Thirty Seconds over Tokyo

In this World War II classic, Captain Ted W. Lawson tells the story of America’s legendary strike back on the Japanese Empire in one of the most daring missions in military aviation history: the legendary Doolittle Raid.

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 is hailed as "the most stirring story of individual heroism that [the war] has so far produced" (The New York Times), featuring never-before-seen historical photos.

Ted W. Lawson (1917–1992) joined the Army Air Corps in 1940. After the attack on Pearl Harbor, he volunteered for a secret mission that evolved into the raid on Tokyo in April 1942. After retiring from the service in 1945, he went into private industry and worked on several projects that involved aircraft and space programs. He is the author of the memoir Thirty Seconds Over Tokyo.