Thirty Seconds Over Tokyo

After Pearl Harbor, America seemed to have lost the war before it had begun. Allied forces were being beaten across the Pacific by the Japanese military juggernaut, and morale was at the breaking point. America desperately needed to strike back at the enemy. For this, a corps of heroic volunteer fliers led by Lt. Col. James H. Doolittle began training to attack the very heart of the Japanese Empire — Tokyo.

To succeed, the "Tokyo Raiders" would have to launch sixteen fully loaded B-25 twin-engine medium bombers off the deck of the aircraft carrier Hornet — something never done before — and land at airfields in China. Through courage and luck, the raid itself went flawlessly. But bad weather, lack of fuel, and darkness worked against many of the pilots — and for many, escaping China proved even more perilous than the mission....

This gripping eyewitness account — hailed as "the most stirring story of individual heroism that [the war] has so far produced" (The New York Times) — is one of the most daring missions in military aviation history: the legendary Doolittle Raid.

To celebrate the 60th anniversary of the surprise bombing of the Japanese capital in April of 1942, US Army Air Corp pilot Ted Lawson's (1917-92) personal account is reprinted from its 1943 publication by Random House. The new edition includes many more photographs and commentary.

Library Journal

The publisher inaugurates its "Aviation Classics" series with this 1943 narrative of Jimmy Doolittle's raid on Japan in answer to Pearl Harbor, which Lawson experienced firsthand as a bomber pilot. This edition has twice as many photos as the original, as well as a new introduction by series editor and military historian Peter B. Mersky. Copyright 2002 Cahners Business Information.

Ted W. Lawson (1917-1992) was a native of California. He joined the Army Air Corps while working for the Douglas Aircraft Company in Santa Monica and received his wings in November 1940. After the attack on Pearl Harbor, he volunteered for a secret mission that evolved into the raid on Tokyo in April 1942. Random House published his account of the raid, Thirty Seconds Over Tokyo, in 1943. Lawson subsequently served as a technical adviser to MGM during the making of the popular wartime movie based on his book. After retiring from military service in 1945, he reentered private industry and worked on several projects that involved aircraft and space programs.