This is Totally Cool

This is the stuff that makes me love being an historian.

My friend and fellow researcher Lynn Ritger just spent the last five days playing “Squirrel!” in the uncategorized digitized film files at the National Archives. He found a lot of gems.

But the best is this. Footage taken from Admiral Spruance’s flagship, the cruiser “Northampton,” as she escorted the carriers “Enterprise” and “Hornet” on the Doolittle Raid. The footage includes the takeoffs of the bombers from the “Hornet.”

AND IT’S ALL IN COLOR!

Never seen before in any documentary.

I’m really glad the photographer managed to turn around and look at the guys watching the planes get into the air - it’s the looks on their faces that tell you what the mission was all about.

Footage of the Doolittle Raid