Raid of No Return

 Hale, Nathan. Raid of No Return. Book 7 of the Hazardous Tales series. 2017. 128p. ISBN 9780606407182. Available at 940.54 HAL on the library shelves.

The surprise Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941 shocked the United States and led to the country entering the Second World War. For years the Japanese had been expanding in the Pacific, attacking British, French and Dutch possessions and bombing Australia. Unable to directly strike back at Japan, American planners elaborated a daring attack plan. Bombers would take off from an aircraft carrier task force within striking range of Japan, and would bomb the industrial centers of Tokyo, Kyoto, and other targets. Bombers would then land in unoccupied China.

Colonel Doolittle was put in charge of training a volunteer force of 24 bomber crews. The short takeoff was thought to be impossible, but pilots quickly demonstrated that even bomb-laden heavy planes could take off with as little as 300 feet of flight deck. All unnecessary equipment was jettisoned, to make the planes lighter. 

The carrier task force took off from San Francisco, but as it neared its launching point it was spotted by a Japanese patrol boat, and bombers were forced to fly earlier than intended. Most of them hit their targets but did little damage. Some crew members were killed in action, while other were captured and executed or imprisoned in POW camps, but the vast majority of the crew members made it to China and eventually returned to the United States.

The damage inflicted was minimal, but the propaganda value and morale boost were invaluable to the war effort. For the first time since Pearl Harbor, the United States had shown it could strike at Japan.

Part of the Hazardous Tales graphic stories, this intriguing tale is beautifully illustrated and presents information in a concise and visually appealing way.