"TOUJOURS AU DANGER" (EVER INTO DANGER): 17TH BOMB GROUP MOTTO

March and April 1942

Special Ordnance and Secret Orders

Armaments staff officer Captain Ross Greening devised means of alleviating weapons inadequacies. To deceive Japanese interceptors, he ordered two black broomsticks inserted into rear Plexiglas observation caps, simulating machineguns. His invented a simple yet effective replacement for the complex, top-secret Norden bombsight, too advanced to risk its falling into enemy hands. His two-piece aluminum, twenty-cent "Mark Twain" sight, proved more accurate at low-level than the Norden, designed for high-altitude aiming.

Despite the demanding schedule and many troubles, Doolittle considered the men prepared by month's end. As lead pilot he chose himself. General Arnold still insisted he needed Doolittle in Washington, but Jimmy argued that he kn more about the mission than did anyone else and how to lead it. Arnold reluctantly consented.

In mid-March, Hornet transited the Panama Canal. Wu Duncan, still coordinating with Admiral Nimitz' Pacific Fleet, wired from Hawaii, "Tell Jimmy to get on his horse." That simple coded signal sent eighty Army aircrew and 10,000 sailors into harm's way.

Late in the month, twenty-two B-25Bs flew from Eglin to McClellan Field near Sacramento, CA. Civilian mechanics there incurred Doolittle's wrath by revving engines, pocking new props with stirred-up grit, and messing with carburetors precisely tuned to milk every last mile out of the 1700 horsepower Wright Double Cyclone air-cooled radials. After repairs, Army air and some ground crew proceeded to Alameda Naval Air Station, Oakland, where cranes hoisted sixteen planes aboard carrier Hornet.