doolittle Raiders has passed. Former Staff Sgt. Jacob "Jake" DeShazer, 95, died Saturday in an assisted living facility in Salem, OR.

According to a USAF release, cited by The Air Force Times, DeShazer was bombardier on the last of 16 bombers that took part in the Doolittle Raid, a daring airstrike against Japan in April 1942.

Led by the legendary Lt. Col. James Doolittle, 16 B-25 bombers launched from the USS Hornet, and set off to bomb Tokyo in retaliation for the attack on Pearl Harbor four months before. The mission was an overall success... and gave a shaken American public a morale boost.

It was an inherently risky mission, though... and DeShazer experienced those dangers firsthand. Due to a last-minute change in plans, Doolittle ordered the bombers to launch 200 miles farther out than originally planned. That added distance meant the crews launched knowing they would have to ditch their aircraft over China, out of fuel.

Three men died trying to bail out of their planes. Eight were taken prisoner by the Japanese, including DeShazer; four died in captivity. DeShazer was held for 40 months, 34 in solitary confinement, according to the US Air Force.

The time molded DeShazer's later life. He studied the bible while incarcerated... and later returned to Japan, working for 30 years as a missionary.

A native Oregonian, in 2005 DeShazer was inducted into the Oregon Aviation Hall of Honor, as ANN reported.

DeShazer's death leaves 11 Doolittle Raiders remaining. When only two are left, those men will open a bottle of 'Hennessy Very Special' cognac, vintage 1896... the year of Doolittle's birth.

Flying Kiwi wrote:Crew photo of the above gentleman here.

http://www.doolittleraider.com/80_brave ... m#Thatcher

Thanks for posting that information on the crews. I appreciate it. Bob

Just the other day there was just something on the History Channel about Doolittle and their mission to hit Japan. They reenacted some of it using computer graphics while they explained what happened.

They showed how their B25s were retrofitted to add more fuel capacity. Things like tailguns were replaced with broomsticks to save weight. Despite the addition of several fuel tanks they ran short on the way back and had to parachute out or ditch near the beaches of China where the Japs has strongholds.

Look for it.

Also, (on a side note) they have a series of shows called "Dogfights" which are incredibly well done. Again they use CGI to reenact the action of famous air battles while the actual pilots give their accounts.

Perhaps these shows have been around for a while, but they are new to me since recently discovering how good the History Channel is.

I just googled it...

The name of that show was called Man, Moment, Machine. The episode was called Doolittle's Daring Raid.

http://www.history.com/shows.do?episode ... ion=detail

Keep an eye out for it.