Not long after the Pearl Harbor attack, Spencer Tracy stars as Lt. Col. Jimmy Doolittle, who spearheads a bold, top-secret plan that brings two dozen North American B-25 Mitchell bombers and their volunteer crews together at Eglin Field, Florida. The mission is risky and not everyone is sure they should go, but the men press on, including Ted Lawson, Van Johnson, who leads his own crew bound for a dangerous assignment. Alongside Lawson are co-pilot Lieutenant Dean Davenport, navigator Lieutenant Charles McClure, bombardier Bob Clever, and gunner David Thatcher—the heart of a team that must blend skill, courage, and nerve to pull off something unprecedented.
Lawson’s wife Ellen, Phyllis Thaxter, joins him at Eglin Field, adding a personal stake to an expedition already weighed down by risk and secrecy. The pilots are taught to take off from a runway barely 500 feet long by a naval aviator from Pensacola, and the mood at the field mixes quiet resolve with the hum of machinery and the whisper of what-ifs. When the planes are loaded onto the aircraft carrier USS Hornet, Doolittle lays out the mission: they will bomb Tokyo, Yokohama, Osaka, Kobe, and Nagoya, then head for landfall in China after releasing their payloads. They will launch from the Hornet about 400 miles from Japan and, if all goes well, converge in Nationalist-held areas before regrouping in Chungking.
But the convoy is spotted by an enemy surface vessel, forcing the crews to lift off twelve hours earlier than planned and to attack in daylight over Japan with hopes of surviving until nightfall in China. Doolittle leads the raid, and the bombers drop incendiaries to mark targets for the following aircraft. The Ruptured Duck becomes the first to reach Tokyo, finding some targets already aflame; they press forward, their anti-aircraft fire proving largely ineffective and enemy fighters largely uninterested. The flight continues toward China, yet fuel runs dangerously low as darkness and rain swirl around the aircraft.
Lawson’s aircraft makes a desperate belly landing on a beach in the Chinese coastline, crashing into the surf. The rest of Lawson’s crew suffers severe injuries—Lawson’s left leg is exposed to the bone, and McClure’s shoulders are shattered—while Thatcher survives with relatively lighter injuries. Friendly Chinese soldiers come to their aid, and the Americans endure harsh traumas as they are escorted through Japanese-held territory. In the absence of adequate medical supplies, the injured endure excruciating pain, and Lawson’s leg becomes infected. Delirium creeps in as he dreams of Ellen, the line between memory and pain blurring in the harsh glow of their surroundings.
In Xing Ming, a Red Cross banner hangs as Dr. Chung—an elder physician—offers to carry them to his hospital 19 miles away. He informs them the Japanese have captured one of the other crews, and the Americans rush into the hills as Japanese search parties begin to arrive, intent on destruction. The elder Dr. Chung’s hospital lacks a surgeon, but Lieutenant Smith’s crew is on its way with Lieutenant “Doc” White, Stephen McNally volunteering to serve as the gunner and the medical aide. With the Japanese drawing closer, the able-bodied Americans depart, leaving Doc White with the wounded. In a grim moment of necessity, Doc White amputates Lawson’s leg well above the knee, using the single dose of spinal anesthesia they have; the medicine wears off too soon, and Lawson slips into unconsciousness. He dreams again of Ellen as pain dulls and swirls.
A chorus of Scouts sings “The Star-Spangled Banner,” rendered in Mandarin, as Lawson makes his first steps toward recovery. Elder Dr. Chung bestows an heirloom bracelet on Lawson for his wife, a token that leaves Lawson puzzled about its meaning and how it will ever be worn again. Still, as Lawson regains strength, he pushes forward on crutches, wrestling with the fear that Ellen might see him now without a leg. The plan remains to push toward a rendezvous with an American plane at Ch’ang Chou so they can make their way home.
Back at the hospital, General Doolittle himself visits Lawson, signaling that there is work still to be done. Lawson, meanwhile, longs to see Ellen only after he has adapted to prosthetics and learned to walk again. When Ellen arrives unannounced, Lawson first braces himself, forgets about his missing leg for a moment, stands, then falters, and Ellen rushes to his side in a quiet, overflowing embrace that makes the long journey feel worthwhile. The mission’s toll is clear, but so too is the strength of the men who faced impossible odds and the loved ones who waited at home.
