Editing Bombing of Tokyo (section)

==Doolittle Raid==
{{Main|Doolittle Raid}}
The first American air attack on Tokyo was the Doolittle Raid on 18 April 1942. Sixteen [[B-25 Mitchell]]s modified for carrier operations were launched from {{USS|Hornet|CV-8|6}}, after which they bombed [[Yokohama]] and Tokyo and flew on to airfields in [[China]]. The raid was largely symbolic, carried out in retaliation for the Japanese [[attack on Pearl Harbor]] five months prior. The raid caused minimal damage to Japan's warfighting capability, but was a significant propaganda victory for the United States.{{sfn|Shapiro|2009|p=115}} The bombers took off at longer range than planned when the ''Hornet's'' task force encountered [[Nitto Maru (1935)|a Japanese picket boat]], resulting in all of the attacking aircraft either crashing or being [[ditching|ditched]] by their crews short of their designated landing sites. One bomber landed in the neutral [[Soviet Union]] and its crew was interned, but then smuggled over the border into [[Iran]] on 11 May 1943. Two crews were captured by the Japanese in occupied China. Three captured crewmen were later executed by Japanese troops.{{sfn|Ray|2003|p=126}}<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://www.doolittleraider.com/ |title=Official Website of The Doolittle Raiders |access-date=25 March 2022 |archive-date=30 November 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171130181901/http://doolittleraider.com/ |url-status=dead }}</ref>