Air Force Falcons To Honor Doolittle Raiders By Wearing Epic Uniforms

The Doolittle Raiders will be honoured with the annual Air Power Legacy Series alternate uniforms worn by the Air Force football team against Navy on October 21.

The Doolittle Raid, the first American air operation against Japan during World War II, was an aircraft bombing campaign carried out in April 1942 against Tokyo targets and other military installations on the Japanese mainland.

After being observed by a Japanese patrol boat, 16 B-25 bombers were launched from the U.S.S. Hornet under the command of Lt. Colonel James Doolittle around 650 nautical miles away from Japan. Ten targets were hit before they moved towards China.

The crews jumped out over China or crash-landed along the coast after the aircraft took very minor damage from enemy fighters but ran out of fuel. One crew chose to fly to the Soviet Union rather than ditch the aircraft in the middle of the East China Sea.

Despite only killing 50 individuals and barely damaging the targets, the raid improved American spirits in the wake of the Pearl Harbour attacks. Three of the 69 participating airmen were killed in the line of duty, and eight were taken as prisoners of war, of which three were put to death and one perished in captivity.

The Doolittle Raid sequences in the 2001 movie “Pearl Harbour” are regarded as the most historically inaccurate parts of the narrative. That includes the conclusion, when the airmen run towards Japanese soldiers after their aircraft crashes.

The Doolittle Raiders logo is on the left side, “B-25” is on the front bumper, and the names of nine of the 16 planes are on the back bumper of the uniforms, which have a chrome silver helmet with a picture of a B-25 bomber on the ride side. “Doolittle” on the back bumper stands in for the unnamed others.

The emblem is also visible on the left sleeve of the white jersey and features the bomber, seven Maltese Crosses (17th Bombardment Group), Thunderbird (34th Squadron), Kicking Mule (95th Squadron), Tiger Head (37th Squadron), and Winged Helmet (89th Reconnaissance Squadron).

The riveted numbers and the wordmark for the Air Force over the chest are both written in steel grey on the jersey. On the right shoulder is the U.S. flag, and on the right sleeve is the tail number of the aircraft that participated in the operation.

The entire outfit reads “Doolittle Raiders” on the nameplate on the back, “Doolittle Raiders” in French (Toujours au Danger) down the sides of the white trousers and “Ever into Peril” in English on the right hip.

The Air Force celebrated the Tiger Shark nose art in 2016, the F-35 Lighting II in 2017, the AC-130 “Spooky” gunship in 2018, the Boeing C-17 Globemaster III in 2019, the Tuskegee Airmen in 2020, the B-52 Stratofortress in 2021, and the Space Force in 2022. This is the eighth iteration of the Air Power Legacy Series uniforms.

When wearing their Air Power Legacy Series jerseys, the Falcons are 14-1 all-time, including victories over Navy and New Mexico just last autumn.