On 18 April 1942, Lt. Col. Jimmy Doolittle led sixteen B-25 Mitchells off the pitching deck of the carrier USS Hornet — medium bombers never designed to fly from a ship — and struck Tokyo, the first American blow against the Japanese home islands. Spotted early, they launched farther out than planned; after the bombing, most crews ran out of fuel and crash-landed or bailed out over China. The material damage was slight, but the raid electrified a reeling America and pushed Japan into the overreach that ended at Midway. Doolittle, already a celebrated air racer and the engineer who pioneered blind instrument flight, expected a court-martial — and received the Medal of Honor.

The figure shows Doolittle in his A-2 leather flight jacket with unit patch, officer's peaked cap and khaki service trousers, hands at his belt in a moment of calm before the flightline. As a U.S.A.A.F. anchor he draws the airmen around him: set him with his chief, General "Hap" Arnold, a Heavy Bomber Crewman, and top ace Richard Bong to build an early-war USAAF airfield diorama spanning command, bomber, and fighter.

W. Britain model 10153. 1/30 scale (approximately 60mm), matte-painted metal. Single foot figure on a sculpted base. Boxed.