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North American B-25B Mitchell Bomber taking off from the USS Hornet, en-route to Toyko for the first U.S. bombing mission to Japan. The "Doolittle Raid" 24 operational B-25B medium bombers were detached from the 17th Bomb Group on April 18, 1942.

The "Doolittle Raid," was the first air raid by the United States to strike the Japanese home island of Honshū during World War II. The mission was notable since it was the only time in U.S. military history that United States Army Air Forces bombers were launched from a U.S. Navy aircraft carrier on a combat mission. The Doolittle Raid demonstrated that the Japanese home islands were vulnerable to Allied air attack, and it provided an expedient means for U.S. retaliation for Japan's attack on Pearl Harbor on 7 December 1941.