Happy Doolittle Raid Day, America

[CountDeMoney]

Of the 80 pilots and crew involved in this hazardous mission, 71 survived, one crew member died on bailing out, two were killed on crash landing, five were interned in Russia, and eight were captured by the Japanese. Of these, three were executed in Shanghai in October 1942, one died as a Prisoner of War, and the remaining four survived to be released at the end of WW2.

Of the survivors from this daring raid, twelve lost their lives later in the war.

[Brazen]

Is it a holiday there today or are you getting more of an opportunity to slack off at work these days?

[Caliga]

No, not a holiday.

[Neil]

Of the 80 pilots and crew involved in this hazardous mission, 71 survived, one crew member died on bailing out, two were killed on crash landing, five were interned in Russia, and eight were captured by the Japanese. Of these, three were executed in Shanghai in October 1942, one died as a Prisoner of War, and the remaining four survived to be released at the end of WW2.

Of the survivors from this daring raid, twelve lost their lives later in the war.

Yeah, like Josh Hartnett so that Ben Affleck could fuck his woman without looking like a cad.

[DGuller]

I especially sympathize with the two crew members who neither survived nor died in the raid.  That must've been confusing for them.

[Valmy]

No, not a holiday.

Fortunately we do not celebrate battles which I think is in bad taste.

[grumbler]

I especially sympathize with the two crew members who neither survived nor died in the raid.  That must've been confusing for them.

To which two do you refer?  The article, in common with many in wikipedia, is badly written.  Of the 80 crewmen, 77 survived the bailout/landings, three were executed, five imprisoned (of whom one died), and the remaining 69 made their way (eventually) to Allied lines (5 of them going from the USSR, where they had been interned).  I dunno what the author was thinking when he or she wrote that "71 survived."  Type for 77, maybe.  Or just bad math.  Or maybe just careless writing.

[grumbler]

No, not a holiday.

Fortunately we do not celebrate battles which I think is in bad taste.

Do we celebrate battles which you think in good taste?

[Valmy]

Do we celebrate battles which you think in good taste?

No since I find the celebration of battles to be bad taste.

[The Brain]

I can't talk to animals.

[DGuller]

I especially sympathize with the two crew members who neither survived nor died in the raid.  That must've been confusing for them.

To which two do you refer?  The article, in common with many in wikipedia, is badly written.  Of the 80 crewmen, 77 survived the bailout/landings, three were executed, five imprisoned (of whom one died), and the remaining 69 made their way (eventually) to Allied lines (5 of them going from the USSR, where they had been interned).  I dunno what the author was thinking when he or she wrote that "71 survived."  Type for 77, maybe.  Or just bad math.  Or maybe just careless writing.

To whichever two died, but were not listed.  It's logical to count those who died at the hands of the Japanese as essentially casualties of the raid.  But then you'd say that 73 survived.

I also wondered what the real story was with the 5 who were interned in Russia.  Did they really escape?  Or was there some wink-winking going on, where Russians released the Americans fighting against the Japanese without officially doing it.

[Slargos]

Will someone tap me in?

[grumbler]

I especially sympathize with the two crew members who neither survived nor died in the raid.  That must've been confusing for them.

To which two do you refer?  The article, in common with many in wikipedia, is badly written.  Of the 80 crewmen, 77 survived the bailout/landings, three were executed, five imprisoned (of whom one died), and the remaining 69 made their way (eventually) to Allied lines (5 of them going from the USSR, where they had been interned).  I dunno what the author was thinking when he or she wrote that "71 survived."  Type for 77, maybe.  Or just bad math.  Or maybe just careless writing.

To whichever two died, but were not listed.  It's logical to count those who died at the hands of the Japanese as essentially casualties of the raid.  But then you'd say that 73 survived.

I also wondered what the real story was with the 5 who were interned in Russia.  Did they really escape?  Or was there some wink-winking going on, where Russians released the Americans fighting against the Japanese without officially doing it.

Not sure what "two died, but were not listed" means.  The article says that "71 survived, one crew member died on bailing out, two were killed on crash landing, five were interned in Russia, and eight were captured by the Japanese."  That's 71 survivors and apparently 16 non-survivors (though it notes that some of the non-survivors survived).  There aren't two missing from the list, there are seven additional persons added (some of whom presumably represent the non-survivors who survived).

The five from the USSR were unofficially released.  They paid an Afghan smuggler to get them out of the country, but clearly had been sent to the southern USSR to make this possible.

It is almost certainly not a mere coincidence that the only two Raiders who spoke fluent Russian were the pilot and co-pilot of the plane that flew to the USSR, but the full story behind this mission was never released.

[DGuller]

It says that out of 80 crewmembers, 71 survived, and 7 died in various ways.  My quip was about the two unaccounted for (80 - 1 - 2 - 3 -1 = 73 <> 71).

[Razgovory]

Those Mitchells were pretty versatile.